On Monday city council approved the city’s updated whistleblower policy, meant to improve anonymous third-party reporting at city hall. The new policy has been drafted to replace the current policy, as well as existing fraud policy. Staff say the policy has been designed following council directives that came last fall when a motion was presented to make enhancements to the policy, allowing anonymous third-party reporting as a mechanism to increase public confidence. Council also wanted the policy to strengthen anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers and provide annual anonymized reporting on the number and types of disclosures received by the city, and the outcomes of those reported to council. The policy is meant to report “wrongdoings” by city staff, however it is not intended for the public to inquire about general service complaints, bylaw enforcement concerns or neighbour disputes, customer service issues or dissatisfaction with city decisions. The updated policy will also include aspects of the city’s fraud policy, which is no longer needed and was rescinded. The new policy is expected to be in effect by June 15. Councillors also were required to approve a budget addition of $100,000 to be funded by operating reserves to cover the costs of implementing the updated policy. Third-party grant funding Council approved a budget amendment for a third-party grant that will be used for the city’s tourism initiative and marketing campaign called “Opportunity is...
Renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has criticised President Bola Tinubu for relying on claims by United States President Donald Trump regarding the reported killing of senior Islamic ...