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Cases We're Following
Canadians for Accountability has been approached by over 30 whistleblowers in the past year and a half - some even preceding our incorporation in June 2008. While we try to give all the attention they deserve, we currently have only our volunteers to assess each case as it comes in. Nonetheless, we have worked to make a difference and have developed a priority handling system and case analysis template.
Some of our more prominent cases include:
- Jim Black: An Ontario Teacher Punished for Speaking Out Against Child Abuse
- Perry Dunlop: An Honest Policeman Punished for Speaking Out Against Child Abuse
- Ian Bron: Transport Canada Marine Security Whistleblower
- Mark Halfacree: Canadian Pari-Mutual Agency Whistleblower
- Hugh Danford: Transport Canada Aviation Safety Whistleblower
- Kevin Gauthier: Air Canada Whistleblower
This does not complete the list of Canadian whistleblowers, though. Many have not approached us or have primary contact with the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (an organization which advocates for whistleblowers in the federal government).
A fuller list with links to more information can be found below.
Jim Black: An Ontario Teacher Punished for Speaking Out Against Child Abuse
Jim Black approached Canadians for Accountability in early 2009, looking for help. A retired Ontario teacher with 30 years of experience, he appears to have an excellent reputation amongst his peers: in 2002 he was nominated for the Prime Minister's Award in teaching and he served on the Ontario College of Teachers Council from 2002-2003. We evaluated his situation and determined that he fit the criteria of a whistleblower in difficulty.
Mr. Black was contacted by the Ontario Ministry of Education in 2004 and asked to provide a critique of the Ontario College of Teachers. As his experience there was troubling, he produced a four-page report that was very critical of the College - notably in its allowing sexual offenders back into the classroom - and recommended some significant changes. Following this, he reports a series of escalating reprisals. He retired in 2006 and made his report more public. This resulted in media attention, which in turn led to disciplinary action by the College.
Mr. Black went through a Kafka-esque pseudo-legal nightmare, charged with vague offences and threatened with fines and suspension - despite the fact that he has now retired.
Canadians for Accountability prepared a letter of support and sent it to the former Registrar of the Ontario College of Teachers, Mr. Brian McGowan. This letter, linked below, asked for Mr. McGowan to consider abandoning the disciplinary process now under way and re-evaluate the case. The letter also contains details of the case.
Letter to past OCT Registrar Brian McGowan, dated February 20, 2009 (1.4 MB)
Mr. McGowan responded the same day we sent our letter. He does not address the substance of our letter or the public interest aspect of Mr. Black's case. Read his reply here:
Letter to Canadians for Accountability, dated February 20, 2009 (133 KB)
In July 2009, Mr. Black was fined $1000 and suspended from teaching for 24 months. His name and case was published in the College magazine Professionally Speaking, which was circulated to some 220,000 teachers. Nowhere in the description of his case does it mention that the complaint was laid by an individual convicted of sexual offenses against students, and the standard of proof described is a travesty.
Yet, as far as we can determine, no action has been taken to address the problems that Mr. Black reported.
On Decmeber 17, 2009, Canadians for Accountability sent a letter to the Ontario Minister of Education, asking her to investigate and intervene in the process which was used to punish Mr. Black. In it, we make it clear that we believe the process failed to meet a reasonable standard for fair process or for evidence, violated the principles of natural justice. The letter was copied to Senator Roméo A. Dallaire, Ontario Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak and Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath. None of these officials have yet responded.
The letter is linked below:
Letter to the Ontario Minister of Education, dated December 17, 2009 (1.3 MB)
We urge everyone to write to the OCT Registrar and the Ontario Minister of Education to support Mr. Black and request that the desision be reviewed and that action be taken to address the issues he raised. Feel free to use the draft letter below.
Sample Letter of support for Jim Black
Addresses
Michael Salvatori
Registrar
Ontario College of Teachers
121 Bloor Street East
Toronto ON M4W 3M5
Fax: 416-961-8822
E-mail: bmcgowan@oct.ca
The Honourable Kathleen Wynne
Ontario Minster of Education
Mowat Block, 900 Bay Street
Toronto ON M7A 1L2
Fax: 416-325-6348
E-mail: The Minister can be contacted via the Ministry Website.
Media Coverage of Jim Black's Case
Teachers get licenses back despite sexual abuse
CTV, November 15, 2006
College of Teachers needs to step back and review its proceedings in the James Black Case
Tomorrow's Trust, February 23, 2009
Ontario Teacher Punished for Speaking Out on Reinstated Sexual Offenders
LifeSiteNews.com, June 17, 2009
Perry Dunlop: An Honest Policeman Punished for Speaking Out Against Child Abuse
Perry Dunlop was a police officer with two awards as Cornwall Police Officer of the Year. While investigating complaints of sexual abuse by prominent local citizens he faced resistance and reprisals - including threats against his family. A task force was formed to investigate the allegations, but led nowhere. Due to persistent efforts, the Cornwall Public Inquiry was finally convened to look into the handling of the case. The toll on his family and his health has been enormous, and groups and individuals still seek to tarnish his reputation.
On December 15, 2009, the final report of the Cornwall Public Inquiry was released. It placed a great deal of blame at the feet of a number of institutions in Cornwall and Ontario for failing to deal with the issue quickly, honestly or openly. Unfortunately, it also contains an implicit criticism of Perry Dunlop, without whose actions nothing would have happened. We strongly disagree with Commissioner G. Normand Glaude's comments about Mr. Dunlop and encourage you to read Ian Bron's January 23, 2010 blog posting, which summarizes our views on Perry Dunlop and the Cornwall Public Inquiry.
