February 10, 2004
Ottawa, Ontario

NEWS RELEASE

As part of its efforts to reinforce and protect ethical behaviour throughout the federal public sector, the Honourable Denis Coderre, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, today announced that the government will introduce legislation to protect disclosers of wrongdoing, no later than March 31, 2004.

“It is clear that public sector employees must be able to raise concerns about wrongdoing without fear of reprisal,” said Minister Coderre. “We are committed to building a supportive working environment where employees feel safe in coming forward to report incidents of wrongdoing”.

In receiving the report of the Working Group on the Disclosure of Wrongdoing on January 30, Minister Coderre said that the Government of Canada intended to act quickly on its recommendations by engaging parliamentarians in a fulsome debate and consulting with federal public service unions on the options for proposed legislation.

The key findings of the Working Group’s report are:

• A legislated regime is required for the disclosure of wrongdoing;
  
  
• The regime should be placed within a broader framework of values and ethics, rather than focus exclusively on “whistleblowing”;
  
  
• The regime should cover all federal public sector institutions including Crown Corporations; and
  
  
• A new office should be created to incorporate the functions of the existing Public Service Integrity Officer to act as an independent investigative body for disclosures of wrongdoing, and this office should report to Parliament either directly or through a minister.