Government introduces B.C. whistleblower legislation

VICTORIA The B.C. government has introduced new whistleblower legislation that will protect civil servants from reprisal if they take concerns directly to the independent ombudsperson. But the proposed law offers few safeguards for those who might want to go public with their information instead.

Attorney General David Eby said legislation he tabled Wednesday will make it illegal for the provincial government to demote, fire or discipline an employee who takes a matter of suspected wrongdoing to Ombudsperson Jay Chalke’s office. The civil servant could even go so far as to give the ombudsperson privileged cabinet documents, said Eby.

“It’s a balance between an entity that is independent of government, and the fact that public servants have access to incredibly sensitive documents,” Eby said.

“We want people to be able to provide those sensitive documents to someone who is independent, but to release them publicly might bring legal liability or it might be defamatory. So we’ve tried to find the balance based on best practice from other jurisdictions, model legislation, and allowing public servants to even disclose cabinet-sensitive documents for review.”

However, the legislation offers very limited protection if the whistleblower goes fully public with that same information through the media or opposition MLAs. They would only be safeguarded from reprisal if they went public on a matter of imminent risk of health or safety, and only after going to the police or public health officer first for permission.

Eby said he is satisfied with those specific circumstances, and that his legislation draws upon other efforts from Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, Australia and the United Kingdom.

“We wanted to provide the broadest possible ability for public servants to bring forward documents to an independent entity for review and investigation, and that was the ombudsperson,” he said. “We worked closely with the ombudsperson to give that office all the powers that they needed to do this properly.”

Wrongdoing could include potential criminal offences, the misuse of public funds, gross mismanagement and a matter of danger to life, health or safety. An employee could also seek help from their union, a lawyer or a supervisor that each ministry is supposed to designate to handle whistleblower cases. The legislation would allow a government employee to remain anonymous as well.

B.C. is one of only two provinces in Canada that do not have a whistleblower law. Creating legislation was a specific recommendation by Chalke in his 2017 report that investigated the wrongful firings of eight health researchers by the province in 2012.

Chalke said Wednesday his office was consulted and supportive of taking on the extra workload of handling whistleblower cases. “My expectation is that it will require additional resources,” he said, adding it is premature to know how much more funding or staff he will need until the bill is passed into law.

The legislation would also allow Chalke’s office to redirect a whistleblower’s information to another independent officer, such as the auditor-general or the watchdog commissioners who oversee elections, information and privacy, police complaints, lobbyists, or children and youth.