Our Founder
Founder of FAIR
FAIR was founded in 1998 by Joanna Gualtieri, a prominent Canadian whistleblower, and a tireless advocate for freedom of speech in the workplace.
In the early 1990's Joanna discovered gross violations of the rules for housing diplomatic staff abroad, which she believed had cost Canadian taxpayers vast sums over the past decade. When she brought this information to the attention of senior management in Foreign Affairs and sought to have the situation corrected, she was ostracized by her bosses, shunned by colleagues and ultimately sent on leave without pay.
Motivated by this crushing experience, she established FAIR to help other truth-tellers avoid a similar fate, and sued the Government for damages. (Her case is still dragging its way case through the courts, and is now in its twelfh year.)
Joanna is a lawyer and an acknowledged expert in whistleblower law. She has testified to several parliamentary committees on draft whistleblower legislation, and is a sought-after public speaker. In 2007, in recognition of her contributions she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Government Accountability Project (GAP) a U.S.- based non-profit that is internationally recognized as the pre-eminent authority on whistleblowing.
During 2007 the demands of her court case became overwhelming and in May 2008 she stepped down, formally handing over the reins to David Hutton, who paid the following tribute to her accomplishments:
“We owe a great deal to Joanna: without her efforts there would have been no FAIR, no debate on the Hill about how to protect whistleblowers, and no legislation today. We hope that at some time in the future, when her court case is settled and her health recovered, she may be able to rejoin our efforts."
