From left to right: James Cohen; Luc Tremblay; Marie-Maude Denis; David Hutton; Susan Côté-Freeman
At the 2022 Toronto Day of Dialogue on November 17, TI Canada recognized Mr. David Hutton for the 2nd Canadian Integrity Award. Mr. Hutton is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University.
The award was presented to Mr. Hutton in recognition of his work supporting whistleblowers and advocating for stronger whistleblower protection in Canada.
TI Canada also recognized as an honourable mention, the Radio-Canada investigative journalist program Enquête. Representing Enquête at the Day of Dialogue were managing editor, Luc Tremblay and host, Marie-Maude Denis.
You can read the full speeches below from TI Canada Executive Director James Cohen, Mr. David Hutton, and M. Tremblay and Mme. Denis.
Watch the full award ceremony here
David Hutton, Canadian Integrity Award Acceptance Speech
Thank you to TI Canada and the committee that chose me. It’s a great honour indeed to be recognized in this way by such a respected organization.
However, I cannot accept this award without acknowledging so many friends and colleagues – too many to name – who have engaged with me in this important work: at the Centre for Free Expression here in Toronto; at the Whistleblowing International Network; at the Government Accountability Project in Washington DC, and colleagues in the UK, Ireland and Australia. It’s been a privilege to work with so many smart, dedicated people who strive tirelessly to achieve what sometimes seems like an elusive goal: real protection for truth-tellers.
And there’s another group I want to recognize: the whistleblowers themselves, in my experience nearly always honest employees who without any prospect of personal gain, put themselves at risk to expose wrongdoing that may harm others – these are people who are the most deserving of recognition, and who rarely receive any.
In our incredibly interdependent society, we rely constantly on others for our safety and well-being – every time we board a train or plane, every time take some medication or undergo some medical procedure, every time we invest our savings… the list goes on. Every day we do things that could cause us serious harm if others are not doing their jobs honestly and competently.
But we also know that bad actors can be found everywhere, in any organization. How can we protect ourselves? Decades of research confirms repeatedly that whistleblowing is the single most effective way of uncovering fraud and other wrongdoing within organizations, catching 42% of all frauds detected – more than three times more than the next most effective method, which is internal audit at about 16%. Our traditional methods of detecting fraud are hamstrung if tips from whistleblowers are not forthcoming.
And we need the help of whistleblowers more than ever before. There’s never been a moment in history where humanity has faced such an array of serious, possibly terminal problems, ranging from global warming to ongoing pandemics, toxic politics that are dividing society and undermining democracy everywhere, dictatorships strengthening their hold on power and starting insane wars…
In all of these situations, reliable information is one of the tools that we need most, just to understand properly what is going on, let alone work out solutions and agree on them. But instead, we face an unprecedented epidemic of misinformation, manufactured on an industrial scale by vested interests, and spread like wildfire on social media for profit.
Whistleblowers can help us in an important way to tackle many of these existential problems, simply by exposing the facts. There are so many past cases where their actions have made a huge difference.
Rick Piltz was one of the first to expose the deliberate spread of misinformation regarding global warming, which we now know has been propagated by the fossil fuel industry for decades.
Daniel Ellsberg's publication of the Pentagon Papers helped to bring the Vietnam war to an end after it had dragged on for 20 years.
Jeffrey Wigand’s exposures paved the way for litigation against big tobacco which ultimately cost them $200 billion, and for public health measures to curb the use of tobacco.
Frances Haugen, just last year exposed how Facebook’s algorithms prioritize misinformation for profit, and explained how governments can tackle the spread of hate speech and conspiracy theories.
Many Canadians have also made a difference.
Allan Cutler, the Sponsorship Scandal whistleblower, provided vital evidence to the Gomery Inquiry, whose report helped bring down a government exposed as corrupt.
Dr. Michele Brill-Edwards’ efforts helped expose the pharmaceutical industry’s undue influence on research and placed these conflicts of interest at the centre of medical ethics worldwide.
