The federal government recorded more than 2,600 cases of employee misconduct and wrongdoing last year, resulting in at least 145 terminations and 783 suspensions without pay.
The misconduct and wrongdoing allegations run the gamut from sleeping on duty to sexual harassment, racial discrimination, workplace violence, privacy breaches, timesheet fraud, inappropriate social media posts and the theft of government property like computers and cellphones.
While termination was the most severe consequence, public servants were also subject to 705 written reprimands and 1,048 other disciplinary or administrative measures, including demotion, rejection of probation, mandatory training and financial penalties.
“Taxpayers pay the bills so taxpayers deserve this transparency to know what is going on in the bureaucracy that we’re paying for,” Canadian Taxpayers Federation Director Franco Terrazzano told CTVNews.ca. “Without proper transparency, taxpayers aren’t able to hold the government and politicians accountable.”
At least 2,681 cases
In 2024, Ottawa directed federal departments and agencies to begin creating annual reports on employee misconduct and wrongdoing. According to Canada’s Privy Council Office, which issued the directive, 72 federal organizations committed to follow through.
By contacting those and several others, CTVNews.ca obtained reports from 38 government departments, agencies and offices, which together comprise about 80 per cent of the federal public service. While many of these reports were quietly released online, some were only published internally. The data primarily covers the 2024-25 fiscal year, which runs from April 2024 to the end of March 2025.
At least 2,681 founded cases of workplace misconduct or wrongdoing were reported in this period that resulted in disciplinary or administrative measures. Those allegations range in severity from time theft and drug use to inappropriate touching and the embezzlement of government funds.
Some allegations strike at the core of an organization’s purpose. For example, Correctional Service Canada prison workers were accused of bringing contraband into institutions, providing protected information to offenders and associating with known criminals outside of the workplace.
At the Canada Revenue Agency, employees allegedly mishandled calls, snooped into other peoples’ tax files and directed government funds into personal bank accounts. At Global Affairs Canada, personnel reportedly forged documents, shared secret information and posted social media content that could offend foreign governments. Canada Border Services Agency employees, meanwhile, were also accused of associating with known drug traffickers, misusing law enforcement databases and interfering in immigration processing. And at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spy agency, workers allegedly mishandled classified material and brought unauthorized cellphones into CSIS facilities.
Other misconduct and wrongdoing cases include allegations of insubordination, intimidation, intoxication, violence, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, time theft, stolen property, embezzled funds, fabricated expenses, conflict of interest violations, lying on job applications, failure to report data breaches, engaging in sexual acts in the workplace, and more.
“Taxpayers are paying a bunch of money for the federal bureaucracy and we expect government employees to at least be able to answer the phone and stay awake while they’re on the clock,” Terrazzano from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation told CTVNews.ca. “Taxpayers have every right to be extremely frustrated by the actions of some government bureaucrats.”
CRA leads in dismissals
The highest number of cases were reported by Employment and Social Development Canada (680), Correctional Service Canada (400), the Canada Revenue Agency (266), the Canada Border Services Agency (231) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (158). Together, these five federal organizations accounted for nearly two thirds (64.7 per cent) of all cases but just under half (47.9 per cent) of the total workforce captured in this analysis.
The most terminations were reported by the Canada Revenue Agency (25 cases), Global Affairs Canada (22), Statistics Canada (15), Employment and Social Development Canada (14) and Correctional Service Canada (12). Together, these, five organizations accounted for 60.7 per cent of all sackings but only 40.2 per cent of the workforce that was analyzed. The Canada Revenue Agency also recorded the most suspensions without pay (158 cases) followed closely by Employment and Social Development Canada with 156.
When adjusted for size, Correctional Service Canada had one of the highest rates of misconduct and wrongdoing, with 21.2 cases per 1,000 employees. It was followed by Library and Archives Canada (20.2 cases), Employment and Social Development Canada (17.4), Global Affairs Canada (16.7) and the Canada Border Services Agency (13.4).
Using the same measure, the nine cases logged by the tiny National Battlefields Commission, which has 63 employees, would put the historical agency at 142.9 cases per 1,000. The national average was 8.6 cases per 1,000.
While dozens of departments and agencies reported misconduct cases, they remain relatively rare overall, representing less than one per cent (0.86 per cent) of the 312,178 civil servants who work for the organizations that provided data.
A note on the numbers
CTVNews.ca was able to obtain relevant data from 38 federal organizations. Another 31 departments, agencies and offices responded that they had nothing to report or would not disclose information due to small case numbers and potential privacy concerns. Those include Public Safety Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
Five federal organizations said they are still compiling information for 2024-25 and will publish reports this year, including Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Parole Board of Canada, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
After publication, CTVNews.ca received data from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, which logged seven founded cases of misconduct in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Those cases led to three terminations, two written reprimands, two suspensions and a misconduct rate of 3.7 cases per 1,000 employees.
“Organizations were neither required to submit their reports to [Privy Council Office] nor were they required to publish reports; reports served to strengthen a public service culture grounded in values and ethics,” a Privy Council Office spokesperson told CTVNews.ca. “Each organization exercised discretion regarding whether to publish its report publicly or share it internally.”
Canada’s Treasury Board Secretariat publishes a separate annual report on the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, the federal law that protects federal employees from reprisals when reporting wrongdoing. According to this report, 279 public servants made internal disclosures about 727 allegations of wrongdoing in the 2024-25 fiscal year. In the same period, only 37 allegations led to corrective measures.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also published a relevant report, but it did not contain specific numbers for all case outcomes. According to an RCMP spokesperson, Canada’s federal police force documented 443 cases of alleged misconduct in the 2024 calendar year, 158 of which were concluded and resulted in discipline, including 10 demotions and seven dismissals. RCMP data did not differentiate between oral and written reprimands.
The data also does not include the 78 Canada Revenue Agency employees who were terminated in 2024-25 for improperly receiving benefits related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CTVNews.ca analysis focused on founded misconduct and wrongdoing cases that led to disciplinary or administrative measures. Unfounded cases and those that resulted in no action were excluded. Data was only used from cases resolved in the 2024-25 fiscal year — those with pending outcomes were also omitted.
Several federal employees were involved in more than one misconduct or wrongdoing case. Some organizations do not track other disciplinary or administrative measures like oral reprimands. The Privy Council Office, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Department of Finance Canada released a combined report. A joint report was also made by Veterans Affairs Canada, the Office of the Veterans Ombud and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.
Feb. 13, 2026: This story was updated with additional data from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
