Vancouver city hall is an “outlier” because it lacks a policy for handling public whistleblower complaints and relies on the human resources department to investigate, according to a report from the civic auditor general.
“Vancouver’s Auditor General has no role with respect to whistleblowing and is required to comply with the city’s whistleblowing policy,” said Mike Macdonell’s report to the April 22 committee meeting. “This means that a whistleblowing complaint from city staff, received by the Auditor General, is to be referred to the general manager of human resources. While there is nothing that prevents the Auditor General from investigating any matter, the requirement to refer complaints to city management is inconsistent with the independence of the office.”
Macdonell reported that a summary of whistleblower complaints and investigation outcomes is supposed to be submitted annually to the city manager and city council, however, “We were informed that no such summary report has been written or reported to council.”
He obtained a spreadsheet showing complaints from 2015 to present day. In 2021, there were 113 complaints logged.
Council approved an update to its 2008 whistleblower policy in 2017 and another review took place in 2020. Macdonell recommended council direct city staff to revise the policy so that it addresses complaints from external sources and considers...
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