Whistle-blowers claim harassment

Megan Gillis, Toronto Sun: July 11, 1998

Two civil servants who blew the whistle on $2 billion in alleged diplomatic perqs told a tribunal yesterday that they were harassed in retribution. The public service staff relations board must decide whether the alleged harassment and resulting depression are a workplace danger and injury under the Canadian Labor Code. The case was adjourned until August.

John Guenette and Joanna Gualtieri claim they were abused for questioning “grandiose … accommodations and lifestyles” for diplomats to the tune of $2 billion over a 10-year period at taxpayers’ expense.

Safety officer Daniel Strickland testified he found no evidence of danger as defined by the Canadian Labor Code. But lawyer Charles Gibson, representing Guenette and Gualtieri, said: “We’re trying to break new ground. The legal question is whether the danger defined by the labor code applies to something other than a physical one.”

Copyright Toronto Sun 1998