In Canada, whistleblowers pay steep price

Victims of sexual misconduct in the workplace and whistleblowers have a lot in common. Both are typically terrified about coming forward and reporting wrongdoing. Both face a high risk that they will be blacklisted and have their reputations smeared. Too many are left paying a steep price with their health and careers that can carry lasting consequences. Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould is the latest in a long list of whistleblower casualties who have run afoul of powerful interests in the federal government. Joanna Gualtieri blew the whistle in the late 1990s over excessive spending by Ottawa on its diplomatic missions. It was a decision that set her on a downward path, leaving her, as she described in an interview, a shadow of her former self. After leaking information to the media about aggressive government efforts to throw Employment Insurance recipients off the program, Sylvie Therrien was fired. That was in 2013. “My life is in chaos,” she told the CBC, adding that she has not been able to find work again in her chosen field. That’s the common fate of many whistleblowers, as well as victims of sexual misconduct. It was mine. But that’s another story. One of the glaring weaknesses in Canada’s so-called whistleblower protection laws at the federal level is that, when retaliation occurs—which happens often—according to experts, the onus is on the whistleblower to connect the dots and prove that it was related to their speaking up. When whistleblowers have to hire their own lawyers to do that, while the legal costs for those committing reprisals are covered by taxpayers, you get the impression of a very stacked deck. With the memory of what happened to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford still fresh, it is not lost on many women in the workplace that, once again, another woman’s life and career have been upended because she spoke truth to power. When Jody Wilson-Raybould switched roles from being Canada’s attorney general to whistleblower-in-chief over the SNC Lavalin affair, her fate was sealed. Prime Minister Trudeau expelled Ms. Wilson-Raybould on Tuesday from the Liberal caucus and stripped her of the party’s nomination in the next election. The fact that one of her key supporters, former cabinet minister Dr. Jane Philpott, was also removed from caucus shows how dangerous it is to be seen too close to whistleblowers, and how determined organizations can be to make the ostracism complete. Behind every person who comes forward and breaks their silence over wrongdoing is the feeling that they are acting on a moral imperative. In the case of women who speak out against sexual misconduct in the workplace, we want to make sure that others will not be subjected to the same kind of abuse we were. When I came forward last year to a superior, I wanted them to address the mishandling and coverup of a sexual assault that occurred earlier in my career during an out-of-town conference of Canadian Securities Administrators. After I reported it to my former superior, he gave me a choice: keep quiet or lose my job. I live with the effects of that assault, and the bullying to keep me silent about it, every day. I wasn’t treated any better in 2018. To be honest, I felt like I had been thrown under a bus. Worried that other women could also be at risk in dealing with such a culture, I felt I had to blow the whistle. I turned to Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Not only did he ignore my concerns, he sent my letter to my former employer. That one-two punch was complete when their lawyers issued a stern warning designed to muzzle me—again. Trying to gag his victims was a favourite stunt of Harvey Weinstein, too. I felt like I had been assaulted all over again. Whistleblowers make our world safer by piercing the often self-serving and frequently malevolent culture of the secret government. But when employees, or victims of sexual misconduct, see what actually happens to whistleblowers, we are not inclined to climb out on that shaky limb ourselves. Now is the time for the federal Liberals to live up to their promises about open government and adopt the unanimous recommendations of the House of Commons committee, which undertook a comprehensive study of whistleblowing in 2017. We need to cherish and support the men and women who put so much on the line when they come forward—as whistleblowers and as victims of sexual misconduct. As a society, we cannot afford to allow them to be silenced, ostracized, and thrown to the wolves. Kathleen Finlay is founder of the ZeroNow Campaign to combat sexual misconduct in the workplace. She previously worked in Canadian securities regulation. The Hill Times