Dr. Shiv Chopra

Canada’s top whistleblower watchdog missing in action

Topics: 
PSIC, Mario Dion, Integrity Commissioner, Dr. Shiv Chopra, Public health & safety
Rating: 
0

David Hutton – May 6, 2013

Canada’s Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion has been in the news twice recently—for what he is doing, and also for what he is not. What he has done is to report his office’s finding a fifth case of wrongdoing uncovered by his office: the egregious and sometimes bizarre misbehaviour of Shirish Chotalia, former head of the Human Rights Tribunal of Canada (HRTC).

What Dion has not done—and still refuses to do—is to investigate allegations, originally made in 2002, of misbehaviour by Health Canada in the approval of drugs for use in our food supply. Dion’s refusal was the subject of a judicial review hearing before a Federal Court judge on April 23.

Whistleblowers pay price for integrity

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, Health Canada, Honours
Rating: 
0

Lethbridge Herald Opinon – November 26, 2011

Awards recognize courage of public servants who speak out. At least someone appreciates the efforts of whistleblowers. A trio of public servants with a conscience may have paid a personal price for their honesty, but they were honoured Thursday with the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression's inaugural Integrity Award.

Drs. Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon and Gerard Lambert are former Health Canada scientists who were dismissed for "insubordination" in 2004 after publicly expressing serious reservations about the approval of products they believed would harm the food chain and ultimately threaten the well-being of Canadians.

Interview: Health Canada Whistleblowers Honoured

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, PSIC, Health Canada, Monsanto, Honours, PSDPA, Privy Council Office (PCO)
Rating: 
4
Drs. Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon

CBC The Current – November 22, 2011

CBC: The Professional Institute of the Public Service called it a sad day for federal employees worried about the safety of Canadians. This summer, the labour relations board ruled against two out of three Health Canada scientists who lost their jobs in a long battle over whistle blowing.

Doctors Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon and Gerard Lambert went public with their concerns that bovine growth hormones might be a risk to human health. In the end, the hormone was never approved for use in Canada.

New CJFE Award honours Health Canada whistleblowers

Topics: 
Whistleblowers, Dr. Shiv Chopra, Food safety, Health Canada, Honours
Rating: 
0
Drs. Shiv Chopra, Gerard Lambert, Margaret Haydon

CJFE – November 16, 2011

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) honours Dr. Shiv Chopra, Dr. Margaret Haydon and Dr. Gérard Lambert with its new Integrity Award at the 14th annual CJFE Gala: A Night to Honour Courageous Reporting.

The values of the award are reflected in the commitment shown by these Canadian scientists when they informed the Canadian public about specific health dangers inherent in food production in the face of great pressure to remain silent.

Whistleblowers fear for Canada's reputation

Topics: 
PSLRB, Health Canada, Dr. Shiv Chopra
Rating: 
0

September 12, 2011

A whistleblowers’ group in Canada has declared that rulings by the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) against whistleblowers was harming the country’s international reputation.

Director of the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR), David Hutton made the claim in commentary on a decision of the PSLRB to uphold the sacking of two Health Canada scientists who refused to approve the release of commercial products into the food supply - antibiotics, hormones and chemicals - without the legally required safety evidence. The Board reversed a third scientist’s dismissal.

Whistleblower rulings hurt Canada's reputation

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, Health Canada, Integrity Commissioner, PSLRB
Rating: 
5

Andrew McIntosh – September 7, 2011

A string of rulings against federal government whistleblowers is harming Canada's international reputation, says the head of a group that fights to protect honest public servants who expose wrongdoing.

And the spectacular "Enron-like" failure of a federal office that was supposed to investigate whistleblower allegations, not bury them, makes a bad situation worse, said David Hutton, executive director of Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR).

PSLRB whistleblower rulings harm Canada’s international reputation

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, Food safety, Health Canada, PSLRB
Rating: 
5

David Hutton – August 22, 2011

Canada is not a safe place for honest employees, especially if they work for the federal government. That's what many Canadians (as well as international observers) had come to believe even before the rulings recently handed down by Public Service Labour Relations Board adjudicator, in the case of Dr. Shiv Chopra and two other Health Canada scientists. These rulings merely provide further proof.

Coming seven years after the scientists were abruptly fired, the 208-page decision dismissed seven out of eight grievances and ordered one whistleblower reinstated—but not the others. As someone who has followed this case closely from the start, I find this end result absurd—as well as the reasons given for treating one scientist differently from the others.

Whistleblowers not safe in public service

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, Food safety, Health Canada, Privy Council Office (PCO), PSLRB
Rating: 
0

Ian Bron – August 14, 2011

Why does Canada treat its whistleblowers so badly? Even though only it has been just a few years since the Sponsorship Scandal, which was exposed by Allan Cutler and another anonymous whistleblower, it’s a question that needs to be asked.

Why? Because, yet again, Canadian whistleblowers have been successfully persecuted as an example to deter any potential ethical dissenters.

Effectively silencing Canada’s whistleblowers

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, Food safety, Health Canada, Privy Council Office (PCO), PSLRB
Rating: 
5

David Hutton – August 13, 2011

Last week an adjudicator at the Public Service Labour Relations Board handed down rulings related to three Health Canada scientists that confirm what many Canadians — and international observers — had already concluded: that Canada is not a safe place for honest employees, especially if they work for the federal government.

After four-and-a-half years of proceedings, it took a further year for the adjudicator to deliver his 208-page decision, which dismissed seven out of eight grievances and ordered one whistleblower reinstated — but not the others. Having followed this case closely from the start, the end result seems absurd to me — as do the reasons given for treating one scientist differently from the others.

Whistleblowers pay price for speaking out

Topics: 
Dr. Shiv Chopra, Food safety, Reprisals, Health Canada, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
0

Lethbridge Herald Opinon – 11 August 2011

Whistleblowers will pay the price for speaking out. That seems to be the message after two of three scientists fired by Health Canada for voicing their concerns for public safety failed in their bid to get their jobs back.

The decision was announced recently by the Public Service Labour Relations Board, which dismissed the grievances of Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon, who were fired for insubordination in 2004. The board ruled in favour of the third scientist, Gerard Lambert, agreeing he was wrongly dismissed.

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