Joanna Gualtieri

The Joanna Gualtieri Case

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Joanna Gualtieri

Joanna Gualtieri ’s 18-year ordeal has all the hallmarks of abuse of office and abuse of institutional power: from the waste of public funds that she discovered in the course of her work at Foreign Affairs, to the years of harassment that she endured at the hands of her bosses when she spoke out about this, and then the endless and costly delay tactics employed by government lawyers in the lawsuit she brought against those responsible.

Strathmore: Canada's sale of ambassador's residence no pot of gold

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Strathmore

Lee Berthiaume – October 7, 2011

As the Irish real estate market began to crash in 2008, Canadian foreign affairs officials recommended the government not move ahead with plans to sell Canada's historic ambassadorial residence in Dublin, newly released documents show.

But the government ultimately rejected the advice — and appears to have lost millions of taxpayer dollars in the subsequent deal.

Video: Strathmore Extravagance

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Joanna Gualtieri
Joanna Gualtieri

With the sale of Canada's lavish ambassador's residence in Ireland this 2003 CBC documentary is now topical again. Once valued at up to $35 million, Strathmore sits next door to millionaire rock star Bono's luxury home – but it's much larger.

For years public servants repeatedly recommended that the property be sold, since it was so expensive to run and far beyond the requirements for an official residence. But the minister nixed this plan – in a one-line email. Joanna Gualtieri explains how the system works to perpetuate lavish waste and extravagance.

Shooting the messenger: Why Canadians don’t often blow the whistle on wrongdoing

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Suanne Kelman – June 2011

When WikiLeaks funnelled endless secret documents to the press last year, there was only one possible reaction for all true Canadians: an immediate, obsessive hunt for evidence that we exist.

Fortunately, we could breathe a sigh of relief after the first comb-through: not only did we show up in a lot of diplomatic cables, but Julian Assange’s outfit eventually released a list of our most important and sensitive infrastructure and resources in case anyone wanted to attack.

Experts see link between Gualtieri, Colvin cases

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Carl Meyer – April 14, 2010

Experts and a former whistleblower are drawing a link between the heavy criticism the government received over its treatment of diplomat Richard Colvin and its recent decision to end a tumultuous 12-year legal battle with a former Foreign Affairs employee.

Joanna Gualtieri exposed profligate waste at Canadian missions abroad in the early 1990s. At the time, she said the department was wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on accommodations for diplomats that weren't being used.

Government not protecting whistleblowers

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Greg Weston – April 13, 2010

Our story of Joanna Gualtieri’s valiant battle to expose government squander, and the resulting 12 years of federal lawyers trying to crush her, triggered a firestorm of outrage among readers across the country.

Most found it hard to believe the government of a country not officially a banana republic would be allowed to drag a public service whistleblower through hell for doing the job Canadians expect.

Whistleblower rules prove useless

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Rob Granatstein, QMI Agency – April 12, 2010

It's the kind of story that leads taxpayers to believe there's no hope.  Joanna Gaultieri tried to blow the whistle on billions of dollars of excessive luxury living at Canadian diplomatic outposts around the globe.

After landing a job in Foreign Affairs in 1992, Gaultieri uncovered massive abuses of government policies, millions of dollars of needless spending, our hard-earned cash thrown around like Monopoly money by diplomats with a shocking sense of entitlement.

Enemy of the state

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She was a hero to taxpayers, so why did the federal government try to bury her?

Greg Weston, QMI Agency – April 11, 2010

Joanna Gualtieri had just joined Foreign Affairs as a property manager when she got her first glimpse of taxpayer hell, a Canadian trade official’s Tokyo digs costing over $350,000 a year — in rent.

Seems the official didn’t fancy an $18-million mansion owned by the Canadian government in the same city, which consequently sat empty for almost four years.

‘I prevailed … I survived,’ whistleblower says

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Joanna Gualtieri’s legal battle with Foreign Affairs is finally over after 12 years

Mohammed Adam, The Ottawa Citizen – April 9, 2010

When it finally dawned on federal whistleblower Joanna Gualtieri that her 12-year legal ordeal was over, her enormous relief was tempered by the realization that her mother was not there to witness her triumph.

Gualtieri’s mother stood by her day and night through the highs and lows of the longest-running whistleblower harassment case in the city, but she did not live to see her daughter prevail. The thought saddens Gualtieri.

A case that brought about new legislation to protect whistleblowers

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Paul Gaboury, Le Droit – April 6, 2010

The Gualtieri Saga

For many years, the case of Mrs. Gualtieri has been cited as an example of the fate reserved for whistleblowers within the federal public service, especially during the tumultuous period of the sponsorship scandal.

This case even forced the federal government to adopt a new law to protect whistleblowers. That bill, C-11, was adopted with the support of all political parties in October 2005. Since its adoption, the law has been criticized by organizations fighting for the rights of whistleblowers, because the government had taken away, at the same time, the right of a public servant to file a lawsuit against its employer, the government.

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