Canada’s Public Sector Integrity Commissioner says the office is struggling to handle ‘unprecedented numbers’ of wrongdoing and reprisal cases, and ‘resources have not kept pace, causing detrimental delays to investigations.’

Canada’s public service watchdog says her office is in a “really dire situation” with an explosion in the volume of complaints received and a persistent budget shortfall, with investigations into wrongdoing and reprisals potentially in jeopardy.

“At this stage, I have to sound the alarm,” Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada Harriet Solloway said in an interview with The Hill Times.

“I'm not going to hide the amount of money that we do need if we're going to pull ourselves above water and stay there.”

Solloway is asking the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) for a “one-time injection” of $6.7-million for more work space, she said, as a “rate-limiting” factor in the office’s productivity is a lack of private space for confidential witness interviews.

Solloway says her office needs $14.3-million in ongoing funding in order to nearly double its staff to address a backlog in cases. That includes hiring investigators, analysts, and lawyers, and providing them with “enabling resources,” including adequate facilities for confidential witness interviews. According to the 2025-26 main estimates, the office has a budget of $7.9-million.

A lack of funding runs the risk of “completely discrediting, and therefore ruining the impact of a proper whistleblower regime,” Solloway said.

“The Canadian public needs to be assured that somebody is thoroughly and independently investigating, and we do that,” she said. “But the longer it takes us to get to an investigation, and complete an investigation … if there is wrongdoing, if there is bad behaviour, it will continue for that period of time.”

Solloway recently made public a letter she sent to Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali (Brampton—Chinguacousy Park, Ont.) where she made the case for an “urgent funding request.”

Solloway’s letter says her office is “facing unprecedented numbers of allegations of wrongdoing and reprisal against whistleblowers,” and “resources have not kept pace, causing detrimental delays to investigations and creating a risk to our ability to carry out our legislated mandate."

She said delays in investigating can lead to the “possible erosion” of witnesses’ memories, and the potential loss of evidence. 

“Delays allow wrongdoing and reprisals to continue unaddressed,” she said.

In 2025, Solloway’s office saw 638 complaints of wrongdoing or reprisal, an increase of more than 50 per cent compared to 2024, when 419 complaints were submitted. Each complaint contains an average of 2.5 allegations, her office confirmed.

The office analyzed and completed 594 complaints compared to 342 the year prior—an increase of 73 per cent in productivity.

"But we’re still under water,” Solloway said, noting in 2025 her office launched 37 investigations—an increase of 185 per cent from 2022—whereas in 2022, it opened 13 investigations.

This isn’t the first time in recent months that Solloway has raised alarm bells about a lack of funding potentially impeding her office’s ability to function. The office's departmental plan, published in June 2025 makes note of plans to ask for more cash.

“Trend analyses demonstrate that the allocated funds will be insufficient to enable the full implementation of the Office’s statutory mandate,” the plan says of the $7.9-million.

Solloway said she’s concerned people may lose faith in Canada’s whistleblower program entirely.

“We really run the risk of people saying, ‘what’s the point of this regime anyway? Why should I come forward?” she said. “Or worse, you might have wrongdoers saying ‘well, I’m not going to get caught.’ I really think it negatively impacts the whole purpose of a whistleblower regime.”

TBS spokesperson Barb Couperus said any funding increases to Solloway’s office, “or those of any other officers of Parliament, would be considered through the budget process, which is subject to cabinet confidence.”

She noted the office’s budget was increased in the 2024-25 Main Estimates, as well as 2025-26, and the office is also exempt from government efforts to rein in spending and cut staff “to protect their independence.”

Ian Bron is a former public servant, whistleblower, and researcher at the Utrecht University School of Governance in the Netherlands. The increase in cases coming to Solloway’s office suggests that public servants are “turning their backs” on departmental integrity officers in favour of the commissioner, said Bron, who came forward with his concerns about Transport Canada’s oversight of marine transportation security in 2006. He was also a founding member of Canadians for Accountability, a whistleblowing advocacy group.

“So it's an encouraging sign for her office,” he said. “But if she can't keep up with the cases, of course, it's going to lead to more deterioration in trust.”

Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali, pictured, received a letter from Harriet Solloway, the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, requesting more funding.

One of the things that is most difficult for whistleblowers is “being in this limbo of not knowing what's happening with their cases, whether it's going to be successful or not,” Bron said.

“And quite often they don't even have the resources to keep the whistleblowers informed on the progress of the case. And that’s toxic to trust.”

Bron has studied whistleblower regimes in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, and said countries with a Westminster-style parliaments have “too many opportunities for political interference.”

Canada, he said, is known as having one of the worst whistleblower systems internationally. Meanwhile, some countries like Latvia are seen as having a more robust system, with its anti-corruption commission funded to the tune of $14.5-million Euros per year, with an office of 144 people.

“It’s pretty typical of these offices to be underfunded, and that’s a political choice,” Bron said.

He compared Solloway’s 2024-25 operating budget of slightly under $8-million and staff of 37, to the Auditor General’s office, which had a budget of over $136-million and 150 employees.

“They're really not funding it in a way that suggests that they're quite serious about getting to the bottom of these reports of wrongdoing or complaints of reprisal, or whatever it might be.”

Ian Stedman, a scholar on public sector ethics, said Solloway’s public plea is a sign that the office is “at their wit’s end” in asking for more funding.

“It’s really rare for them to come out in this public way,” he said. “I hate to see this, I absolutely hate to see this, but I love that the letter says ‘listen, I don’t take this lightly.’”

He said the funding issues could lead to a spiral of “cynicism” in the institution.

“I think when this office comes out and says, ‘I don't have the money to properly investigate,’ I think the public looks at that and says, ‘well maybe that's by design,’” Stedman said in an interview.

“That's the cynicism that will come out of this, if this office doesn't have the money it needs, even after it's asked politely and with data to support the ask.”