Media Center

Press Release

OAS Anti-Corruption Mechanism Releases Report on Canada

The Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the Canada report on the implementation of this treaty in the context of the Fourth Round of Review of the Mechanism, during its Twenty-Third Meeting held last week at the headquarters of the hemispheric institution.

The report focuses one of its most significant chapters on the examination of the oversight bodies in Canada with the responsibility for the prevention, detection, punishment, and eradication of acts of corruption. In this regard, the report examines the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the Public Service Commission, and the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs.

The review was carried out taking into account Canada's response to a questionnaire, information gathered by the MESICIC Technical Secretariat and, as a new and important source of information, an on-site visit conducted October 16-18, 2013. The delegation that visited Canada was comprised of representatives of Bolivia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as members of the Technical Secretariat. During the visit, the review team met with representatives of the aforementioned oversight bodies and representatives of the civil society organization, "Transparency International Canada."

Among the recommendations for consideration by Canada in connection with the above-mentioned bodies, the report advises the Treasury Board Secretariat to consider exploring additional means to meet the training and information needs of personnel involved in internal disclosure of wrongdoing; to utilize the Management Accountability Framework to monitor, evaluate and provide feedback on the manner in which organizations are implementing their internal disclosure procedures; and to ensure that support is provided to chief executives with advice and assistance as needed and requested in relation to the creation and establishment of Codes of Conduct.

Regarding the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the report recommends to consider updating their guides and manuals, in particular the Federal Prosecution Service Deskbook and the Proposed Best Practices for Prosecuting Fraud against Governments; to provide the Public Prosecution Service of Canada with the budgetary and human resources needed for adequate enforcement of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, within available resources; and to make publicly available its statistical information with respect to relevant criminal code provisions on offenses related to acts of corruption.

Pertaining to the Public Service Commission, the report suggests to consider reviewing the control measures in place to ensure that it is effectively monitoring the delegated appointment process within the Public Service Commission; to review the appointment process carried out by Public Service Commission to ensure that hiring is based on merit; and to update its guides and manuals, in particular the Audit Manual and those relating to investigations.

With respect to the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, it is recommended to consider taking steps to report whether or not founded wrongdoings have occurred, as set out in the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, in the Proactive Disclosure section of its website; to conclude with the implementation of the action plan that was developed to address the findings of the Public Service Commission audit; and to ensure that completed internal audit reports, including management action plans, are made accessible to the public on its website, in a timely manner.

Among the advances made on the follow-up of the recommendations formulated to Canada in the First Round of the MESICIC are: improving evaluation mechanisms to analyze the results of enforcement of conflict of interest provisions and developing procedures to analyze the mechanisms mentioned by the First Round of Review and its related recommendations.

In addition, the report notes that Canada also provided information on an initiative by the Treasury Board Secretariat, in conjunction with the Canada School of Public Service, on on-line courses on the topic of values and ethics for public servants and managers, as well as an initiative by the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs to inform the public of its mandate.

During the Twenty-Third Meeting of the MESICIC, similar reports were adopted for the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana and Nicaragua. The reports and additional information are available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-108/14