Mr. Speaker, public servants who disclose wrongdoing within or relating to the public sector, under either the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act or under any other act of Parliament, are protected from reprisal for having made that disclosure. They may not be fired, demoted, disciplined or subjected to any other measure that adversely affects their employment or working conditions because they have made a protected disclosure.
The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act provides that public servants may make a disclosure to their supervisor, or to the senior officer designated by the chief executive of their organization, or to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. In circumstances where there is not sufficient time to make the disclosure in one of these ways, and the disclosure is related to a serious offence under an act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, or there is an imminent risk of a substantial danger to the life, health and safety of persons or the environment, the public servant may make a protected disclosure to the public.
Under section 42.3 of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, anyone who takes a reprisal against a public servant, or who directs that a reprisal be taken, commits an offence and is guilty of either an indictable offence and is liable to a fine or imprisonment, or both; or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine or imprisonment, or both.