Despite recently introduced laws protecting whistleblowers, many public employees in B.C. still fear retribution and reprisal for speaking up about wrongdoing in the workplace.
Ombudsperson Jay Chalke is calling for a culture change.
"It is a problem that is very much related to the culture in organizations," Chalke told Black Press Media.
Chalke delivered a series of four reports to the legislature on Tuesday, Aug. 19, as part of the commitment for a five-year review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act. The law was enacted in 2019 to protect employees of selected government agencies from reprisal for reporting wrongdoing to a designated officer within their organization, or to the B.C. ombudsperson.
After five years of the act being in place, a survey of workers conducted by Chalke's office found that 55 per cent still feared retaliation for speaking out and 47 per cent believed that nothing would change if they did.
The reports conclude that whistleblowers still need more protection from real or perceived reprisals for workers to feel comfortable speaking up. Chalke said he wants more protection from retaliation, even when an investigation does not result from a disclosure, and a removal of assessments as to whether a disclosure was made in "good faith" or not.
He also recommended expanding the legislation to cover a wider range of public agencies, from local police to the legislature itself. The government has expanded the act since its introduction to include 200 agencies, including ministries, health authorities and schools. Chalke wants to add 500 more agencies.
B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko said she wants the act changed further to allow disclosures made to officials such as herself to be covered. A leak of health ministry slides to Sturko was the subject of an RCMP inquiry earlier this year. Changes would allow her to advocate more freely as a member of the Official Opposition.
"One of the things that I'm concerned about is how little of the information about what people's concerns are, what whistleblowers are bringing forward, actually goes to the public," she said.
A special legislative committee will examine the recommendations, and the Ministry of the Attorney General is also reviewing Chalke's reports.
"Government strongly believes that any public sector employee should be able to step forward with concerns or information about wrongdoing without fearing punishment," the Ministry of Attorney General said in an emailed statement.
Reports reveal several unpublicized investigations
According to Chalke's reports, over the five years that the act has been in place, there have been 61 internal disclosures in organizations and 382 disclosures reported directly to his office.
These are made public only if the resulting investigation discovers wrongdoing, which is a high bar according to Chalke. Because so few of these investigations are made public, the reports reveal the results of several that did not discover actual wrongdoing, but did result in his office recommending changes
Some are very specific to a single incident or employee, such as a boss being accused of favouritism for arranging for a staff member to have their graduate studies paid for, or a Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement officer being accused of using their patrol vehicle for personal errands.
Other cases are more systemic. The Ministry of Children and Family Development was accused of misusing public funds by overpaying expert witnesses. While wrongdoing was not found, the investigation concluded that guidance and rules related to this practice needed clarification.
Another disclosure alleged that the Ministry of Transportation and Transit routinely failed to meet water sustainability regulations when installing new culverts. Rules require engineers to be involved in designing culverts of a certain size to ensure fish can pass through safely.
While the ombudsperson did not conclude that staff were guilty of wrongdoing, recommendations were made to ensure the ministry did a better job of abiding by the regulations in the future. This resulted in the creation of a new position to oversee water permitting.
Opposition MLA wants more channels for disclosure
Sturko began advocating for whistleblower changes after an RCMP investigation was opened this winter into how she received leaked health ministry slides detailing the diversion of safer supply drugs and schemes by pharmacies to get more addicts sent to their stores.
The inquiry was focused on whether an officer revealed information they shouldn't have, and Sturko was not the target of the investigation. But Sturko 鈥� a former RCMP officer herself 鈥� did get a call from investigators.
She wants more protections for these types of disclosures, arguing that members of the legislature are already bound to ensure people's privacy is protected, and are well-positioned to advocate publicly on important issues.
"I can tell you that having your MLA speak on your behalf, whether it's in the legislature or to the media, can help generate results," she said.
Sturko linked this to what she called a broader culture of secrecy in the current B.C. government and the desire to avoid embarrassment.
She gave the example of Dr. Kaitlin Stockton, who recently sued Fraser Health, alleging that she was bullied and forced to resign after complaining about overcrowding at the Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody. Sturko said this is a prime example of government retaliation that hampers the culture of speaking up.
"The government needs to heal that relationship, and they have to start by stopping their punitive behaviour," Sturko said.
