Whistleblowers need better protection in Saskatchewan: report

The public interest disclosure commissioner outlined a number of ways the government can work to assure public sector employees can file complaints without fear of reprisal.

Saskatchewan’s public interest disclosure commissioner says legislative changes are needed to strengthen protection for whistleblowers in the province.

In her latest annual report, commissioner Mary McFadyen says that in the 10 years the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) has been in effect, just 139 provincial public sector employees have contacted her office suspecting a wrongdoing has occurred.

“Considering there’s about 67,000-plus public employees in Saskatchewan, that’s not that many,” McFadyen said Thursday at the legislature after her report was published.

“That doesn’t mean that everything’s fine, but it doesn’t mean that necessarily that things are bad, it’s just that people should be comfortable coming forward.”

According to the province, PIDA “protects employees who make a disclosure of wrongdoing in good faith, which occurred in their workplace that relates to public interest” and applies to employees of provincial ministries, Crown corporations, and a large number of government agencies, boards and other government institutions.

Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and Saskatchewan Cancer Agency employees are also covered under the legislation.

A “wrongdoing” can be defined as one or more of the following:

McFadyen’s report recommends a number of specific actions she believes will result in public sector employees feeling more comfortable coming forward with complaints.