By Garry Clement, October 3, 2025
In every democracy, truth has defenders. They are often not politicians or CEOs, but ordinary people – whistleblowers who decide that their duty to the public outweighs their loyalty to silence. Yet in Canada, they are too often treated not as guardians of democracy but as expendable collateral.
Consider the troubling cases of Brian McAdam and of Susan Holmes, Cora Nicholson and Svetlana Tentko. McAdam, a former Canadian diplomat, uncovered evidence of Chinese organized crime’s deep entanglement with Canadian immigration and political systems. Instead of receiving support, his superiors at the Department of Foreign Affairs ridiculed and ostracized him. They dismissed his findings and effectively dismantled his career. Holmes, Nicholson, and Tentko came forward with allegations of bribery tied to Prince Edward Island’s immigrant investor program. They exposed what they believed was corruption at the heart of a system meant to bring economic opportunity. Instead of being protected, they were punished. CBC later reported that these women’s courage in stepping forward “destroyed their lives.”
Canada’s whistleblower laws are widely regarded as ineffective. They give the appearance of protecting people who disclose wrongdoing, but in practice they have failed to provide meaningful safeguards or remedies.
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