Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for being here this morning.
The numbers are still very much a concern to me, the relatively few numbers of disclosures that are made in the first place. That's the first thing. That's the funnel we need to be working with. One would think, with a public service of 400,000 employees, that there would be somewhat more than the tens of cases—barely a hundred or so cases—we're seeing.
We heard testimony from other witnesses that of course not every disclosure enters into the criteria of whistle-blowing, but I'll take it from the position of a new employee, of somebody who's concerned about their job. They see something that they don't understand and want to talk to somebody about it, and the first thing they're greeted with—because apparently these are the kinds of tools that are given to the employees at their orientation—are five questions that you should ask yourself before you even say anything. As for some of the things the employees are told right away, I know we're trying to be helpful, but one thing they're told is to be concerned about what effect this would have on their families and their friends.
What's in it for the employee to even come forward? Nothing but trouble. Can you please comment on that?
Then I'd like to hear from you about how the changes that you would like to see would in fact encourage more people to come forward. Maybe we can take away the word “whistle-blowing” and just come forward with their concerns, because everyone benefits in that case.