The firing of a Canadian Food Inspection Agency employee for disclosing a confidential document was a “heavy-handed reaction,” says the head of a union representing federal government employees.
“We have filed a grievance,” said Michele Demers, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.
Biologist Luc Pomerleau was fired July 4 for forwarding a confidential document to his union. Demers said Pomerleau, a union steward, found the document in May in a shared computer folder on a CFIA server.
The document contained details of proposed changes to food inspection methods at the CFIA. It outlined a plan in which suppliers and food distributors would perform a greater share of the inspection work. The proposal stemmed from a strategic review of all government programs, which required federal departments and agencies to find savings equal to five percent of their budgets.
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“I think he had a very normal type of reaction, reading the document and saying, ‘this could have consequences for my members, I should contact the union,’ ” Demers said.
“He didn’t need a special code to access the document, he didn’t hack the system. He just went into this folder and found the document.”
Asked if the document was labelled confidential, Demers answered that it was “poorly labelled,” as not every page was identified as confidential, as per the federal government protocols for sensitive documents.
A CFIA spokesperson refused to discuss specifics, saying only that the agency fired Pomerleau after a thorough investigation of the alleged breach.
“The evidence gathered fully supported our determination that the individual contravened his condition of employment,” said J.P. St-Amand, CFIA’s executive director of assets and security management.
He said agency employees must sign a security form pledging to handle and safeguard classified information in an appropriate manner.
