This summer, we spoke with Canada’s officers of Parliament. We profile each in an eight-part series. Read them all here.
The word “integrity” is right there, in the name of the office. But there was very little to be found when Mario Dion took its reins.
At the time, the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner was plagued with accusations of dishonesty and corruption. They centred around one woman, the office’s first-ever commissioner, who ended up leaving the office in the midst of a federal audit, shrouded by controversy.
This, from an office set up to ensure there is no corruption, mismanagement or abuse in the 375,000-member federal public service.
But Dion, who took the helm in December 2010, loves a challenge; the idea of leading a team of roughly 30 employees to rebuild a young office that had crumbled under its previous leader seemed feasible to him.
“I’ve always enjoyed challenges,” the Montreal native said in a recent interview. “The dimensions of this challenge were not that big compared to some things I had done in the past.”
Beginning in 2003, the career public servant led a team tasked with trying to blot out one of the blackest marks on Canada’s history—one then-justice minister Irwin Cotler described as the “single-most harmful, disgraceful and racist act in our history.”
As executive director and deputy head of Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution of Canada, Dion helped the government reach a settlement agreement for the tens of thousands of former students of residential schools.
The resolution was on his shoulders and the eventual compensation package, announced in 2006 and worth almost $2 billion, was his pitch, Dion said during an interview in his Ottawa office.
“It was my idea, essentially, that I had sold to the deputy prime minister and cabinet,” he said, sitting opposite a wall adorned only with a framed document confirming his mandate as commissioner.
Getting back on the rails
The scope of the residential school resolution was considerably vast—there were 16,000 files with about 500 public servants working on them, Dion said.
When he took over the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, he was looking at about 221 files and 14 public servants, as well as the task of restoring public trust in the office.
Dion, now 56 years old, came out of retirement to take on this challenge. After 32 years in the public service, he decided to call it a day in 2009, while at the Parole Board of Canada.
But just one year later, he was back on the scene when the government brought him to the Office of the Public Sector Integrity commissioner on an interim basis, for two six-month terms.
“This office was badly damaged because of the auditor general’s report, but (rebuilding) it was achievable in my mind,” he said. “Not to be completed in six months, but I could at least try to put the train back on the rails in those first six months.”
After his two interim terms, the government offered him a seven-year mandate.
Dion’s office exists to confidentially investigate allegations of mismanagement within the public service. The commissioner is expected to take all allegations seriously, whether they entail misspending, mismanagement or threats to public safety.
“It’s akin to crime prevention,” he says. “It’s a protection policy. You know that if someone sees gross mismanagement in the public sector, if somebody sees something that endangers public safety within the public sector, they have a place to go.”
One of Dion’s recent reports found an officer with the Canadian Border Services Agency had close ties with an organized crime outfit that is based in Thunder Bay, Ont. and operates internationally.
During a police raid at a Thunder Bay bar, this man identified himself as a CBSA officer, allegedly as a means of dodging the law. Based on his findings, Dion said, he felt the officer was not able to perform his duties in an objective manner and could potentially harm the reputation of the agency.
In addition to investigations like this, the commissioner’s office is expected to protect whistleblowers from retaliation or otherwise suffering as a consequence of coming forward with information.
But none of this was happening prior to Dion’s arrival.
Ramping up investigations
In October 2010, then-auditor general Sheila Fraser announced she was launching an audit into the office, then under the control of Christiane Ouimet.
In response, Ouimet unexpectedly retired, less than half-way through her seven-year mandate, leaving the battered office in a state of flux.
The results of the auditor general’s review were released weeks later, and many were shocked.
The audit told the story of a commissioner accused of bullying and berating her staff. Many employees were unable to endure the intimidation, yelling and swearing, resulting in a 50 per cent turnover rate.
Further, the audit found Ouimet had chosen to investigate only seven of 228 complaints filed during her tenure. Not one complaint that landed on her desk satisfied her interpretation of the law—she did not find that a single one reported in more than three years was founded.
Dion says he hasn’t spoken with Ouimet since he took over her job.
“Never. Since December 2010, I have not seen, spoken to or heard from Christiane Ouimet,” he said.
As a result, Dion hasn’t had the opportunity to discuss Ouimet’s interpretation of the law with her.
Under Dion, the office has investigated about 90 cases.
“I guess I have a generous view of the provisions of the act, in determining whether to investigate. It appears Ouimet did not take such a generous view. But it’s case-by-case. I have no quota, no objective. I do have a limited capacity, though. I can’t do 500 investigations.”
When someone comes to Dion’s office with an allegation of wrongdoing, a group of analysts assess the complaint and determine first whether they require any additional information. Then, they compare what’s been disclosed against what’s written in the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act in order to determine whether an investigation is warranted. If it is, they launch an investigation that can take up to one year.
The office follows a similar procedure for allegations of reprisal.
But it’s not enough for some critics, who are looking for the commissioner to stand up for whistleblowers and increase the investigations and findings of wrongdoing.
Dion hears from these critics frequently, but says he and they have a fundamental difference vis-à-vis the role of his office. In his mind, he is more of a judge than advocate.
“Some critics would like us to really pursue vigorously any disclosure that’s brought to us,” he said. “But there are always two sides to this – the alleged wrongdoer also has rights.”
Dion is comfortable in his role, and pleased with the tools at his disposal. He said he could think of only one aspect of the act he would like to see changed—the provision that prevents his office from obtaining information outside of the federal public sector.
“There’s a big gate, a great wall around the federal public sector, and we’re not allowed to cross that wall,” he said. “There’s no power to go beyond that wall … It would be very useful if that was amended.”
Cone of silence
His general satisfaction with his legislation, however, doesn’t mean Dion doesn’t deal with his share of pressure and stress.
“The job requires you to do things that are very unpleasant to managers throughout the public sector,” he said. “When an investigation is happening to you, it’s not fun. Being investigated is not a pleasant adventure. And once the result is in, and you were found to have committed wrongdoing, it’s not very pleasant. It creates some turmoil.”
One of the biggest obstacles he faces is that all of the office’s work is confidential, making it difficult sometimes to explain to the public what’s happening, without giving real-life examples.
But on a personal level, he’s fine with keeping secrets. His work history—time as a legal advisor and on the parole board are just two items on his resume—has been paved with secrets.
“I’m used to it,” he said. “I’m used to client-solicitor privilege since I joined the government at the age of 24. I’ve been unable to talk about much since then. And my wife is used to it, because she was there when I was 24.”
What he can talk about, however, is the faith outsiders have in his institution.
“I’m too old to think that faith can be restored in a matter of two and a half years,” he said. “It will take more than a couple of years for people to develop true trust for this office. The level of trust is much greater than it may have been two or three years ago, but we still have a long way to go.”
However long it takes to restore the trust, Dion says he will be aboard.
“The role of this office is very meaningful. There’s clearly a wave among democracies towards making sure whistleblowers have a place to go in both the public and the private sectors.” he said.
“I see this as a worthwhile endeavour … a chance to really influence the course of the future and fix what appeared to be a problem. It is something I have an attraction to because it’s pleasant while you’re doing it, and it’s pleasant to reap the benefits after you’re finished doing it.”
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