What is happening in the Quebec Family Ministry? One of the government’s smallest departments received a record number of whistleblower reports last year, according to its annual management report.
In the period 2022-2023, a total of 26 reports of misconduct were recorded for equally different reasons. The department received one disclosure the previous year and none the year before that.
The large number of whistleblowers in the Ministry of Family Affairs also stands in contrast to other ministries. Last year there were two disclosures to the Department of Immigration and only one to the Department of Transport. Otherwise: zero.
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The law to make it easier to disclose misconduct to public bodies has been in place since 2017. Former Department of Agriculture agronomist Louis Robert is the best-known official to have used it.
The reporting person has the legal certainty that their identity and the nature of their report are protected. For this reason, the Family Ministry was only able to provide us with a limited amount of information.
According to the report, seven of the 26 disclosures received were found to be substantiated. At least one concerns a violation of a law or regulation, at least one concerns the misuse of funds or property of a public body, and at least one concerns mismanagement within a public body, including abuse of authority.
A disclosure submitted to UPAC
A disclosure was forwarded to an authority responsible for preventing, detecting or suppressing the crime or crimes, the report said. According to our information, this is the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC), but the ministry does not want to confirm this.
Government whistleblowers may also disclose breaches of ethical standards or an act or omission that poses serious harm to health, safety or the environment. However, this was not the case in disclosures received by the Family Ministry last year.
The 26 disclosures relate to subsidized educational child care services.
Subsidized child care services include early childhood centers (CPE), subsidized day care centers, and accredited family day care services.
The ministry explains that it is not just civil servants who can denounce misconduct. Anyone in the child care network or the public can do this.
The ministry explains the explosion of denunciations with clarifications on its website, in particular by saying that it wants to reassure public officials given the risk of reprisals.
Despite the large number of denunciations, the ministry ensures that its services are not overloaded and that all dossiers are processed on time.
Do you have any information about these denunciations?
Write to our journalist in absolute confidence at [email protected].