Health Canada

Canada’s integrity commissioner: in full pursuit of the inconsequential

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David Hutton – April 23, 2012

This is the story of how Canadian authorities suck up to a powerful industry that has a track record of bad behaviour, how public servants who get in the way are punished, and how the watchdog that’s supposed to investigate suspected wrongdoing is turning a blind eye.

Canada’s Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion, who is responsible for protecting government whistleblowers and investigating their allegations of wrongdoing, recently referred his third case to the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal created to examine alleged reprisals against whistleblowers.

Whistleblowers pay price for integrity

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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

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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

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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.

Whistleblower rulings hurt Canada's reputation

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

PSLRB hearing on Health Canada whistleblowers "a farce"

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Ottawa Citizen letters to the Editor – August 11, 2011

Re: Labour board orders Health Canada to reinstate whistleblower (9th August 2011)

Citizen writer, Don Butler, is to be commended for the depth of his examination and reporting of the recent decision of the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) in ordering Health Canada (HC) to reinstate Lambert while rejecting the grievances of Chopra and Haydon, all three whistleblowers fired simultaneously on 14 July 2004.

Purportedly, the three Veterinarian Regulatory Scientists were fired for ‘insubordination’, not for exercising their expert opinion by speaking out to the media over their food safety concerns in the public interest.

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