(The following article (at the link below) is excerpted from the 2011 report compiled and released by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression “REPORT CARD” on the state of freedom of expression in Canada. This article articulates the reasoning for the government of Canada’s reprehensible grade in how it (mis)treats and deters whistleblowers from providing a noble and valuable service to improving the safety, efficiency, legality and integrity of its widespread operations.
This excerpt focuses upon how the senior management have allowed Veterans Affairs to become both a pariah to the veterans and families it claims to serve as well as a paragon of bureaucratic malice in the face of veterans exercising the freedom of expression rights which they once defended with their lives while in uniform.)
By M. Philip Tunley-CANADIAN JOURNALISTS FOR FREE EXPRESSION-May 9, 2011.
Whistle blowers are important to free expression. Why? They reveal information about corruption, illegalities and unethical behaviour that political parties and governments want to keep secret—information that a democracy needs. Whistleblowers are also critical sources for journalists, sources that will dry up unless the whistleblower and the journalist’s right to shield sources are protected.