Whistleblower leaks to reporters ‘hurt democracy’, reads memo

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   July 17, 2024   |   Be the first to comment

Whistleblower leaks to reporters hurt democracy, reads a federal memo. Federal Managers told employees to send grievances to an anonymous electronic suggestion box over leaking details to the press. 

“Disclosing privileged information to media or other third parties erodes the very trust on which democratic institutions of government depend,” said the January 19 Memorandum To The Deputy Minister. It adds that leaks also violate “conditions of employment” and breach “security requirements.”

The department on May 21 introduced a “Dissent Channel” for staff to lodge complaints anonymously, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. The suggestion box “mitigates against dissenting views being shared publicly,” said the memo. It did not elaborate.

“Dissent Channel” would have protected dissenters from “any penalty or reprisal,” claimed managers, who supposedly welcomed in-house criticism.

Admittedly, they acknowledged the media is “likely to learn” of the mechanism. “While its creation may not eliminate departmental leaks the new channel will support efforts to be more inclusive,” said the memo.

The attempt to curb whistleblower leaks follows a 2023 Value And Ethics Report to The Clerk Of The Privy Council that complained of “decreasing confidence in Canada’s democracy” by a cynical electorate. 

The memo urged whistleblowers not to contact the media. “Canada has visible pockets of effective institutionalized dissent,” it said.

Whistleblowers need ‘to be punished’

Jody Thomas, then-top national security adviser to the Prime Minister, told MPs last year she expects whistleblowers who leak ‘sensitive information’ to be punished.

“The law has been broken. Sources and techniques have been put at risk,” she told CBC News.

A series of articles by Global News and The Globe and Mail relied on comments from anonymous security sources, alleging foreign meddling in the 2019 and 2021 general elections. The sources leaked top-secret intelligence to the news outlets.

One source said they spoke out because “it had become increasingly clear that no serious action was being considered,” claiming there was “evidence of senior public officials ignoring interference beginning to mount.”

Advisor Thomas said she would never concede there being a ‘benefit’ to leaking classified information into national security. She declined comment on the documents leaked to journalists and later reported.

Acknowledging interference in Canada's elections, Thomas condemned the “unlawful sharing of information” as “it jeopardizes institutions, and puts people at risk.”

She previously told the House affairs committee that leaked intelligence doesn't tell the whole story, and is often “taken out of context.”

Special Rapporteur: Leaked materials were ‘misconstrued’ 

David Johnston, the special rapporteur on foreign interference, concurred last May 23 that common tactics include ‘disinformation’ campaigns and the “abuse of human relationships.” He clarified that “individual pieces of intelligence must be viewed with skepticism.”

Johnston claimed several leaked materials were “misconstrued” without the “benefit of the full context,” adding, “foreign interference is not usually embodied in discrete one-off pieces of intelligence.”

According to Thomas, the whistleblower could have raised their concerns internally. “There are better ways of trying to bring some light to this topic than risking Canada's national security,” she said. 

“It's incredibly disturbing on a number of levels. One that they would be so unaware of what has been done. That, two, they would risk our national security to leak information and gain some notoriety.”

PM Trudeau ‘will not’ legislate policy outlawing confidential sources

Meanwhile, Liberal Party members then passed a non-binding policy resolution on “combating disinformation.” It would have limited publication “only to material whose sources can be traced.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters last May that his government would not adopt the policy, calling it an affront to freedom of the press in Canada. 

“Liberals, like all Canadians, are right to be worried about misinformation and disinformation and wanting to make sure that Canadians are protected from it,” he said. “However, that policy is not a policy we would ever implement.”

“We will never harm journalists' capacity to do the professional independent work that they do.”

Alex Dhaliwal

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