Public Service Integrity Report Tabled
This is a follow-up to yerterday's posting Conservatives Introduce Federal Accountability Act.
Yesterday, Dr. Edward Keyserlingk, Canada's Public Service Integrity Officer, outlined the challenges that remain for whistleblowers of wrongdoing, as his third annual report was tabled in Parliament.
The Public Service Integrity Office (PSIO) and the position of the Public Service Integrity Officer were established under the Treasury Board Policy for the Internal Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace, effective November 30, 2001. The PSIO is an extra-departmental alternative to the departmental process for the reporting, review, and investigation of wrongdoing in the public interest. The Office protects from reprisal those employees who disclose information concerning wrongdoing. The jurisdiction of, and access to, the PSIO extends to nearly 180,000 public servants.
The report comments on the new Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act which received Royal Assent on November 25, 2005 and has yet to come into force. The Act creates an independent Agent of Parliament established exclusively to receive, investigate and report to Parliament on disclosures of information related to wrongdoing in the public sector.
The report makes various recommendations, in particular that the the new legislation be amended to ensure that employees making disclosures are better protected from reprisal and that a specific statutory offence for reprisal is provided.
Earlier postings on public service ethics:
Yesterday, Dr. Edward Keyserlingk, Canada's Public Service Integrity Officer, outlined the challenges that remain for whistleblowers of wrongdoing, as his third annual report was tabled in Parliament.
The Public Service Integrity Office (PSIO) and the position of the Public Service Integrity Officer were established under the Treasury Board Policy for the Internal Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace, effective November 30, 2001. The PSIO is an extra-departmental alternative to the departmental process for the reporting, review, and investigation of wrongdoing in the public interest. The Office protects from reprisal those employees who disclose information concerning wrongdoing. The jurisdiction of, and access to, the PSIO extends to nearly 180,000 public servants.
The report comments on the new Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act which received Royal Assent on November 25, 2005 and has yet to come into force. The Act creates an independent Agent of Parliament established exclusively to receive, investigate and report to Parliament on disclosures of information related to wrongdoing in the public sector.
The report makes various recommendations, in particular that the the new legislation be amended to ensure that employees making disclosures are better protected from reprisal and that a specific statutory offence for reprisal is provided.
Earlier postings on public service ethics:
- Public Servant Codes of Ethics Worldwide (February 18, 2006)
- Whistleblowing Resources (February 26, 2006)
- Whistleblowing Resources - International (also February 26, 2006)
Labels: ethics, government accountability, government of Canada
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