Survey of public
servants shows federal whistleblower protection law
must be
strengthened -- 5-year review must lead to key changes
very soon
Survey must be done
annually to measure effectiveness of law and protection system
Monday,
February 6, 2012
OTTAWA --
A survey commissioned by the federal whistleblower
watchdog shows that public servants are fearful of
reprisals, have little confidence in the agency created
to protect them, and have serious questions about the
law under which it operates.
"Integrity
Commissioner Dion deserves credit for commissioning
this study and for making it public," remarked
David Hutton, executive director of the whistleblower
charity FAIR. "The
results demonstrate how hard it will be to restore
confidence in his agency – in fact it will be
impossible under the current law."
The survey revealed that after just a few minutes of
studying the glossy brochure published by the Integrity
Commissioner’s office, public servants could already
spot serious gaps in the law. They asked questions
like "does the Office have enforcement powers?" (it does
not); "does the Office have jurisdiction over Ministers
of the Crown?" (it does not), and; "what types of
punishment could wrongdoers face?" (none if they simply
retire, as former Integrity Commissioner Christiane
Ouimet did). (To see the survey, click
here (PDF file))
FAIR, Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics
Coalition, and Canadians for Accountability all support
changes to close more than two dozen loopholes and
serious shortcomings in the Act – revealed by an
in-depth analysis by FAIR – that render the law largely
useless. All the groups are looking forward to the
upcoming legally-required 5-year review, which is an
opportunity for a major upgrade. The Senate has
also asked Integrity Commissioner Dion for his list of
proposed improvements and the groups look forward to
seeing this in due course.
“The Conservative
government, Treasury Board and Justice Department are
the same players who served up deeply-flawed
legislation in 2006 with the bogus claim that they
were providing ‘ironclad’ protection for
whistleblowers. We hope that this time they will
listen to the experts in this field and make the
changed needed to provide real protection for honest
public servants,” said Hutton.
Allan Cutler of Canadians for Accountability said: "We don't need a survey to
tell us that people's confidence in the office is low
to non-existent. We have whistleblowers coming
to us and telling us of their experiences:
run-arounds, staff turnover and lost files – these
things are still happening right now. Serious
files being put to the bottom of the pile, even when
human health issues are at stake."
Tyler Sommers Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chair
of the Open Government Coalition said: "This focus-group process
should be repeated annually to see if perceptions are
changing, and there should also be an annual survey of
public servants to provide numbers and measure trends.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and
Chairperson of the Open
Government Coalition
Tel: (613) 241-5179
To see the December
2010 report on former disgraced Integrity Commissioner
Christiane Ouimet by Auditor General Sheila Fraser, click
here.
To see why a full
audit is still needed of past cases that Ouimet failed to
investigate properly, click
here.
To see the list of
needed reforms to the Public
Servants Disclosure Protection Act, click here.
NOTE: FAIR and
the Government Ethics Coalition call on federal parties
to penalize Ouimet for her misconduct and claw back her
obscene, undeserved $500,000 severance payoff
(NOTE: The
alliance has demanded that the payoff be cancelled and has
also requested that the Auditor General audit the payoff
and all other similar recent payoffs by the federal
government).
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