Acts of Founded Wrongdoing
A serious breach of a code of conduct established under section 5 or 6
In June of 2023, the Office of Internal Disclosures launched an investigation to determine whether an IRCC employee committed wrongdoing in relation to his use of the Global Case Management System (GCMS). The investigation found that the employee accessed GMCS on four occasions, over the course of a few years, to locate an estranged family member. The investigation also found that the employee used GCMS to find information on a person against whom he pursued legal action. The employee was found to have committed wrongdoing as defined under paragraphs 8a) and e) of the PSDPA, namely a contravention of an Act of Parliament and a serious breach of IRCC’s Code of Conduct. Indeed the investigation found that the employee breached the Privacy Act, and that his behaviour contravened the value of integrity, as well as the requirements around confidentiality, set out in department’s Code of Conduct.
The office of internal disclosures recommended that the appropriate delegated authority conduct a disciplinary process to address the founded wrongdoings, that the respondent’s management take the appropriate measures to report the privacy breaches mentioned in the report, and that the relevant information be shared with the Personnel Security team so that they assess whether its content may impact the respondent’s security clearance. The measures were implemented accordingly. Following a disciplinary process, the employee was suspended without pay.