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ConfidenceLine

ConfidenceLine

Confidence Line Logo

 

Mount Royal is a complex institution where faculties, institutes and departments work together to support teaching and learning informed by scholarship. We also share a commitment to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and respect as we conduct our work, as well as a dedication to safeguarding the public trust and the public resources granted to us.

Mount Royal's regular process to discreetly report concerns about professional or financial misconduct is to report such concerns to your direct supervisor. If unsure of what avenue to report a concern, The Office of Safe Disclosure can help individuals navigate the processes available to them.

For situations where Mount Royal University faculty, staff and administrators feel uncomfortable using any of these regular channels or wish to remain anonymous to report perceived wrongdoing, Mount Royal has engaged the third-party hotline reporting service called ConfidenceLine.

ConfidenceLine is an alternate, anonymous reporting mechanism that is now available 24/7 online or by phone. It gives you access to an independent third party and ensures your anonymity should you need to report professional or financial misconduct. Offering employees an anonymous hotline is current best business practice at organizations across Canada, including a growing number of post-secondary institutions.

ConfidenceLine can be reached via telephone toll-free at 1 (800) 661-9675 or via the internet at www.mru.confidenceline.net.

Frequently asked questions

Click on any of the questions below or scroll down to learn more about ConfidenceLine and Mount Royal.

How can I access ConfidenceLine?

ConfidenceLine is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You have two options for contacting ConfidenceLine:

Why did Mount Royal introduce this hotline?

Mount Royal's academic, administrative and service units have policies, guidelines and procedures in place to ensure the highest standards of honesty, integrity and respect in all of its activities, and to safeguard the public resources for which we are responsible. Policies are also in place to create a safe and healthy environment for students and employees.

As part of Mount Royal's good management practice, these policies and procedures are systematically reviewed and updated. In 2012 a number of policies were revised and as part of those revisions, the ConfidenceLine hotline was added to the Safe Disclosure Policy as an additional reporting mechanism.

The Protected Disclosure (“Whisleblower”) Policy and related Procedures establish a secure process for reporting concerns about professional or financial misconduct at Mount Royal, and it also protects members of the campus community who report such issues in good faith. ConfidenceLine, ensures that employees and stakeholders have access to an alternative, anonymous mechanism if they feel unable to use normal channels to report professional or financial misconduct.

Offering such a mechanism is standard best business practice, and organizations across Canada (including post-secondary institutions) already have or are implementing ConfidenceLine or similar hotlines.

Why did Mount Royal go to a third party to provide this service?

Mount Royal chose this service because it provides all members of the campus community with access to an independent, third-party reporting mechanism that maintains confidentiality and provides the security of anonymity without fear of personal or professional reprisal.

Who can make reports through ConfidenceLine?

Employees are often in the best position to spot possible irregularities, and they have a responsibility for reporting their suspicions. Mount Royal faculty members, staff members and administrators can all use ConfidenceLine if they feel they are unable to use regular reporting channels already in place. ConfidenceLine will also accept reports from students and alumni; from vendors, suppliers and contractors working with Mount Royal; and from the general public.

What are the regular reporting channels at Mount Royal?

The regular reporting channel is through your immediate supervisor, and the regular procedure is to make a report to that supervisor. Your supervisor is required to take your report to the appropriate next step, which will be based on Mount Royal policy and on the nature of your report. If you feel you are unable to make a report to your immediate supervisor, you could also:

  • take your report directly to a university administrator at the Vice-President level, or
  • contact the Mount Royal association you belong to (either the Mount Royal Faculty Association or the Mount Royal Staff Association), or
  • contact the Department of Human Resources.

There are also designated offices and teams in place to respond to very specific issues:

  • For perceived violations of Mount Royal’s Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention Policy, you can contact the Department of Human Resources.
  • For perceived violations of Mount Royal's Human Rights Policy, you can contact the Office of Safe Disclosure.
  • For perceived violations of the Code of Student Conduct Community Standards Policy, you can contact the Office of Student Community Standards.
  • For perceived irregularities in research, you can contact the Office of Research.
  • For assistance with a variety of personal issues, Mount Royal's Employee and Family Assistance Program offers services including counselling, care giver services, life planning assistance, smoking cessation programs and nutritional counselling.
  • For a situation where there is an immediate danger to someone's safety or health, call 911 and then call Security Services at 403.440.5900.

If you feel you cannot make a report through any of the above regular channels, ConfidenceLine is an alternate option available to you 24/7 (unless the situation involves an immediate danger to someone's safety or health as noted above).

What can I report through established channels or, if that is not possible, through ConfidenceLine?
Because every situation is unique, it is difficult to provide a definitive list of what to report. But, as outlined in Mount Royal's Protected Disclosure (“Whistleblower”) Policy, here is the definition of Wrongdoing:

  • Wrongdoing: Any activity or conduct engaged in by an Employee in or relating to the University, as follows:
    • engaging in, or counseling or directing someone to engage in, the following: breaking the law through contravening an Act or regulation
    • any act or omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of individuals or substantial and specific danger to the environment
    • gross mismanagement of public funds, a public asset, or the delivery of a public service identified in the regulations
    • gross mismanagement of employees through conduct of a systemic nature that indicates a problem in an organization’s culture relating to bullying, harassment or intimidation.
    • Any other Wrongdoing as defined by the Act or related regulations.

How is my anonymity preserved when I use ConfidenceLine?

ConfidenceLine is intended to be an anonymous ethics reporting service so that Mont Royal faculty, staff and administrators can report matters of wrongdoing without the requirement to provide their name, contact information or any information that may lead to their identity.

While it may at times be more effective for follow-up purposes to have the name of the reporting party, the concerned individual will be given an opportunity to disclose their identity, but it is always a choice to remain anonymous. ConfidenceLine and the university will not trace or track the phone numbers or IP addresses of the reporting party.

How are reports handled through ConfidenceLine?

After receiving a report, ConfidenceLine Administration transmits the anonymous report to designated Mount Royal Designated Officer as defined in the Protected Disclosure (“Whisleblower”) Policy. ConfidenceLine will then serve as the communications vehicle for the Designated Officer to acknowledge receipt of your report, which normally happens within two to three business days, and to ask for any additional information.