Prime
Minister Stephen Harper today welcomed
Canada’s new Public Sector Integrity
Commissioner, Ms. Christiane Ouimet,
whose appointment was recently approved
by the Senate and the House of Commons.
This appointment will be effective
August 6, 2007.
The mandate of the Public Sector
Integrity Commissioner is set out in the
new Public Servants Disclosure
Protection Act which entered into force
on April 15, 2007. An Agent of
Parliament, the Public Sector Integrity
Commissioner is responsible for the
administration of the new Act, which
protects public servants and Canadians
who report wrongdoing in the federal
government. The Commissioner will
conduct independent reviews of
disclosures of wrongdoing in an
equitable and timely manner, issue
findings to enable organizations to take
appropriate remedial action and submit
annual and special reports to Parliament.
Biographical notes on Ms. Ouimet are
attached.
* * * *
CHRISTIANE OUIMET
Christiane Ouimet, a lawyer and member
of the Law Society of Upper Canada, has
had a twenty five year career with the
federal government. Since June 2003, she
has been serving as an Associate Deputy
Minister – first at Public Works and
Government Services Canada and more
recently at Agriculture and Agri-food
Canada. Prior to that, she held the
position of Executive Director of the
Immigration and Refugee Board, the
largest administrative tribunal in the
country. She has worked in eight
different departments and agencies,
primarily in the area of audit,
regulatory affairs, policing and
enforcement, quasi-judicial functions
and machinery of government.
A graduate of the University of Ottawa,
Mme Ouimet has an Honours degree (French
letters) and two Bachelors Degrees in
Law; one from the Faculty of Civil Law,
where she taught part-time early in her
career, and the other from the Faculty
of Common Law. She is a member of the
Ontario Bar.
