A roundtable to explore the prospect of a regulatory whistleblower program that would pay tipsters has been slated for early June.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) said Tuesday it will be holding a roundtable on June 9 to gather input into the issues raised by its proposed new whistleblower program, which would potentially reward individuals for reporting information that leads to significant enforcement penalties.

While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has operated this sort of program for several years now, and other agencies have used similar approaches, the OSC’s proposed program would be a first for a securities regulator in Canada.

The roundtable will feature panel discussions on issues such as the effectiveness of whistleblower programs; appropriate whistleblower protections; and the possible impact of this sort of program on internal compliance systems; the commission says. These discussions will aim to include the viewpoints of investors, market participants, lawyers, and others.

Further details, including the final agenda and list of panelists, will be announced by June 2. Prospective panelists are asked to submit their comments on the OSC’s consultation paper by May 4; and to indicate interest in participating in the subsequent roundtable session.