Parole Board failed to deal with board member who made 'unwanted advances' at work: report

A former member of the Parole Board of Canada breached government codes of conduct by making «unwanted advances» toward female employees, Canada's public sector integrity commissioner has ruled.

In a report tabled in Parliament Tuesday, Commissioner Harriet Solloway said that the Parole Board committed gross mismanagement and endangered the health and safety of employees when it failed to respond to and document reports of Michael Sanford's misconduct.

«Evidence obtained during our investigation shows that over a period of approximately eight years, Mr. Sanford repeatedly made unwanted advances towards female employees, including touching, inappropriate comments and unsolicited phone calls and text messages,» Solloway wrote.

«Evidence also shows that Parole Board of Canada management did not take adequate action to stop or document Mr. Sanford's behaviour in 2015. In fact, he was reappointed for a second term as a Board Member in 2020 and subsequently behaved inappropriately towards at least two other female employees.»

Sanford was first appointed as a full-time member of the parole board in March 2014 by then Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney. At the time of his appointment to the Ontario regional office in Kingston, he was listed as an inspector with Ottawa's police service.

He was reappointed in March 2020 for five years by then Public Safety Minister Bill Blair.

He resigned in 2022 after then Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino agreed to hold a judicial inquiry into Sanford's behaviour on the recommendation of the board's chairperson Jennifer Oades, who invoked a section of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA).

«This provision in the CCRA is the only mechanism available to exercise discipline, suspend