Confidentiality and Anonymous Disclosures/Reports

Confidentiality During Reporting

The designated leaders, as well as all other parties involved in responding to a mistreatment disclosure or report, must maintain confidentiality to the extent possible. Only those who need to be involved to review the matter, to respond, or who are requested to provide personal support to the learner will be informed. If you identify yourself but do not wish to be named to the individual who is the subject of the disclosure or report, you should be aware:

• that there are circumstances where the University may be required to act on a disclosure in extenuating circumstances (i.e. regulatory or legal obligations, imminent risk to yourself or others, violence against someone aged less than 16 years, or sexual violence by a regulated healthcare professional).
• that it may be possible for the individual to identify you based on their description of the underlying incident(s), our designated leaders can work with you to mitigate the possibility or impact of this;
• that the individual may have a limited ability to respond to an unidentified or anonymous disclosure or report;
• that the University may be limited in the scope of its review, if the individual has not had a meaningful chance to respond to the disclosure or report;
• that the University may be limited in the sanctions that it can impose against the individual.

Anonymous Disclosures

Using the Online Disclosure Form, you have the option to disclose/report mistreatment anonymously (i.e. without the requirement that you provide your identity), with the understanding that the ability to respond to such disclosures/reports is limited. When deciding whether to proceed with a review of an anonymous disclosure or report, the University may consider whether the issues underlying the disclosure or report are egregious and if there is sufficient information to enable the review. If the decision is to proceed with an anonymous disclosure or report, you will not be able to participate in the review process or receive information about its outcome. We will also miss out on the opportunity to provide support. 

The alternative is that you can always come forward in person in order to discuss or debrief what has happened, but request to remain de-identified when moving forward. 

We include anonymous discussions, disclosures, and reports, in our Annual Report, in order to be able to promote transparency and accountability, however we continue to safeguard your anonymity by continuing to keep you de-identified and sharing data in the aggregate.