Background

The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act establishes procedures for handling allegations of wrongdoing and complaints of reprisal and provides concrete support for grounding public sector culture firmly in values and ethics. Through its provisions, the Act enhances the ability of organizations to identify and resolve incidents of wrongdoing, while supporting employees who disclose wrongdoing and protecting them from reprisal. For details of the origins and intent of the Act, please see the 2007–08 PSDPA annual report[1] and the website of the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO).[2]

Key terms

The Act applies to most organizations in the federal public sector, namely, the core public administration, separate employers and parent Crown corporations.[3] The Canadian Forces, Communications Security Establishment Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service are excluded, but the Act requires that these organizations establish comparable disclosure protection regimes.

For the purposes of the Act, and of this report, "public servant" denotes every person employed in the public sector. This includes the deputy heads and chief executives of public sector organizations but does not include other Governor-in-Council appointees (such as judges or boards of directors of Crown corporations) or parliamentarians or their staff.

The Act defines "wrongdoing" as any of the following actions in or relating to the public sector (wrongdoing is not restricted to the activities of public servants):

• the violation of a federal or provincial law or regulation;
• a misuse of public funds or assets;
• gross mismanagement in the public sector;
• a serious breach of a code of conduct established under the Act;
• an act or omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health and safety of Canadians or the environment; or
• knowingly directing or counselling a person to commit wrongdoing.

A protected disclosure is a disclosure that is made in good faith by a public servant, as follows:

• in accordance with the Act and made to the public servant's immediate supervisor, to the Senior Officer or to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner;
• in the course of a parliamentary proceeding;
• in the course of a procedure established under any other Act of Parliament; or
• when lawfully required to do so.

Furthermore, any person can provide information about wrongdoing in the public sector to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

The Act defines "reprisal" as any of the following measures taken against a public servant who has made a protected disclosure or who has, in good faith, cooperated in an investigation into a disclosure:

• any disciplinary measure;
• the demotion of the public servant;
• the termination of employment of the public servant;
• the taking of any measure that adversely affects the employment or working conditions of the public servant; or
• a threat to do any of those things or to direct a person to do them.

Each organization subject to the Act is required to establish internal procedures to manage disclosures made in the organization. Organizations that are too small to establish their own internal procedures can request an exception under section 10(4) of the Act. In this case, employees of such organizations can make protected disclosures to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

The Senior Officer is the person appointed within each organization to receive and deal with disclosures made under the Act. The Senior Officer has a key leadership role in the Act's implementation in the organization and is responsible for the following:

• providing information and advice to employees and supervisors about the Act;
• receiving, recording and reviewing disclosures of wrongdoing; and
• leading investigations of disclosures, and recommending to the chief executive corrective action that could be taken to correct any incidents of wrongdoing found. These actions could range from training, to the suspension or removal of delegated authority, to taking disciplinary action, or any combination of these measures, which fall under the usual mechanisms and rules for discipline, as determined by the chief executive.

An investigation is a systematic process of gathering evidence in order to prove or disprove the validity of a set of allegations. The Act states that investigations are to be conducted as informally and expeditiously as possible.

The forthcoming Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector will further define the Senior Officer's duties and powers.

Scope of this report

This report includes information provided by public sector organizations related to disclosures made according to internal procedures established under the Act, as reported to OCHRO by the Senior Officer or Chief Executive Officer of each of those organizations. It does not cover disclosures or reprisal complaints made to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, which are covered by the Commissioner's report to Parliament.