Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (Canada)

1
Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (Canada)

• Judith Fiagbey, PPAL 6130 Ethics, Privacy and
  Access to Information
•  

2
History

• In 2000, the Auditor General published reports on
  ethics and values in the public service and
  concluded that a method to allow employees to
  disclose ethical issues with appropriate
  protection for all concerned is required.
• In 2001, Treasury Board adopted a policy on the
  internal disclosure of wrongdoing and established
  the position of Public Service Integrity Officer
  (PSIO) within its organization.
• However, in 2003, the PSIO reported that he had
  to be independent of the government to be
  credible.
• In 2003, external experts also advised a
  legislative approach to an external disclosure
  regime. Two bills were put forward in March and
  October of 2004 respectively, but neither came
  into force.
• On April 15th 2007, the Public Servant Disclosure
  Protection Act (PSDPA) came into force, after
  being amended by the Federal Accountability Act.
• 
  ...Office of PSIC Annual Report,
  2007-2008.............

3
Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act
(PSDPA) guarantees

• Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA)
  is a mechanism for disclosing information about
  wrongdoings committed in the public sector.
• The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (PSIC)
  is independent of government, and reports
  directly to Parliament and is responsible for the
  following
• Listen to members of the public as well as civil
  servants, to promote integrity and increase
  confidence in the public sector.
• Receives, reviews and fairly investigates
  allegations of wrongdoing within the public
  sector.
• Ensure that information obtained during a
  disclosure investigation is protected under the
  Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.
• Emphasize prevention, dispute resolution and
  education about values and ethics.
• Protect the identity of persons who discloses
  that a wrongdoing has been committed or is about
  to be committed in the public sector, to the
  extent possible.
• Protects public sector employees from reprisals.

4
Procedural Details for Disclosure

• Public servants and members of the public can
  disclose information about a suspected wrongdoing
  (unethical behaviour).
• Public servants may contact
• Immediate supervisor
• The designated senior officer in your
  organization
• The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner directly
• Members of the public may contact
• The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner directly

5
Advantages

• Appointment of a Public Sector Integrity
  Commissioner to regulate Canadian values and
  ethical standards of the public servants.
• Promote ethical behaviour and discourage
  wrongdoing in the workplace.
• Promotes the integrity of the public sector.
• Determine if reprisals have occurred and purports
  to resolve them.

6
Disadvantages

• Despite Public Servant Disclosure Protection
  Acts purported guarantees, it is unclear what
  protection the informant will have if the
  commissioner does not recognize the trust of the
  allegation or the allegation is considered false
  or misinformed.
• Despite its intentions it fails to protect
  against public servants in the interim between
  the reporting of a possible wrong doing and its
  investigation by the commissioner.
• The chain of command within an organization can
  be broken if civil servants have an option of
  reporting to the Public Servants Integrity
  Commissioner directly.
• Public servants must contact PSIC within 60 days
  of becoming aware of and believing a reprisal has
  been taken against them.

7
Conclusion

• Statement of policy is explicit and guarantees of
  non reprisals have also been articulated.
• In practice, reprisals are on record without the
  follow-up one would have expected from the
  commissioners office.
• Claims to restore those affected to their
  positions without demotion or dismissals to
  ensure that no prejudice will stand against their
  subsequent prospects.

8
Conclusion CONTD
In support of the conclusion, the statistics
below illustrate the ineffectiveness of the
disclosure policy in terms of its implementation.
Disclosures
Disclosures received from public sector employees and information received from the members of the public 59
Disclosures reviewed to determine if they fall under the jurisdiction of the PSDPA Act 49
Files closed after preliminary review and analysis (not acted on) 25
Files still in process as of March 31, 2008 19
Files carried forward for further analysis and verification (acted on) 2
Investigations of disclosures commenced under this Act, as well as one carried over from the previous Public Service Integrity Office 3
9
Conclusion CONTD
In support of the conclusion, the statistics
below illustrate the ineffectiveness of the
reprisal policy in terms of its implementation.
Reprisals
Complaints made in relation to reprisals 22
Complaints of reprisals that were reviewed and analyzed to determine jurisdiction and admissibility under the Act 22
Files closed after preliminary review (not acted on) 18
Files carried forward for further analysis and verification (acted on) 0
Files still in process as of March 31, 2008 2
Investigations of reprisals commenced under this Act, as well as one carried over from the previous Public Service Integrity Office 2
10
Recommendation

• Confidentiality can only exist if allegations of
  breach of ethics is reported directly to a
  commissioners office and not to the supervisors
  of the organization, which may decrease
  reprisals.
• Procedurally, no problem should be aired within
  an organization except if the rule of total
  confidentiality is in place and upheld.
• To maintain confidentiality for the
  whistleblowers, the PSIC should have separate
  departments for investigating the legitimacy of a
  complaint and for conducting and resolving the
  allegation. While the department that first
  hears complaint would know the identity of the
  whistleblower once the complaint has been
  verified and it is passed to the resolution
  department the original whistleblowers identity
  is concealed as in witness relocation programs.
• Consequently, if allegations were proved to be
  hearsay, only the commissioners office would
  know that a complaint was ever made even if the
  allegation was unjustified.

11
Merci Beaucoup!