Our Mission:

Protecting Whistleblowers Who Protect The Public Interest

FAIR (Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform) promotes integrity and accountability within government by empowering employees to speak out without fear of reprisal when they encounter wrongdoing. Our aim is to support legislation and management practices that will provide effective protection for whistleblowers and hence occupational free speech in the workplace.

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And the plain brown envelope, please

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Elizabeth James – August 31, 2010

"It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors." -- Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter

British Columbia is in dire need of a few good whistleblowers.

Doors locked. Responses to Access to Information requests blacked out or not received at all. Letters to MLAs unacknowledged or answered six months late. Media enquiries stymied by politco-speak or, "No comment; it's before the courts."

If the provincial government, its ministries and agencies are determined to keep doors and lips battened down, how else can we discover what plans are afoot before it's too late to steer the ships away from the rocks?

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Who dares to speak...

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Montreal Gazette Extra

Alex Roslin – August 28, 2010

Dr. Shiv Chopra still remembers the words his friend spoke a few days before he died. "Every time I come here, I vomit," Dr. Chris Basudde, a fellow Health Canada doctor, had said. "I feel sick. I can't take this."

Chopra told his friend to see a doctor and take some time off work. Days later, he was stunned to learn that Basudde had died of a suspected heart attack.

Wikileaks: Hitting 'send' to expose a dirty secret

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Alex Roslin – August 28, 2010

Faced with mounting secrecy and the failure of official channels of complaint, whistle-blowers seem to be turning increasingly to the Internet and websites pledged to expose government and corporate secrets, in the public interest.

For whistle-blowers, the sites allow them to expose secrets as fast as they can hit "send." Critics argue the sites may endanger lives by posting national security information.

Sikorsky being sued for $26M over Newfoundland crash

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Moira Baird – August 26, 2010

ST. JOHNS, N.L. — Cougar Helicopters and eight insurance companies, led by U.K. firm Lloyd's, are suing Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., for more than $26.6 million in combined damages and losses resulting from the March 12, 2009, helicopter crash that killed 17 people off the coast of Newfoundland.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Helicopter Support Inc., which is Sikorsky's parts and repair subsidiary, and Transport Canada.

Case Study: How Open data saved Canada $3.2 Billion

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David Hutton – August 27, 2010

In his excellent blog about open government and open data, David Eaves describes how a Toronto consultant exposed a multi-billion charities fraud – simply by analyzing contributions data obtained from Canada Revenue Agency.

Using just a PC and a spreadsheet, the consultant analyzed the contributions reported by charities in Toronto during 2005 – a dataset that he had obtained from CRA – and uncovered some startling facts.

Hurricane Katrina: A Man-Made Disaster

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August 27, 2010

U.S. actor and writer Harry Shearer has just finished a provocative documentary film “The Big Uneasy” about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.

Shearer argues that this was not a natural disaster but a man-made one. To back this up he draws upon evidence that the Army Corps of Engineers not only failed to build adequate levées for the weather conditions that could be expected, but actually created the conditions for massive flooding through its ill-conceived MRGO shipping-canal project.

Why data matter

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Ottawa Citizen editorial – August 26, 2010

When Canada has trouble measuring how much snow is on the ground, something is seriously wrong with the state of government research.

An internal Environment Canada report from 2008, released through an access to information request, shows that cuts to the Meteorological Service of Canada have left this country without accurate weather data. We're not talking about a lack of money for fancy computer models or self-indulgent research projects. No, this is about basic measurement of stuff like temperature, rainfall and hours of sunshine.

Census changes 'mindless': experts

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Decision assailed. 'Will lower the quality and raise the cost of information'

Margaret Munro – August 26, 2010

Canada will pay a huge price for the Harper government's "short-sighted" decision to scrap the mandatory census, leading U.S. statisticians say.

"This decision will lower the quality and raise the cost of information on nearly every issue before Canada's government," Stephen Fienberg at Carnegie Mellon University and Kenneth Prewitt at Columbia University say today in the journal Nature.

Jean Charest on the hot seat at an inquiry he called

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Former justice minister says Quebec Premier let party boosters pick judges

Rhéal Séguin – August 24, 2010

Former Quebec justice minister Marc Bellemare has testified under oath that Premier Jean Charest gave his blessing to the role Quebec Liberal Party fundraisers played in the appointment of judges in the province.

Mr. Bellemare’s testimony on Tuesday before a commission of inquiry into the nomination of judges was so politically damaging that Mr. Charest rushed to deny the charges.

Bellemare gives explosive testimony against Charest

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Marc Bellemare
Marc Bellemare

Philip Authier and Marianne White – August 24, 2010

QUEBEC — Quebec Premier Jean Charest personally ordered his former justice minister to name two people to the bench because a party fundraiser wanted them to be made judges, Marc Bellemare testified on Tuesday.

In explosive testimony before the Bastarache commission on Tuesday, Mr. Bellemare, the former justice minister, outlined a meeting between him and Mr. Charest on Sept. 2, 2003 in which he complained that powerful Liberal fundraisers were leaning on him to name certain people judges.

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