AWARDS
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The POGG Golden
Whistle Award
Master Plaque
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The Golden
Whistle Award
The Golden Whistle Award is an annual award given by POGG (Peace, Order
and Good Government), an Ottawa-based discussion group led by Harry Weldon.
The award is sponsored by Canadians
for Accountability and will be awarded annually to an individual who
has done a service to Canada in the pursuit of truth in government.
Past year
recipients can be viewed below.
2010 Award
This year is the fourth year year of the
award. The recipient for 2011 is Sean
Bruyea.
Captain Sean Bruyea
(Ret'd) is a veteran of the Gulf War and one
of Canada's leading advocates for the fair and just treatment of injured
soldiers, veterans and their families. His exceptional efforts resulted in
the creation of the position of Veteran's Affairs Ombudsman and in improved
treatment for our wounded veterans and for the families of those killed
while fighting for Canada.
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From left to right: Harry Weldon (POGG President) stands with Allan
Cutler (Canadians for Accountability President), Golden Whistle Award
winner Sean Bruyea, and Sean's wife, Carolina
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He was a vocal critic of the New
Veterans Charter, which sacrifices lifelong benefits for wounded
veterans in favour of a lump-sum payment to a
maximum of $276,000. Internal Veterans Afairs
communications and independent
analysis have shown that this was a cynical move to save money at the
expense of veterans, and that veterans wounded
worst would be the most affected.
Sean's advocacy came at a cost, however: Veterans Affairs officials,
concerned about the effect Seans advocacy was
having, instituted a series of reprisals against him. This included
attempts to have him committed to a mental health facility, bogus
psychological exams with pre-determined results, threats to end his
veteran's benefits and widespread and illegal dissemination of his medical
records in an effort to discredit him.
A damning report by the Privacy
Commissioner and public attention to his plight forced the government
to issue an apology and reach a settlement with Sean. He continues to work
for improved benefits for veterans, including a funadamental
changes to the New Veterans Charter.
Captain Bruyea is being recognized by POGG and
Canadians for Accountability this year for his courage in stepping up to
defend veterans rights and exposing bureaucratic
wrongdoing.
Past Year Awards
2010 Golden
Whistle Award
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Harry Weldon (left)
stands with Golden Whistle Award winner Allan Cutler
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The 2010 Golden Whistle Award winner was Allan Cutler. He was a senior
procurement manager at the federal government ministry Public
Works and Government Services Canada when, in the mid-1990s, he noticed
irregularities in the spending of sponsorship funds in Quebec. (The program
was established as an effort to raise awareness of the Government of
Canada's contributions to Quebec industries and other activities in order
to counter those working to promote Quebec independence.)
Allan reported these irregularities to his superiors, who at first
ignored him. When he remained persistent, efforts were made to cover up the
abuses and a campaign of reprisal against him was initiated. The problems
eventually reached the public eye and became known as the Sponsorship Scandal
or Adscam. Allan also testified to the Gomery
Commission, which was lauched in September
2004 and released its final report in February 2006.
The courage and conviction Allan showed in the face of harassment and
retribution was instrumental in promoting calls for greater whistleblower protection.
This ultimately led to the 2006 Accountability Act
and the Public
Servants Disclosure Protection Act.
In 2007, Allan brought together a group of whistleblowers and
like-minded individuals to for Canadians for Accountability.
This organization is dedicated to supporting whistleblowers and to
educating the public about accountability and whistleblowing.
Canadians for Accountability was formally incorporated as a non-profit
corporation in June 2008.
You can find more information on his web site at http://ascutler.com/.
2009 Golden
Whistle Award
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Allan Cutler (left)
and Carol Simpson (right) stand with Golden Whistle Award winner Bernard Payeur (centre)
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The recipient for 2009 was Bernard
Payeur. Bernard, working as a
financial systems analyst in the Department of Foreign Affairs during the
early 1980s, discovered that Foreign Affairs staff had defrauded the
taxpayers of more than seven million dollars, and that the fraud had been
going on for some time. He reported his findings to persons senior to him
in the expectation that the fraud would be stopped and the guilty persons
brought to justice. To his dismay and subsequent sorrow his allegations
were shunted aside and he was made out to be the villain as a disloyal and
insubordinate employee, which eventually resulted in his dismissal.
Bernard was a pioneer in Canadian whistleblowing.
His actions demonstrated the integrity and honesty that Canadians desire
and expect from their government and public service, and his strenuous and
noble fight against government employee abuse of taxpayers' money has
inspired numerous others to stand up for what is right over the last 30
years.
We recommend that you read Bernard's acceptance speech; it provides an
excellent description of the kangaroo court
process he faced when trying to fight reprisals:
PDF Version | RTF
Version | Word Version
2008 Golden
Whistle Award
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Allan Cutler (left)
and Harry Weldon (right) stand with Golden Whistle Award winner Perry
Dunlop (centre)
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The recipient for 2008 was Perry
Dunlop, whose courageous actions in exposing the sexual
abuse of minors in Cornwall, Ontario, cost him his reputation and his
career. They also triggered the Cornwall
Public Inquiry.
For a fuller description of the events and persons involved in the
scandal, as well as Perry's actions, please visit Sylvia MacEachern's
website. She also has a blog.
Read Perry Dunlop's acceptance speech:
PDF Version | RTF
Version | Word Version
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Page created March 25,
2009 | Last edited March 26, 2011
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