Justice Department

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.

Crown settles suit for malicious prosecution

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Sylvain Parent

James Bagnall – February 13, 2012

Ottawa actuary Sylvain Parent has at last settled with the federal government, nearly eight years after launching his suit for malicious prosecution. The epic legal war ended, as these things often do, with a behind-the scenes deal whose terms are confidential.

Nevertheless, it's probably safe to assume Parent has recouped his considerable legal expenses, as well as costs related to third-party claims. Make that several million dollars at a minimum.

Federal scientist seeks $600,000 in lawsuit

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Gary Dimmock – October 4, 2010

OTTAWA — A senior Health Canada analyst who reviews drugs before they go on the public market is suing his boss for allegedly branding him, in writing, as mentally unstable and potentially violent after he opposed the government’s policy on labelling hormone drugs for men.

Dr. Thaddeus Yarney’s troubles began when he argued against a Health Canada director’s alleged policy to strike andropause (male menopause) as a condition that stems from testosterone drugs.

Air India flight 182: Excusing the inexcusable

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Terry Milewski – June 23, 2010

After a quarter-century, Canada says sorry for botching the Air India investigation.  It took 83 years for Canada to apologize for the infamous head tax imposed upon Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923. It took 46 years for the government, under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, to apologize for the internment of Japanese-Canadians in World War II.

The British government took 38 years to apologize for Bloody Sunday. Prime Minister David Cameron said the British army's killing of innocent Irish civilians was "wrong" - although many of their relatives didn't live long enough to hear it.

Legal costs to fight Agent Orange case near $8 million

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Kathryn May – June 22, 2010

OTTAWA — The Harper government has spent nearly $8 million fighting veterans and their families seeking compensation for exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.

Documents recently tabled in Parliament show four departments have been involved in battling the class action suit with Justice spending the most at $5.8 million followed by another $1.5 million spent by National Defence. Health Canada and Veterans Affairs have paid about $445,000.

Professors want probe of detainee case lawyer

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Alain Prefontaine
Alain Préfontaine

CBC News – May 14, 2010

A group of professors is urging Ontario's law society to investigate allegations that the federal government's lead counsel at hearings into the handling of Afghan detainees is in a conflict of interest.

The allegations refer to Alain Préfontaine, the senior counsel and director general in the Department of Justice.

"At this writing, Mr. Préfontaine is making ongoing, almost weekly appearances before the [Military Police Complaints Commission], and the conduct complained of is profoundly corrosive to the administration of justice," the five professors write in a letter to the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Federal lawyer may have broken conduct rules: MP

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James Cudmore, CBC News – April 21, 2010

The federal government's lead counsel at hearings into the handling of Afghan detainees is alleged to have broken the rules that govern lawyers in Ontario.

Alain Prefontaine should be investigated by Ontario's law society for an apparent conflict of interest, says lawyer and Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh.

Richard Colvin's Catch-22

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Steven Chase – April 14, 2010

Franz Kafka would have been proud to have penned an episode from Tuesday's Afghan detainee hearings where the government sought to undermine testimony from one of its own civil servants.

The catch, for the civil servant, is he can't talk about information the government has censored. Even if it could vindicate him.

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.

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