Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for having me.
On behalf of my colleagues, I would also like to thank Mr. Garon and Mrs. Vignola.
My name is Luc Sabourin. I'm 55 years old and the father of two young children, a 16‑year‑old girl and a 12‑year‑old boy. I am a whistle-blower who disclosed federal wrongdoings internally.
I was a senior quality control operator for the entry of critical and specific information in a federal database that contributes in part to national and international security. I held the highest security clearances, granted on an extremely limited and restricted basis. I performed my duties in an operational environment for the Canadian government during my 26 years of service, with no incidents in my career file.
My career began on August 13, 1990, and ended tragically and harshly on February 16, 2016. During the period from March 2009 to February 2016, I witnessed a number of criminal wrongdoings in my workplace. On February 16, 2016, I received a constructive administrative dismissal. This administrative procedure was the final step taken by my employer after eight years of psychological, physical and administrative harassment.
This constructive dismissal constituted a major reprisal by my employer for two reasons. First, an outside investigation, but one that was extremely limited and under the administrative control of the branch, revealed and demonstrated that the employer was guilty of harassment towards me.
Second, I used the internal disclosure processes, and religiously followed the employer's internal guidelines and protocols on disclosing wrongdoings and crimes in the federal workplace.
Consequently, management and co‑workers who were the perpetrators undertook a major campaign of reprisals against me just to undermine and destroy me, and to catch me doing something wrong in order to justify my dismissal. For eight years, I was the victim of psychological, physical and administrative harassment in the workplace, as well as a smear campaign, abusive management practices and unwarranted threats from colleagues and members of management. It was so extreme that I suffered a psychological breakdown.
In 2015, I reached the breaking point psychologically and made an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Today, life has given me a second chance to speak on behalf of some of my colleagues who are no longer with us as well as those who are still here. No one should have to go through what internal whistle-blowers experience at the hands of their employer.
I asked for help from the person in charge of my workplace, my Liberal member of Parliament, the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Justice. I also made a complaint to the RCMP, which has been unsuccessful to date.
Today, I am on permanent retirement for medical reasons. I am physically, mentally and financially shattered. My personal life and professional career have been destroyed, and the future is uncertain for me and my family.
I can state with certainty that the Government of Canada and the Canadian people had an experienced honest public servant who represented their interests with integrity and transparency. It is for these same reasons that the employer ended my career as a federal public servant.
It is imperative that each of you support amending the current law by passing Bill C‑290 for whistle-blowers in the federal public service. This will protect them and save lives in the interest of transparency and justice. Democracy and public safety must be protected from potentially destructive and illegal situations in the federal public sector.
Thank you all for listening.