Monday, September 8, 2003

OTTAWA - As in more than 10 U.S. states, anyone in Canada who blows the whistle on any violation of a law, regulation, policy, guideline or code must be protected by a complete whistleblower protection system, proposed two nation-wide coalitions today.  The Senate Finance Committee is considering adding whistleblower protection to Bill C-25, the public service reform bill, but the coalitions pointed out that such protection also needs to be added to: Bill C-34, which proposes a new ethics enforcement system for Cabinet, MPs and senators; Bill C-45, which proposes a new corporate criminal liability system, and all other laws.

The platforms of both the nation-wide, 31 member-group Government Ethics Coalition and 31-member group Corporate Responsibility Coalition, which were organized and are coordinated by Democracy Watch, recommend the creation of a comprehensive whistleblower protection system for those who have evidence of any wrongdoing by government institutions or corporations.

"Giving full protection to anyone who reports any wrongdoing, especially workers, is a very efficient and effective way to enhance the enforcement of laws, regulations and codes," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the Government Ethics Coalition. "Workers, suppliers, and members of the public can all be effective front-line inspectors ensuring that government institutions and corporations do not violate the law or other rules."

The federal government has been acting very inconsistently on whistleblower protection over the past several years, including it in Bill C-46 (which proposes new rules for corporate financial fraud) but not in Bill C-25, Bill C-34 or Bill C-45, nor in several other bills that passed in the spring, such as Bill C-15 (changing the lobbyist registration system), Bill C-24 (creating a new political finance system).  And while the right to blow the whistle and be protected from retaliation already exists under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canada Labour Code, and the Competition Act, it does not exist under the Canada Business Corporations Act (under which 155,000 corporations are set up, including half of the 500 largest corporations in Canada) nor in the Bank Act or other financial institution laws.

In addition, the existing policy for public service whistleblower protection is contradictorily called the"Internal Disclosure Policy" and the Public Integrity Officer, who enforces the policy, lacks independence as he reports internally to supervisors and overall to Treasury Board.

"By creating a right to blow the whistle for some violations but not others the federal government is sending the inconsistent and undemocratic message that enforcement of some laws and rules is more important than others," said Conacher.

In contrast, New Brunswick's Employment Standards Act gives general protection to all private sector employees who blow the whistle about a violation of any provincial or federal law or regulation.

In addition to following the lead of the more than 10 U.S. states in creating a comprehensive legal right for anyone to blow the whistle on any violation of any law, regulation or code, the federal government must also make whistleblower protection effective through the following measures:

• whistleblowers must be allowed to blow the whistle anonymously if they wish (to ensure that those who do not want to endure even attempted retaliation to report wrongdoing);
• fully independent enforcement agencies must exist with full investigative powers to examine the allegations of whistleblowers;
• the enforcement agencies must be fully empowered to protect whistleblowers from any form of retaliation;
• there must be a right to appeal any enforcement agency's decisions to court (to ensure accountability of the agency); and
• whistleblowers should be rewarded accordingly if their allegations are proven true (as the history of whistleblowing has shown that, even when protected from retaliation, whistleblowers still usually suffer financial and other losses).

The Government Ethics Coalition and Corporate Responsibility Coalition will continue to push for changes to strengthen Bills C-25, C-34, C-45, and C-46, and for comprehensive whistleblower protection in Canada.