Annual Report on the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act 2009-10

Promoting Ethical Practices

Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer

OCHRO's mandate recognizes supports and creates the conditions for deputy heads to take full responsibility for people management in their organizations. OCHRO is therefore the centre of leadership for the Act and continues to support the President of the Treasury Board in promoting ethical practices and a positive environment for disclosing wrongdoing as required under section 4 of the Act. OCHRO provides advice and guidance on the PSDPA to chief executives and the appointed Senior Officers as they exercise their responsibilities under the Act.

Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner

As an Agent of Parliament, the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner has an independent function under the Act and reports directly to Parliament on her Office's activities, including disclosures and reprisal complaints received. For more information, please see the Commissioner's annual report on the website of the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal

The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal's mandate is to protect federal public servants who disclose wrongdoing against reprisals. The Tribunal has the power to grant remedies to public servants who experience reprisals and to order disciplinary action against managers who take reprisals against employees who disclose wrongdoing or who cooperate in an investigation of wrongdoing. Although several jurisdictions in Canada and abroad have disclosure regimes in place, none of them offers the same level of protection to public servants.

Cases are referred to the Tribunal by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. Since no cases have been referred to the Tribunal since its inception in 2007, it may be that public servants do not understand the full extent of the protection provided by the PSDPA or are fearful of the consequences of making a disclosure. For these reasons, the Tribunal has begun in 2009–10 to implement a series of communications initiatives designed to let public servants know about the powers the Tribunal has to protect them from reprisals.

More information about the Tribunal can be found on its website.

Organizations subject to the Act

There are 155 active organizations in the federal public sector that are currently subject to the Act.[4] These organizations inform OCHRO of Senior Officer appointments under the Act. Pursuant to section 10(4) of the Act, 35 organizations have declared that they would not establish internal disclosure procedures or appoint a Senior Officer because the size of the organization made it impractical to do so.

Progress was made in 2009–10 by the organizations that have specific legal obligations under the PSDPA. A milestone for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) this year was the creation of the Office of Professional Integrity. This change in governance seeks to align all systems that deal with the management of employee behaviour. In addition to these changes, it should be noted that the RCMP's Professional Integrity Officer has been appointed as the designated Senior Officer under the PSDPA.

Three organizations are excluded from the requirements of the Act because of their unique mandates. They continued to work on establishing internal disclosure procedures similar to those contained in the Act.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has established similar procedures under the PSDPA and has received the approval of Treasury Board in December 2009.

In the interest of strengthening Communications Security Establishment Canada's (CSEC's) capacity to address ethics issues more generally, CSEC has established and staffed an Ethics Officer position within the Directorate of Audit, Evaluation and Ethics. CSEC is expected to present its procedures to Treasury Board for approval in 2010–11.

The Canadian Forces has embedded the key elements of the PSDPA related to prohibiting reprisals in their existing Queen's Regulations and Orders. It has also referenced this in the "general responsibilities" that apply to officers and non-commissioned members. The Canadian Forces has been consulting with OCHRO and expects to present its procedures to Treasury Board for approval in 2010–11.

A significant amount of outreach and learning has been done over the past fiscal year in numerous organizations to promote the PSDPA. These activities include information and training on the main aspects of the PSDPA, the internal mechanisms available, and recourses in case of reprisals. While several organizations have developed an internal website, others have developed guides, question-and-answer documents and posters. It is also worth mentioning that several organizations have sent broadcast emails to their employees to promote awareness of the PSDPA and internal disclosure procedures.

The following are some examples of organizational practices drawn from the annual reports submitted by public sector organizations to OCHRO in 2009–10:

• Canadian Heritage developed a procedures manual to provide guidance on processing internal disclosures and undertook a risk assessment of the function of the Senior Officer responsible for internal disclosures. It has also developed a governance structure proposal for matters related to values and ethics.
• In 2009, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) continued with the practice of having all employees complete an annex to their respective annual performance evaluations indicating their familiarity with the PSDPA and their awareness of the procedure for making a disclosure. All letters of offer to new employees will include the Confirmation of Awareness annex that must be signed and returned when they accept an employment offer. In 2010, ACOA will be adding information on the PSDPA to its new employee-orientation program, which is published on the agency's intranet site.
• The Public Prosecution Service of Canada has distributed and posted in all its offices the poster titled "The Integrity of Our Public Institutions," published by the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada, in order to promote the disclosure of wrongdoing.
• The RCMP External Review Committee renewed its one-year contract with an external confidential access point to provide confidential services on an as-needed basis to its staff members.
• The Department of Finance Canada maintained a dedicated telephone line, email account and secure filing system for maintaining documentation in respect of disclosures made in accordance with the Act. An overview of the Act has been included in orientation sessions for new staff.
• An entire module dedicated to internal disclosure will be added to the Agriculture and Agri‑food Canada web-based training platform.
• Parks Canada has developed a tool to clarify the terms "misuse," "gross mismanagement" and "important" as part of the definition of wrongdoing.
• Environment Canada offered support to managers in assuming their responsibilities under the PSDPA by providing tips on how to create a safe place for people to raise values and ethics issues. The assistant deputy ministers regularly communicated their commitment to and support for ethical practices in the department in their messages to employees. Environment Canada also included information for managers in its monthly publication Let's Talk: one on creating a safe space for discussing ethical issues and another on building trust and keeping one's promises.