Canadians for Accountability sponsors the Golden Whistle Award, which in 2008 was presented to Mr. Dunlop to honour his moral courage.
For more information about Mr. Dunlop and his case, please visit Sylvia MacEachern's website. She has covered Mr. Dunlop's cause and persecution for years.
Ian Bron: Transport Canada Marine Security Whistleblower
Ian Bron, a former naval officer, reported wrongdoing at Transport Canada, including gross mismanagement of marine security and unethical practices by management. The Deputy Minister gave the report of wrongdoing to implicated individuals and left the response in their hands. A reprisal was planned and executed, including investigations into Mr. Bron's conduct and poisoning his new work environment with false allegations. So far as we can determine, no independent investigation into the substance of his report was conducted.
Mr. Bron sued the individuals initiating the reprisal against him as well the Attorney General of Canada. His efforts to bring them into a neutral forum have been set back by a lower court decision, but he has appealed and intends to fight on.
For more information on Mr. Bron's case, you can read his claim and the government's defence statements:
- Ian Bron's statement of claim (PDF document)
- Transport Canada's statement of defence (PDF document)
Mr. Bron is looking for intervenors and supporters in his case. If you are interested, please contact him at ianbron@ianbron.com
Mark Halfacree: Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency Whistleblower
Mark Halfacree tried to fix a problem with Agriculture Canada's Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency information - information used for horse race betting charts. Amongst other reprisals, he reports that he has been followed by a private detective for some time. He was recently fired, the last step in their reprisal.
Hugh Danford: Transport Canada Aviation Safety Whistleblower
Hugh Danford was a Transport Canada Civil Aviation inspector with decades of experience in the aviation industry. Following a 1999 crash in Davis inlet which killed 22 year-old Damien Hancock, Mr. Danford prepared a report documenting Transport Canada management's failure to act against the pilot (the Hancock report). This pilot had already crashed four times and had a long history of other violations. The Hancock report also noted that Transport Canada was not implementing a Transportation Safety Board recommendation and that Transport Canada was negligent and in part responsible for the death of Damien Hancock.
As punishment for speaking out persistently, Transport Canada senior management employed a tactic which has been well described in literature on whistleblowing: dubbed the "nuts and sluts" approach, there was a concerted effort to represent Mr. Danford as mentally unstable (women are sometimes represented as promiscuous). He was also described as insubordinate. At one point, Transport Canada management ordered him arrested on unfounded allegations that he had made a death threat. The charges were dropped shortly thereafter, but the point had been made to Mr. Danford and other employees of Transport Canada. Ultimately, he was forced out of Transport Canada. Since then, other aircraft crashes have occurred and similar concerns raised about Transport Canada oversight.
To read more about the issues Mr. Danford tried to raise - and other aviation safety issues - visit the URCOMBOT website.
Kevin Gauthier: Air Canada Whistleblower
Kevin Gauthier is a former Air Canada pilot who raised concerns about practices that could lead to uncontrolled rollbacks by aircraft at air terminals. For raising this issue, he has been persecuted out of his job. No effective action to address the problems he raised has been taken, however.
Mr. Gauthier is not the only employee of an airline to come to us about safety concerns. For this reason, we encourage Canadians to take an active interest in Transport Canada's Safety Management Systems.
Other Canadian Whistleblowers
There are many other whistleblowers who have not contacted us, whose cases are much older, or who have instead made primary contact with the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR). Where possible, links will direct you to more information.
- Allan Cutler: raised concerns about the Sponsorship Scandal as early as 1996, yet noting was done until the media got the story. He suffered reprisals which included having his responsibilities taken away and being forced to sit in a tiny room with no work for hours each day.
- Joanna Gualtieri: exposed waste and lavish expenses by Department of Foreign Affairs officials overseas, and is currently locked in a 10 year legal battle with government over the reprisals she has suffered. She founded the FAIR to advocate for whistleblower protection in the federal public service. Read more on the FAIR website.
- Brian McAdam: uncovered evidence of corruption at the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong and the infiltration of Chinese organized crime members and spies into Canada. He was ostracized, pushed into a dead-end job and finally retired. Read more on the FAIR website.
- Dr. Shiv Chopra, Dr. Margaret Hayden and Dr. Gerard Lambert: refused to yield to management pressure at Health Canada to approve bovine growth hormone and blew the whistle on the drug approval process. All three were fired in 2004 and are still fighting to get their jobs back. Read more on the FAIR website.
- Dr. Nancy Olivieri: fought a multinational drug company who wanted her to bury research results that indicated health danger with a new drug. Legal action was initiated against her, with the University of Toronto (her employer) refusing to intervene on behalf of academic rights. While the suit was eventually settled, the drug company initiated a new lawsuit against her in 2009. They accuse her, among other things, of being responsible for a Wikipedia article which is critical of the company.
- Luc Pomerleau: concerned about the implications of changes to the federal government's food inspection regime, shared an inappropriately classified document about the changes with his union. For doing so, just weeks before the 2008 listeriosis outbreak that killed 22 people, he was fired.
For more whistleblower stories, visit the FAIR website.
Created: January 24, 2010
Last updated: December 11, 2009
