Mme Christiane Ouimet was appointed Canada’s first Public Sector Integrity Commissioner by joint resolution of the Senate and House of Commons, and took office in August 2007. In this capacity, she is responsible for the administration of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, which came into force in April 2007.
Prior to her appointment, Mme Ouimet had a twenty-five year career with the federal government. She held senior executive positions in nine departments and agencies, including Public Works and Government Services Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Public Service Commission and the Privy Council Office. She has significant experience in governance, oversight and accountability regimes in Crown corporations, and has served on advisory committees in many agencies, Boards and Commissions. Her broad experience in public service has focused primarily on the areas of audit, regulatory affairs, policing and enforcement, machinery of government and quasi-judicial decision-making.
Mme Ouimet, who lives in Ottawa, is a native of Saint Albert, Ontario. A graduate of the University of Ottawa, she is a lawyer trained in both of Canada’s legal traditions of Civil and Common Law and remains a member of the Ontario Bar to which she was called in 1982.