The Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) Office of the Whistleblower will open next month.

The OSC’s Office of the Whistleblower will be able to receive tips starting on July 14, and Kelly Gorman has been appointed chief of the new operation.

Gorman has been with the OSC since 2002, where she has served as deputy director of the regulator's corporate finance and enforcement branches. Before joining the OSC, she was director of shareholder reporting at CIBC and also held progressively senior roles at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

The OSC says its program will be the first of its kind in Canada; it offers whistleblowers confidentiality and protection from retaliation, as well as compensation of up to $5 million for those who provide tips that lead to successful enforcement action.

"It is expected to increase the effectiveness of the OSC's enforcement efforts by providing access to high quality information about matters such as insider trading, accounting and disclosure violations and registrant misconduct," says the OSC.