Government Operations committee  I think the changes I recommended and the changes that came from this committee's hard and long work looking at the legislation were aimed both at removing barriers to coming forward, for example, removing the requirement that there be a good faith test, making it easier to report up through the chain of command within an organization, but also I suppose—I don't want to use the word “incentives”, but—providing clear evidence that peoples' needs would be addressed.

Government Operations committee  In my office, we pay for the conciliators so the parties don't have to cover that cost. We don't participate in the conciliation, but I have the rather unusual authority under my legislation to approve a conciliation agreement after it's reached. I look at it to make sure that it was not arrived at under duress, and that the parties had access to independent advice, for example, legal or otherwise, and—

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I would be the first to acknowledge that it is a very difficult and courageous thing for someone to come forward with a disclosure of wrongdoing—

Government Operations committee  —in any context. I don't believe it's confined to the public sector. It's a very difficult thing. The research paper we published at the end of 2016, “The Sound of Silence”, highlighted the two major fears. The first is a fear of reprisal and the second is—I don't know if you'd call it a fear—a concern that “nothing is going to be done anyway, so why should I bother?”

Government Operations committee  Certainly some of the major changes that I would like to see, and that I think would bring us in line with some of the best practices internationally, would require a legislative change. For example, the reversal of the burden of truth at the tribunal I think is of fundamental importance.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  That is an increase from last year, I am happy to be able to confirm.

Government Operations committee  I believe it was 77% last year, and this year 88% of the people in my office feel comfortable coming forward. I believe the public service rate is 48%.

Government Operations committee  I think the increase reflects the fact that this is the area, of course, that we work in every day. My management team and I focus a lot of attention and effort on ensuring that people understand our raison d'être, understand the processes, and understand, primarily, the great challenges that people face in coming forward.

Government Operations committee  Yes, we made 16.

Government Operations committee  We are certainly doing our best to exercise any and all flexibilities that the current law provides for us to do our work. Of course, it would be easier for us to do the work if we could change the law to improve it in the way that we suggested. Recognizing that we do have the law that we have, we are trying our very best to work with it.

Government Operations committee  In total, since the office was created 11 years ago, we have had a total of 16 conciliations. Three of those were last year. Every conciliation is one less file that goes before a formal tribunal. I've said to this committee before that I refuse to take that as a failure. I take it as a great success that we've allowed people to resolve a reprisal issue and get on with their lives and with their careers.

Government Operations committee  We're actually very sensitive to the wishes and the choice of the parties involved. We do advise all parties during the course of an investigation. The only way to have a conciliation under my act is if we believe there is sufficient information to actually launch an investigation.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  If I may say so, the legislative review process carried out by this committee, and the report that came from it, from our perspective was impressively thorough and complete and reflected the key concerns, elements, and concepts underlying whistle-blowing in the public sector. I commend the committee for what was intense and difficult work.