Saskatoon whistleblower law to be reviewed by employees, unions

Councillor Randy Donauer says he's happy with progress that's been made on his whistleblower legislation.

At its regular meeting on Monday, Saskatoon city councilvoted to send the draft bylaw back to committee and run the proposal past city workers and unions to hear their opinion.

"I'm very pleased," he told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "It took a little bit of time to get here."

The proposed law would allow employees to confidentially report any wrong-doings at City Hall to the city manager. If an investigation was warranted, a third-party investigator or law enforcement could be brought in.

Donauer said he and other councillors had been approached by concerned employees in the past, but no one knew how to deal with the problem.

"It was very cumbersome," he said. "The only way they knew how to deal with it was by going to a councillor, and sometimes they wanted to do it anonymously, because they were afraid."

Donauer said it's important that workers and unions review the policy before it's approved. He believes the policy has the potential to make workers feel safer and more included in city hall decisions, but only if they feel protected.

"We want to go back and have a chat with them, and say, honestly, go through this," he said. "If you want us to rip it apart and change some things, we can."

This would be the city's first whistleblower policy. Donauer said he was interested in making this a provincial policy, but wanted to start in Saskatoon first.

The city looked over policies in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, St. John's, Edmonton and Hamilton when drafting its own plan.

The law is expected to make its way back to council in the next few months.