Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA)

What is PIDA
The Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA or the Act) is whistleblower legislation. Its purpose is to provide employees within the school system a mechanism to raise serious, or systemic issues, or wrongdoing for investigation, without exposing those employees to any risk of retaliation.

Cowichan Valley School Board and Whistle Blower Protection
The Board of Education of the Cowichan Valley School District is committed to honesty, integrity, and accountability in its operations, programs, and services and to promoting a culture of openness and transparency. The School District encourages and supports all personnel in
bringing forward reports of unlawful acts and acts of wrongdoing in a manner consistent with the provisions of the British Columbia Public Interest Disclosure Act (“PIDA”). It is the Cowichan Valley School Board’s obligation to receive, investigate and respond to complaints of wrongdoing that are made under the PIDA. See School Board Policy 26 and AP 171.

What conduct does PIDA apply to?
The PIDA is intended to encourage transparency, accountability and ethical decision making by creating a process for employees to report serious wrongdoing within an organization. A serious act or omission that, if proven, would breach any laws of British Columbia or Canada
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 function) a serious misuse of public funds, or public assets, gross or systemic management.

How does an employee make a Disclosure under PIDA?
An employee who reasonably believes that a wrongdoing has been committed or is about to be committed may make a Disclosure to their supervisor, the Superintendent, a Designated Officer other than the Superintendent, or the Ombudsperson.

A disclosure should be submitted in writing using the Disclosure Form or in other written form. Click here to download the form.
A disclosure may be submitted to the School District on an anonymous basis, but must contain sufficient information to permit the School District to conduct a full and fair investigation into the alleged wrongdoing. If a disclosure does not contain sufficient detail to permit investigation, the School District may take no action with respect to the disclosure. A discloser who is considering making a disclosure may request advice from any of their union representative or employee association representative, a lawyer, their supervisor, a Designated Officer, or the Ombudsperson.

A discloser should not make a disclosure to a person if the allegations relate, in whole or in part, to alleged wrongdoing by that person, and any person who receives a disclosure and reasonably believes that the allegations of wrongdoing relate to their own acts or omissions must refer the allegations of wrongdoing to another person under this Policy with responsibility for receiving a disclosure.

Who is responsible for compliance with PIDA?
PIDA vests responsibility for compliance with the “head” of the school district. All personal information that the Cowichan Valley School District collects, uses or shares in connection with the disclosure shall be treated as confidential. Each year, the Superintendent shall prepare a report in accordance with the requirements of PIDA and make available to the public, an annual report concerning all disclosures received, any investigation undertaken and findings of wrongdoing.

Annual PIDA Reporting
The Cowichan Valley School District will publish data related to PIDA annually. The annual report will include the number of disclosures received, the number of investigations initiated, details of the investigation if wrongdoing is confirmed and any information prescribed by the regulation.

No personal information will be disclosed as part of any public reports and the annual report will not contain any information that could lead to the identification of individuals who made the disclosure or participated in a PIDA investigation.

PIDA Reports

2023-2024 PIDA Annual Report