The Public Sector Integrity Officer
The position of Public Sector Integrity Officer was created in November 2001 and a respected academic, Dr Edward W. Keyserlingk, was appointed.
The PSIO was created, not by legislation, but under a Treasury Board policy entitled the Policy on the Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace. It gave Keyserlingk very limited powers and he quickly became concerned about this.
Government whistleblowers were reluctant to approach his office and several cases of misconduct – such as the Sponsorship Scandal and the job creation funding problems at HRDC – were never brought to his attention and were ultimately exposed in the media and in public audit reports. Dr. Keyserlingk was vocal in pointing out the limitations of his mandate and advocating major changes in the form of a law.
When the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner was created in April 2007, there was a handover of open cases and staff to the new agency. The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, Mme. Christiane Ouimet, took charge on August 6, 2010.
The following are the four annual reports produced by Dr. Keyserlingk during his tenure.
