Commissioner concerned public servants keeping mum

In what's becoming a bit of a tradition, Canada's Public Sector Integrity Commissioner has reported that once again, she made no findings of wrongdoing in the last year.

In her third annual report called "Balancing the duty of loyalty to the employer and the right to freedom of expression," Christiane Ouimet says her office received 71 allegations of wrongdoing in 2009/10. Investigators are still reviewing or investigating 21 of those files.

Of the 50 closed cases, Ouimet's office found no wrongdoing and made no recommendations. The commissioner also received complaints about reprisals in the workplace. Nineteen public servants complained of reprisals. Of those, 15 were closed after a review, while four are ongoing. That got me thinking about the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal and whether it has ever been convened to hear a case. A quick call to the Commissioner's office answered that one - nope.

The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner oversees the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, more commonly referred to as the whistleblowers' act, which became law in 2007. The law is supposed to protect civil servants when they report people breaking the rules at work.

Despite the statistics, Ouimet's annual report suggests not everything is hunky dory.

"We are also increasingly preoccupied by a growing impression that public servants cannot express their concerns freely and openly in their workplace and that they are afraid to question authority," the report read.

She says that kind of atmosphere at work, "is not conducive to the disclosure of wrongdoing."

The whistleblowers' act is up a scheduled five-year review in 2012. Critics such as the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR) say the government should accelerate that review. Earlier this year I reported one of the loopholes FAIR wants closed. Under section 11.1.C of the law, all findings of wrongdoing must be made public "promptly."

When asked what it means by "promptly," the Treasury Board spokesperson said, "as soon as possible." When I asked about the consequences of not disclosing wrongdoing, the Treasury Board said that too could constitute another wrongdoing under the Act, which may lead to discliplinary action being taken." It's unclear though, just how anyone would know an unlawful act had NOT been publicized -- if it was never made public in the first place.