Government Operations committee  Yes, and again to go back to the proposals that we tabled in February, the reverse onus provision to me would provide our office with the ability to be much more flexible and much less...I don't want to say thorough, but perhaps less formal in the work we do. I would hope that if we set the parameters for that work in the presence of a reverse onus, the Federal Court of Appeal would not be looking at the fullness of an investigation, because we would be doing more of a screening in order to get that person to the tribunal much faster than they are now.

Government Operations committee  One of the changes we proposed, for example, was to actually break down that structure of who you can speak to. Right now the act says that you come to your manager, your senior officer, or you come to me. Our first proposal is that you can make a disclosure to anybody in the chain of command, all the way up to the chief executive.

Government Operations committee  I think the principle that a whistle-blower has as many options as possible is an important one. I also think having access to someone with authority to address the issue is part of the structure. I would point out that in our—

Government Operations committee  Subsection 19.3(2) provides that if there is a grievance in place, I don't have discretion. I'm prohibited from acting on something if the subject matter of a reprisal is the subject matter of the grievance. I have the discretion to not deal with a reprisal case if I am of the view that there is another process that could more adequately deal with that process.

Government Operations committee  Could I just interrupt to say that we provided to the committee reasons and statistics to all the heads for closing files, but we're more than happy to review them as carefully as you wish us to.

Government Operations committee  I would point out, Mr. Chair, that the act, in section 4, specifically assigns to Treasury Board or the office of the chief human resources officer the obligation to: promote ethical practices in the public sector and a positive environment for disclosing wrongdoings by disseminating knowledge of this Act and information about its purposes and processes

Government Operations committee  Yes. I do want to say that there is a specific statutory duty that's assigned to Treasury Board there. I try to supplement that by.... I don't speak on behalf of Treasury Board, but I do speak about them in terms of their role—

Government Operations committee  No. That would be reported.... Under the legislation, that would be gathered by Treasury Board, which is responsible for the internal whistle-blowing regime. I would get a copy of that report, as anybody else would, but since I have no jurisdiction over the internal regime, I stay external and therefore preserve my independence, which is very important to me.

Government Operations committee  I would like to say that the case report that I tabled on February 16 was based on an anonymous disclosure. Our act is silent with respect to anonymous disclosures. Treasury Board is of the view that an anonymous disclosure is not a protected disclosure. I am of the view that if I get enough precise, reliable information to proceed with an anonymous disclosure, I will, and the February 16 case report involving the Public Health Agency of Canada was the first case report flowing from an anonymous disclosure.

Government Operations committee  It becomes somewhat of a two-edged sword. To encourage anonymous disclosures is not necessarily in line with fulfilling the aims of an act. I think that as you work toward a system in which people have more confidence and they see it working, they would be less likely to make an anonymous disclosure, but at this time I don't think I have the moral authority to reject one.

Government Operations committee  We do have internal procedures. We have, for example, investigative steps and procedures, and a manual, which is an evergreen document, that's currently being redrafted on the issue of what we were just talking about now, essentially easier access to the tribunal. Mr. Radford and I are actually discussing whether there are steps we can take procedurally without having to change the legislation to make that procedure more informal, recognizing, of course, that when the courts review our work, they often tell us to become more formal in order to protect procedural fairness and natural justice, so there's this trade-off.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely, and I can—

Government Operations committee  In tab 6 of the initial briefing book that I provided to the committee, there are three of our policies, the three we completed after a consultation.

Government Operations committee  The process continues. Those are the three we have now, but we have others that are in the process of being completed. This is an initiative I started last year.

Government Operations committee  Yes.