Safe disclosure

UVic encourages university community members, as well as the public, to report significant matters. The UVic Safe Disclosure process provides a confidential and safe means to speak out about concerns related to:

Financial Irregularities

Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA)

Conflicts of Interest

Other Types of Concern

Please click on the button below to go to the Safe Disclosure intake/reporting form.

Report a concern

Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA)

As of December 1, 2024, post-secondary institutions in British Columbia are subject to the . PIDA provides a way for public sector employees to report serious or systemic Wrongdoing with protections from Reprisal. UVic has created a new Public Interest Disclosure Act policy to provide additional rights and supports for those who wish to disclose their concerns about wrongdoing at UVic.

Wrongdoing under PIDA is defined as:

Offences: a serious act or omission that would constitute an offence.
Danger to people or environment: an act or omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of persons, or to the environment, other than a danger that is inherent in the performance of an employee’s duties or functions.
Misuse of public funds: a serious misuse of public funds or public assets. The misuse must be serious. Serious misuse may include misuse that is recurrent, systemic, deliberate, undertaken by a person at a senior level, or involving a high dollar value.
Mismanagement: Gross mismanagement means management of a government resource (example: staff, contract, project) that is highly inappropriate, irresponsible, reckless, deliberate, involving a significant resource, etc. Systemic mismanagement means mismanagement that is broad, longstanding, recurrent or inherent to the organization’s culture.
Directing wrongdoing: Telling someone else to do one of the acts or omissions listed above.

Reports of wrongdoing must be in writing by a current or former employee (if a wrongdoing occurred or was discovered when the employee was employed) to one of the following:

UVic’s Designated Officer via the link below,
The employee’s supervisor, or

More information on PIDA can be found on the site.

FAQs

What is the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA)?

PIDA is legislation, enacted by the BC government, that provides a framework for employees to report specific kinds of serious wrongdoing, with legislated protection from reprisal. Public interest disclosures must be about a matter of public interest and serious wrongdoing in or relating to the university.

How long has PIDA been in effect?

PIDA has been in effect for BC government employees since Dec. 1, 2019. It has been in effect for post-secondary institutions, including UVic employees, since Dec. 1, 2024.

Who can make a Public Interest Disclosure under PIDA?

You can make a public interest disclosure in the following situations:

You are a current UVic employee
You were a UVic employee in the past at the time you experienced or learned of the wrongdoing

What qualifies as wrongdoing under PIDA?

Allegations that meet the threshold of serious wrongdoing under PIDA are significant issues. PIDA deals with specific types of wrongdoing, including:

Offences: a serious act or omission that would constitute an offence under provincial or federal laws.
Danger to people or environment: an act or omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of persons, or to the environment, other than a danger that is inherent in the performance of an employee’s duties or functions.
Misuse of public funds: a serious misuse of public funds or public assets. The misuse must be serious. Serious misuse may include misuse that is recurrent, systemic, deliberate, undertaken by a person at a senior level, or involving a high dollar value.
Mismanagement: gross mismanagement of a government resource (example: staff, contract, project) that is highly inappropriate, irresponsible, reckless, deliberate, involving a significant resource, etc. Systemic mismanagement that is broad, longstanding, recurrent or inherent to the organization’s culture.
Directing wrongdoing: telling someone else to do one of the acts or omissions listed above.

What if I have concerns that don鈥檛 fit under PIDA?

PIDA is not intended to provide a pathway for employees to address their individual employment disputes or other concerns that fall outside of PIDA’s definition of wrongdoing. Employees who have concerns about such matters have existing policies and procedures to deal with those.

Examples that may not qualify as wrongdoing under PIDA include:

An individual workplace complaint
A disclosure about the conduct of a faculty or staff member
A disclosure related solely to a policy issue.

How do I make a disclosure under PIDA?

Reports of wrongdoing must be in writing by a current or former employee (if a wrongdoing occurred or was discovered when the employee was employed) to one of the following:

UVic’s Designated Officer via an online form
The employee’s supervisor

What privacy and confidentiality protections does the Act provide?

If an employee reports wrongdoing, the law requires their personal information and identity to be kept confidential to every extent possible.

The university is committed to “acting in accordance with [the ] FIPPA, which regulates the collection, use, disclosure, storage, and retention of personal information.” UVic is also guided by its own privacy and information security policies.