During the pandemic Ashley Jenkins, a young nurse, exposed appalling negligence at a nursing home in Hamilton, forcing the regulator to finally start shutting down this and many other rogue operations. Her actions probably saved hundreds of lives.
These are all success stories in terms of getting the problem exposed, though the whistleblowers often paid a heavy price.
I used to run a small whistleblowing charity called FAIR, and besides our other advocacy efforts I began offering a free confidential helpline. Soon I was inundated with calls and I spoke to more than 400 whistleblowers. They greatly appreciated being heard and the help I could give them to better understand their situation. But given the lack of legal protections available, very few of them had the slightest chance of success.
That’s what it was like – still is like – because here in Canada we have among the worst whistleblowing laws on the planet. Last year an expert study of whistleblowing laws in about 50 countries rated Canada’s the worst, with 1 point out of 20. A good score would be 15.
At a federal level we have a whistleblowing system for government employees that has cost over $100 million to date – yet in 15 years of operation has never protected a single whistleblower, out of 500 who have reported reprisals. Out of 1,500 reports of suspected wrongdoing it has found only 18 cases, all relatively minor, while not even bothering to investigate credible reports about serious problems, for example the Phoenix pay scandal, which has cost us $2.4 billion and counting.
Why such poor results? Because it’s set up this way.
Our federal system functions as a powerful offensive weapon, used against government whistleblowers, and a highly efficient system for covering up wrongdoing. It lures whistleblowers with bogus promises of protection, takes the valuable information that they have about suspected wrongdoing, and buries most of it forever, usually without any investigation. The whistleblowers are placed on a treadmill of rigged, bureaucratic and costly processes that will tie them up for years and ruin them, with absolutely no prospect of justice.
This is a catastrophic failure to protect some of those within our society who are among the most deserving and the most vulnerable: people who have put themselves at risk in order to protect us.
As a result, we are largely unprotected from abuses of power. Just look at the scandals that have appeared in our media: the Sponsorship Scandal, Phoenix pay debacle, Duffygate, We Charity scandal, SNC Lavalin cover-up. One that really upset me was when our big financial institutions started acting like mail scammers, foisting unwanted services and fees onto pensioners and other vulnerable customers.
And these are just the abuses that we got to know about!
After 17 years of striving for change I do feel disappointed at times when I look at our lack of progress to date in protecting Canadian whistleblowers -- and the cost of this, both to them and to us.
But I’m optimistic about the future and also inspired by the opportunity I see.
I am optimistic because I see a powerful trend, of strong protection for whistleblowers becoming the norm around the world as people realize the benefits to society. Within a decade or so we have gone from a tiny handful of countries having whistleblowing laws to about 50, including all countries within the EU. This has come about, not by accident, but through the work of many dedicated people who have been working on this file for decades. Canada is at present a shameful outlier, but with their help we will catch up with our peers eventually.
I am inspired too because, through my dealings with so many whistleblowers I’ve learned an important lesson about human nature. I’ve come to understand that there are decent and honest people in every walk of life, who always try to do the right thing if they can. In every type of organization there seems to be a core of these people who just don’t have it in them to turn a blind eye to injustice, who feel they have no choice but to speak out, even if the repercussions for them may be very serious.
And these people are everywhere, even in organizations such as financial institutions where conventional wisdom suggests that money is the only motivator. Alayne Fleishmann is a young Canadian lawyer who blew the whistle on her employer, JP Morgan – twice! She is known as the nine-billion-dollar witness because that’s how much her actions are said to have cost the hedge fund.
The opportunity that excites me is what can happen when whistleblowers are protected!
I have a vision, that someday honest employees all across Canada, in every type of organization will be able to speak out and be properly heard when they have concerns about conduct that may cause harm – and that they will be shielded from reprisals designed to silence and punish them.
This may seem an unrealistic, unattainable vision, but we can make big strides towards it as other countries are doing. And as we do, we will begin to unleash the tremendous power of a kind of volunteer force – millions of honest Canadians, acting as our eyes and ears, looking out for us in their workplaces.
