When the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) launched its Whistleblower Program in July 2016, a
cornerstone of the regime was the new provisions in the
Securities Act protecting whistleblowers against
reprisals. The whistleblower reprisal rules generally prohibit
companies from taking measures against a whistleblowing employee,
because of the employee's whistleblowing activity, that
adversely affect his or her employment.
Although the OSC made several whistleblower bounty awards in the
years following the enactment of the Whistleblower Program
(totalling over $8 million), the scope of the broad reprisal
protections in the Securities Act remained unclear.
In July 2020, the OSC brought its first ever enforcement action under the whistleblower
reprisal rules against crypto asset trading platform Coinsquare
Ltd. (Coinsquare) and its former CEO. The enforcement action stems
from allegations that Coinsquare retaliated against an employee who
raised concerns internally