What are some examples of reprisals and how does PIDA protect employees?

PIDA prohibits reprisals against employees who seek advice, report wrongdoing or cooperate with an investigation. Reprisal can include any retaliatory action taken against an employee that could affect their employment or working conditions. These actions could include:

Being unreasonably performance managed
Being demoted or terminated
Missing out on professional development or advancement
Withholding information or access to tools or information an employee needs to do their job
Causing harm to employees or their property

An employee who engages in reprisal may be subject to discipline, up to and including termination of employment.

What should employees know about PIDA?

Employees are encouraged to speak with their supervisors and / or the UVic Designated Officer about specific questions relating to making a disclosure.

The BC Ombudsperson offers a free 1-hour course on speaking up safely here:

More resources for employees can be found here:

What do supervisors need to know about PIDA?

Supervisors are a point of contact for employees who wish to seek advice or report wrongdoing. It is the role of supervisors to:

Familiarize themselves with PIDA, in order to advise employees about the options for reporting and protections available
Protect the confidentiality of employees who seek advice or report wrongdoing
Refer reports as required to the Designated Officer

Supervisors do not assess an employee’s allegations to decide whether they meet the threshold of potential wrongdoing and do not investigate reports. Supervisors are expected to provide reports to the Designated Officer for assessment and, where appropriate, investigation.

More resources for supervisors can be found here:

Sexualized violence / discrimination and harassment

If you want to disclose an incident of Discrimination and Harassment please reach out to Equity and Human Rights (EQHR) to ask questions or to schedule a Confidential Consultation by emailing eqhr01@uvic.ca.

If you want to disclose an incident of Sexualized Violence, the Sexualized Violence Resource Office (SVRO) in EQHR can help you confidentially access resources, support and/or explore policy options under the Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response policy. You can get in touch with them anonymously by texting 236-638-3710, calling 250-721-8486 or by accessing the Anonymous Disclosure service. You can also schedule a confidential meeting in person or online with the Case Management Officer by emailing eqhr01@uvic.ca.

Financial irregularities

A financial irregularity is a departure from standard UVic financial / administrative procedures, policy requirements, or laws involving funds or other assets, and should be reported as soon as possible.

Response to suspected financial irregularities

UVic’s response to suspected financial irregularities (as well as other types of concerns) consists of three stages:

Identification and reporting
Investigation (if necessary)
Resolution

All reports of financial irregularities should be promptly brought to the attention of Internal Audit.

All departments at UVic are obliged to act in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and any relevant UVic policies.

Read the Financial Irregularities Response Management (FIRM) for more information.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest may arise when activities or situations place a person in a real, perceived or potential conflict between their duties or responsibilities related to research, teaching, administrative decisions or other activities in which they participate in the University and their private interests. Read the Conflict of Interest Policy for more information.

UVic does not tolerate any acts of retaliation against anyone who discloses a concern. If you are subject to any acts of retaliation, please report it to your supervisor or area lead, or contact Internal Audit confidentially via email (internalaudit@uvic.ca), phone (250-853-3123), or by clicking on the button below:

Report a concern

Other Types of Concerns*

Issue	Contact	Role	Contact details
Sexualized violence	Case Management Officer	eqhr01@uvic.ca	/sexualizedviolence/get-support/index.php
Discrimination and harassment, employment equity	Case Management Officer	eqhr01@uvic.ca	/equity/discrimination-harassment/index.php
On-campus security concerns and first aid	Campus Security Services	Manager of Security or Director of Security	/security/home/contact/index.php
Student fairness issues	Office of the Ombudsperson	Ombudsperson
Student non-academic conduct matters	Office of Student Life	studentlife@uvic.ca	/services/studentlife/contact/index.php
HR issues for Staff & Administration	Human Resources	Associate Vice-President	/hr/contact/index.php
Employment matters for Faculty & Librarians	Faculty Relations	Associate Vice-President Faculty Relations and Academic Administration	/vpacademic/about-contacts/contact-us/index.php#ipn-teams

* From page 7 of the FIRM document

(Related terms: fraud, theft, whistleblower, financial investigation, corruption, complaint, unethical, non-compliance, violation, hotline, bribery, scam)