The UBC community is invited to comment on a proposal to create a new Public Interest Disclosure Policy (the “PIDA Policy”). The Public Interest Disclosure Act (“PIDA”) is provincial legislation that was enacted on December 1, 2019 and which is expected to apply to research universities, including UBC, starting on December 1, 2024. PIDA provides a new option for employees and former employees to disclose serious wrongdoing to their supervisor, a designated officer of the organization, or the Ombudsperson appointed under the Ombudsperson Act, and makes it an offence to retaliate against an employee or former employee for reporting wrongdoing, seeking advice under PIDA, or participating in a PIDA investigation.
A Policy Development Committee (the “Committee”) has been convened to develop a proposal for a new Board of Governors’ Policy to implement the requirements of PIDA at UBC.
The proposed PIDA Policy recognizes that UBC already has robust rules to deal with improper conduct within the UBC community, including the Sexual Misconduct Policy, the Scholarly Integrity Policy, and the Financial Investigations Policy, and those who become aware of improper conduct are encouraged to submit reports in accordance with those Policies. However, as contemplated by PIDA, if an Employee (as defined in the PIDA Policy proposal) wishes to report conduct that the Employee believes to be Wrongdoing (as defined in the PIDA Policy proposal), and does not wish to do so under other applicable Policies, then the Employee may do so under the PIDA Policy.
The PIDA Policy proposal:
a) substantially mirrors the language and requirements of PIDA;
b) creates an option for Employees to seek advice and make disclosures of alleged Wrongdoing;
c) sets out the designated officers at UBC;
d) establishes procedures to manage requests for advice and disclosures of Wrongdoing; and
e) sets out the information that is required to be included in annual reports to be issued regarding disclosures and investigations of Wrongdoing.
The PIDA Policy proposal is now being published and all members of UBC’s community are encouraged to provide their comments. Please submit feedback to the Office of the University Counsel at university.counsel@ubc.ca by April 30, 2024.
For further information about the proposed amendments, please see the information package that was provided to the Board of Governors at https://bog3.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2024/02/4_2024_03_Proposed-New-Policy-Public-Interest-Disclosure-Policy-SC19.pdf.
Feedback received by the Office of the University Counsel from the UBC community will be provided to the members of the Committee for review and consideration. The Committee does not provide individual responses to persons submitting feedback. However, the feedback received will be summarized, along with the Committee’s response, in a Community Consultation Summary that will be included in the submission materials that are generally shared in open sessions of meetings of the responsible Board of Governors’ committee and the Board of Governors.