Way to go, Joanna!

Like many people, I’ve been watching this case for years.  Alan Cutler can go on all he wants with his self-promoting, self-given label of The Whistleblower as though he was the embodiment of exposing wrong-doing in the public service and government, but this lady is hardcore tough in her fight for what's right:

In what is being hailed as a victory, a 17-year battle between a federal whistleblower and the federal government has ended with an undisclosed financial settlement.  Joanna Gualtieri, a former foreign affairs realty portfolio manager, began to file reports alleging the department was spending extravagant amounts on accommodations for Canadian diplomats abroad in 1992.

She claims her bosses ignored her warnings and tried to censor reports that described how the government’s multi-million-dollar properties were being misused while extra funds were disbursed to rent luxurious accommodations that diplomats demanded. When she went public, Gualtieri said she was harassed, given a dead-end job and later ended up on unpaid medical leave.

That Cutler came forward is a good thing.  However, it always annoyed me how he elevated himself, sought out media after his case was settled, branding himself as the defender of accountability, even counting on his new fame to win him a seat in Parliament despite his weak knowledge of issues and even federal politics. 

Meanwhile, other whistleblowers were still suffering due to their courageous actions and fighting not only for themselves, but for greater transparency and accountability.  Guatieri was responsible for drafting Bill C-201, the Whistleblower’s Human Rights Act.

There’s another name often linked to Gualtieri’s when whsitleblowing comes up: Dr. Shiv Chopra.

Dr. Shiv Chopra, a microbiologist from Health Canada, was fired (in 2004) along with three others due to a stated cause of "insubordination." Chopra warned of mad cow disease two years before it became public. He was also one of the first people in the world to warn of the effects of bovine growth hormone, leading to a ban on BVH in Canada.

His forthcoming book, Corrupt to the Core: Memoirs of a Health Canada Scientist, will outline how he was pressured to approve hormones and antibiotics that lead to such conditions as the early onset of puberty in children and high rates of cancer.

"It's all to favour the multinational corporations producing 'wrong drugs, wrong foods,'" he says, explaining that new bills introduced by the current government, C51 and C52, will only worsen the situation.

At 74 years of age, Chopra should have retired, but decided to stay on and fight. "What keeps me going is the damage that's occurring to my country, my family, my community, my children, my grandchildren," he says. "I feel it's my duty. It's not a matter of putting my morals in it - it's my job."

Joanna Gualtieri and Shiv Chopra: two of my personal heros.