Entries

50 Good Questions...

There are many questions that a newly appointed deputy head should ask – probably hundreds over the course of the first few months. Consequently, the list of questions in this document is not intended to be definitive. But the questions touch four important elements of an organization's existence – structure, operations, reporting and audit and evaluation. Asking and answering these questions will lead to other lines of enquiry that are important and relevant to a set of circumstances that will differ for every organization. This will not prevent wrongdoing in an organization.

Crown Corporations

At this time, only parent Crown corporations are covered under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. Some of the sources of vulnerability of Crown corporations are described in the second chapter of our 2008-09 Annual Report. One of their main sources of risk seems to lie in governance.

The Office developed a short list of questions to which it would seek to have answered if it were called in to investigate an alleged wrongdoing in a Crown corporation:

Support for Legal Advice

Need Legal Advice?

Proceedings under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (the Act) are meant to be as informal as possible. To help you better understand your rights and obligations under the Act, the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (the Commissioner) can provide up to $3,000 to obtain legal advice from a lawyer of your choice, if you do not already have access to legal advice at no cost to you.

Process for Handling Disclosures

All disclosures to our Office are treated fairly and equally. Our staff supports the Commissioner by following a standard processes.

Steps for handling disclosures

All disclosures are received and reviewed by us. You may be contacted for clarification or additional information required to thoroughly review the disclosure. A detailed admissibility report is then submitted to the Commissioner, with a recommendation to either proceed or to take no further action.Sometimes, we will recommend another, more appropriate mechanism to address the issue. 

 

Protection

Many things go through your mind when deciding whether to make a protected disclosure of wrongdoing. One of the most common concerns is the fear of reprisals — if someone in your organization finds out that you made a disclosure, your work life could be negatively affected. 

This Office exists, in large part, to help ensure that does not happen. We are obligated and fully committed to protecting your identity, to the extent possible.