Report fraud or abuse

The Department of Canadian Heritage takes fraud and abuse of its funding programs very seriously. When grants and contributions recipients use public funds in a fraudulent or abusive manner, all Canadian taxpayers pay the price.

If you witness a fraud or abuse related to the Department’s funding, contact us to submit a report. All reports are treated rigorously and with full confidentiality.

You have the right to remain anonymous. If you provide us with personal information, it will be protected under the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act.

Reporting procedure

The Department applies the following procedure to process reports:

1. the Customer service team records on file the report received
2. the report is transferred to the relevant program and to the departmental fraud risk management team
3. the fraud risk management team carries out a preliminary analysis of the report to determine the required follow-up, in consultation with other experts from the Department
4. when a report is retained, the Department applies the follow-up measure(s) deemed necessary

Reporting follow-up

The Department can take several actions to follow up on a retained report.

Here are some examples:

• perform an audit of the funding recipient
• recover funds related to ineligible, fraudulent and/or abusive expenses
• submit the file to police authorities

Definitions

Fraud

Fraud is defined as an intentional act committed by 1 or more individuals among employees, senior management, those charged with governance (internal), or third parties (external) and involving the use of deception to obtain an unfair or illegal benefit.

Abuse

Abuse is an intentional or unintentional act of misuse or overuse of resources or assets which may result in the gain of direct economic benefits.