Integrity commissioner’s office struggling to keep up with complaints, disclosures

The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, May 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA — The office of the public sector integrity commissioner says it’s being overwhelmed by its workload and that eliminating the backlog of files would require more analysts and lawyers.

Commissioner Harriet Solloway says the office has received 380 submissions so far this year, including 78 reprisal complaints and 302 disclosures of wrongdoing.

Solloway says those cases are based on a variety of claims related to generalized abuses of power, toxic workplaces, widespread or systemic discrimination, or financial mismanagement.

Solloway says 220 files are still awaiting analysis, some dating back 15 months.

The commissioner says her office analyzed 56 submissions in June as it received 68 new ones, the highest number of monthly submissions to date.

Solloway says that, with the resources her office has, there is a risk that some allegations “may never see the light of day.”

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press