I know that this volunteer anti-corruption brigade already exists, its members willing and able to serve us, but they are currently held captive and muzzled by fear. As we begin to liberate them, imagine how much greater confidence we will all have that our governments were focused on serving us, and not wasting millions of tax dollars on boondoggles and phoney contracts. Imagine how much safer we will be from corporations destroying our environment for profit and stealing our savings.
Imagine how much harder it will be for the purveyors of lies and misinformation to survive when insiders can expose their corrupt business models and their deceitful operating procedures. Imagine how better informed we will be, and better equipped to understand and deal with the existential problems that we face as a species.
What can you do to help this come about?
If you are someone with power or influence, you can start with your own organization. Research shows that the business case for setting up your own internal whistleblowing system is a no-brainer – you should already be doing this! Both CSA and TI publish guides on how to set up such a system, and there are firms that can assist, running the hotline you are going to need and helping to get your system working properly – which will require commitment and expertise.
If you are on the other end of the power spectrum and there’s something you need to blow the whistle on, please first STOP and PREPARE! Make sure you really understand what you are getting into, and how to mitigate your risk before you take any action. I suggest you call our free confidential help line at CFE, which exists precisely to help people like you.
If you are someone who would like to know more or get involved, check out our website at the Whistleblowing section at the Centre for Free Expression, and sign up for our newsletter so that you can become part of a critical mass of Canadians who want to see something done. That’s how all social change always comes about, through the efforts of a small committed community. Please do join us ….
Read the nomination letter for David Hutton here.
Enquête, Honourable Mention Speech
Luc Tremblay, Managing Editor:
We would like to thank TI Canada and the members of the jury for bestowing on us this honorable mention.
We would also like to congratulate Mr. Hutton for his 2022 Canadian Integrity Award
We are very proud of this recognition outside journalistic circles. We are doing Enquête to have an impact on society and we see in this award proof that Canadians appreciate our work.
Merci à la direction de l’Information de Radio-Canada de croire en Enquête. Merci surtout à la direction de l’information: Luce Julien, la directrice de l’information, et Dominique Poirier, la première directrice des émissions d’enquête, de leur soutien et de leur appui indéfectible à cette chose difficile et coûteuse qu’on appelle le journalisme d’enquête.
More importantly, I want to thank the whole Enquête team.
Each week our reporters and producers and associate producers are opening a window for our Canadian audience to let the sun shine in the dark areas of our society.
They all believe, as former US Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis once said, that “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”.
Marie-Maude Denis, Host:
C’est un honneur pour nous d’accepter cette mention d’honneur au Integrity Award 2022. Nous vous remercions au nom de toutes les équipes journalistiques qui depuis 16 ans, travaillent obstinément pour faire de grandes révélations d’intérêt public.
Holding governments and the private sector companies accountable for their actions is the engine that drives Enquête, and the reason why we sometimes spend as much time with our lawyers than with our own families!
At Enquête, there’s no sacred cows. Throughout the years, we exposed corruption, illegal acts, tax schemes, or ties with organized crime involving flagship companies of our Canadian economy. Among them are Bombardier, Alstom, Irving, KPMG, Saputo and SNC-Lavalin to name a few.
We also revealed corruption in our institutions at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. Hard to say if it’s easier to unearth the little secrets of large corporations, or of our own public administrations.
But we do know that all these little holes we drilled in opacity brought a little more light, one fact at a time. We at Enquête are also convinced that naming names and exposing wrongdoing does not, in the long run, fuel Canadians’ distrust in their institutions.
On the contrary, it is evidence of the health of our democracy, the importance of freedom of the press and of free speech.
Nous partageons plusieurs valeurs en commun avec Transparency International Canada, ainsi que des objectifs qui sont de la plus criante actualité alors que nos dirigeants dénoncent les régimes autoritaires qui empêchent la libre circulation de l'information.
We are far from being perfect in Canada. There is so much to achieve to bring real transparency in our country, to live up to our values. We have in mind complete and accurate information on beneficial ownership of businesses and real estate. An honest compliance with the Access to Information Act. Not releasing "some information", playing the trap, the clock and hiding behind exceptions.
