Government Operations committee  I think in part it's that there's a system established. Departments are required to have a senior officer and there is a system established. For a lot of people, that's going to be the first place they go to. That, ultimately, puts the determination of whether there's wrongdoing

Government Operations committee  Are you talking about timelines in terms of investigating either wrongdoing—

Government Operations committee  There's an old labour board saying that labour relations delayed are labour relations defeated and denied, and that applies in this case as well, so tighter timelines would be better. I could give you examples of timelines that we're dealing with on cases that are years and years

Government Operations committee  I have a response to that as well. The Canadian Standards Association, which is now the CSA Group, recently published a guideline on whistle-blowing. Both Mr. Hutton and I were part of the working group that put that together. One of the chief recommendations for any employer is

Government Operations committee  Do you mean in the course of an investigation or a complaint, or just generally?

Government Operations committee  In some cases, yes. Unions have a duty to represent and they've taken upon themselves to learn about that, so I've seen them provide effective representation for complainants. Oftentimes when the case becomes too complicated or is difficult, then someone like me will be retained

Government Operations committee  I have not really. There is some change in the sense that there is a process available, not only to investigate wrongdoing but also to help people who are engaged in reprisal. I still find that because the process is so ineffective, the advice I give to people is the same; it's n

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to testify this morning. The 10 minutes is real time, not lawyer time, right?

Government Operations committee  First, I just want to give you a little bit of information about me. I'm a labour and human rights lawyer here in Ottawa. A substantial portion of my practice is representing whistle-blowers. I've represented Dr. Shiv Chopra and Dr. Margaret Hayden, Health Canada whistle-blowers;