The Anti-Corruption Law Program's Roundtable Discussion on Whistleblowing: Protections, Abuses, and Reporting Systems

Join our group of distinguished panelists as they discuss key topics on the role of whistleblowers in combating corruption, such as:

• What current systems and regulations are in place to protect whistleblowers, and are these working? What performance metrics should be applied to measure the effectiveness of these systems?
• Do people trust the protections and anonymity of these systems, and is that level of trust supported by experiential data that shows (i) a lack of retribution against the whistleblowers, as well as (ii) the willingness of a growing number of people coming forward to blow the whistle?
• Are incentives necessary to encourage whistleblowers to report to agencies, such as the Office of the Whistleblower, that are being used by securities commissions? How can these incentive-based public whistleblowing systems attract a sufficient number of accurate and credible reports of wrongdoing to make these publicly-financed systems worthwhile? How can regulators fund these incentive-based whistleblowing systems?
• What percentage of (legitimate) whistleblowing actually results in remedial actions such as firings, substantial fines, or even jail time for wrongdoers? What critical elements need to change to make whistleblowing systems more effective?
• How can organizations set up an effective internal whistleblower hotline and/or related reporting systems, robust investigative follow up, and sanctions where appropriate? Will these measures mitigate the risk of employees using alternative external whistleblowing channels?
• How does Canada’s whistleblowing regulatory regime interface with other privacy/data protection regulatory systems?
• What are the risks for organizations if they engage third parties to receive and forward whistleblower reports to their senior compliance teams? How are these third parties protected?

Moderator: Emmy Babalola, Partner, Forensic Practice and Head of Whistleblowing Service and Workplace Conduct Practice, Deloitte Canada, Toronto

Panelists:

• Jordan Thomas - Partner & Chair, Whistleblower Representation Practice at Labaton Sucharow LLP, New York
• Anca Sattler - Counsel, Privacy and Data Protection, International Trade Law at Dentons, Ottawa
• Sandy Boucher - Principal, Forensics Advisory at Grant Thornton LLP (Canada), Toronto
• Mary Inman - Partner and Head of International Whistleblower Practice at Constantine Cannon LLP, London/San Francisco
• Michael Scott - Director, Compliance and Investigations at Real Estate Council of British Columbia, Vancouver
• Paul Townsend - Former Chief Risk Officer, VP Audit, and Chief Compliance Officer at Teekay Group, Vancouver

The accompanying material briefing note can be read here.

Hosted by the Anti-Corruption Law Program, a collaborative partnership of the Centre for Business Law, Transparency International Canada, and the International Centre for Criminal Reform & Criminal Justice Policy.

This event was recorded and is accessible on YouTube.

Watch the Recording