Our commitment is to keep on revealing stories that are concrete examples of these important principles that may seem vague to a lot of people.
Notre travail consiste à faire de la pédagogie et montrer aux citoyens que le manque de transparence dans une société a des effets concrets et tangibles sur tous les canadiens.
À tous les membres du jury de Transparency qui ont choisi de souligner nos accomplissements des seize dernières années, nous sommes très reconnaissants de cette belle tape dans le dos. Vous nous encouragez à continuer.
Let’s keep on fighting the good fight.
Merci, thank you.
Read the nomination for Enquête here.
James Cohen, Canadian Integrity Award Presentation Speech
It is my pleasure to start the portion of the Toronto Day of Dialogue where we present the Canadian Integrity Award.
I will be presenting the award on behalf of the Canadian Integrity Award Nominations Committee, which includes:
Representing the TI Canada Board of Directors, Amee Sandhu and Anar Popatia
Representing a TI Canada Supporter, from Deloitte, Emmy Babalola
Representing a TI Canada Member, Adam Ross
I want to thank all the members of the committee for volunteering their time to review and select an award winner.
The goal of the Canadian Integrity Award is to recognise people and organisations who have taken initiative in the fight against corruption through various means including research, reporting, advocacy, legislative or policy changes, or upholding the rule of law. In turn we hope the award recipient inspires other Canadians to also act against corruption.
The award recipient shows that apathy and accepting the status quo are not acceptable. And while fighting corruption is not easy by any means, hard work and dedication to promoting transparency and accountability can have results to make Canada better for all.
We received excellent submissions for the award this year and I want to thank everyone who put forward very compelling nominations. The awards committee had a thorough and interesting discussion on the merits of all candidates who are each contributing to transparency and accountability in their own right.
As a result of the committee’s deliberation, we felt that it was fair this year to not only recognize an award winner, but also to recognize an honourable mention. We believe that both recipients represent key informal pillars of society that uphold transparency and accountability in Canada.
For the honourable mention, we would like to recognize the Radio-Canada program ENQUÊTE.
L'équipe de journalistes, de producteurs et de chercheurs de l’émission Enquête de Radio-Canada a réalisé d'importants reportages au fil des ans. Reportages où ils ont jeté la lumière sur la corruption au sein des entreprises, le blanchiment d’argent et sur la corruption municipale. L’équipe a aussi contribué au reportage des Panama Papers et des Paradise Papers. Le Canada a besoin de journalisme d’enquête solide comme celui qui est produit par Enquête. Un journalisme documenté qui demande des comptes, non seulement aux corrompus, mais aussi aux autorités lorsqu’elles manquent à leur travail d’application de nos lois contre la corruption et le blanchiment d’argent.
Je tiens donc à féliciter et à remercier de leur travail le rédacteur en chef d’Enquête, Luc Tremblay, et son animatrice, Marie-Maude Denis qui sont avec nous aujourd’hui.
Our award-winner works with a community who often triggers an investigation into corruption: whistleblowers. Without whistleblowers putting their reputation, financial safety, mental health, and physical safety on the line, most corruption cases would never come to light. Whistleblowers do not just need someone to listen to them, to help them tell their story, and to guide them through a tumultuous path. Whistleblowers also need strong legislation to protect them from retaliation. Our award winner has been working tirelessly for years on all these fronts. It is because of his personal dedication that the awards committee is honoured to present the second Canadian Integrity Award to Mr. David Hutton.
David is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Free Expression Whistleblowing Initiatives at Toronto Metropolitan University.
The list of initiatives he has taken on to support whistleblowers includes:
Taking the calls of over 400 whistleblowers between 2005 to 2014
Calling out gaps in federal and provincial whistleblower protection laws both informally and on government bodies
Initiating the Canadian Standards Association guideline for the implementation of whistleblower protection
Co-developing the CFE WI’s tool for the assessment of whistleblower laws
Leading and providing expertise to organisational and news reports
While David himself would say there is much more to be done, his extraordinary dedication and efforts deserve recognition, and in that recognition, we hope that other Canadians see what is possible. David, congratulations.