Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act

The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA) came into force in Canada on April 15, 2007. The Act creates two distinct processes: a disclosure process and a reprisal complaints process. It also creates two new bodies: the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (PSIC) and the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal.

The Act defines wrongdoing as a contravention of any Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, or of any regulations made under any such Act; a misuse of public funds or a public asset; a gross mismanagement in the public sector; an act or omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of persons, or to the environment, other than a danger that is inherent in the performance of the duties or functions of a public servant; a serious breach of a code of conduct established under the PSDPA; and knowingly directing or counselling a person to commit a wrongdoing.

Under the Act, reprisal means any measures taken against a public servant because he or she has made a protected disclosure or has, in good faith, cooperated in an investigation into a disclosure. It can include any measures that could adversely affect the employment or working conditions of the person, or a threat to take any of these measures or to direct a person to do so.

Key highlights of the PSDPA are as follows:

The PSDPA applies to all employees in the federal public sector. It excludes the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Canadian Forces. However, these organizations must create comparable disclosure protection regimes.

The primary source of independent information about whistleblower legislation in Canada is the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR) a registered charity that provides support for whistleblowers. In early 2007 FAIR published an analysis of the PSDPA before it came into force, listing the concerns that FAIR had expressed in its testimony to Parliament during passage of the Act. In February 2011 FAIR published an updated analysis, benefiting from its observations during four years of implementation. This document lists more than two dozen significant shortcomings under the following eight headings:

1) The scope of the law is very narrow

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