SPPA Professor Paloma Raggo was awarded a 2019-2020 SSHRC Connection Grant to host a day and a half symposium, “Enhancing Whistleblowing Practices and Research in Canada,” in partnership with Pam Forward, president and executive director of the Whistleblowing Canada Research Society.
The event is planned as part of the Faculty of Public Affairs Research Series at Carleton University in Spring 2022.
The goal is to discuss and address the problem of ineffective whistleblower protection in Canada, promote the creation of a Canadian research network on the whistleblowing phenomenon and discuss the political hurdles to implementing legislative improvements. This public symposium will bring together Canadian and international researchers, legal practitioners, whistleblowers, civil society groups and policymakers for the first time since the implementation of the Federal Public Servant Disclosure Protection Act in 2007.
“Whistleblowing is at the essence of all democratic societies,” says Professor Raggo. “Yet, whistleblowers experience reprisals and hostile work environment for doing the right thing. Why is that? If we want transparent and ethical organizations, whistleblowing is a fundamental accountability mechanism we need to pay more attention too and find solutions to support it, not punish it.”