Good afternoon. I will be brief.
SIPA, or the Small Investor Protection Association, is incorporated as a national non-profit organization. We are fortunate to have the support of many volunteers who devote their time and energy to our work as we try to raise awareness among Canadians.
Three decades ago I lost my life savings due to fraud and wrongdoing by a major financial institution. Like most Canadians, I trusted them to look after my best interests. The impact was devastating and life-altering. It was another 10 years before I suspected anything wrong was done. I investigated for six months. What I found was distressing. It was not unusual. It was commonplace. I found that my adviser had been disciplined and fined several times. I tracked down a half-dozen of his victims. All had received the same treatment. He had been doing the same things for 15 years.
One of his victims had died during the legal process. Who knows how many were victimized? When I spoke with his widow, Shirley, I knew I must do something to try to help other Canadians. She is the reason SIPA was founded in 1998. Shirley and her husband had operated a family business for 25 years. He contracted terminal cancer. The business and the house were sold, and the proceeds and all of their savings were placed in the care of this adviser. About $1 million in total she trusted to him. It seemed enough to support a senior widow. Three years later, she was called into their office to hear them explain that her money was gone. They were sorry, but they could do nothing.
Since founding SIPA, I've talked with many hundreds of victims. Their stories are all quite similar: lives are ruined, health is harmed, families are broken up, many talk of committing suicide, and some do.
The CBC Go Public TV and radio programs over the last two months have raised public awareness more than SIPA has been able to do in two decades. There's a new awareness that is building. Any government inquiry must talk to the victims to hear the truth.
It is not the bank teller upselling or being pushed to meet sales targets that is the major issue, but it is indicative of the culture and attitude of the financial institutions that extends to their financial advisers, who are motivated by sales targets and the need to generate commissions to satisfy the commission grid. The soothing words of codes of ethics and regulators' rules and guidelines do little to save Canadians from harm. Self-regulation in this industry does little to protect Canadian consumers. Rather, it adds to the deception that encourages Canadians to place their trust in the financial institutions.
SIPA has issued a series of reports that reveal some of the facets of strategic insidious deception. Members of the committee are urged to peruse some of these reports. However, it is most important that you talk with many witnesses—CBC's Go Public has heard from thousands—and then try to reconcile what you're hearing from the industry and what you hear from Canadian citizens.
Recognizing that there are provincial and federal regulatory jurisdictions, we believe it is essential that the Government of Canada establish a national consumer protection authority that will work with all the regulators, but have the power to order investigations and to pay restitution when it's found to be appropriate.
Thank you.