Fired Whistleblower hoping for better legislation
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Linda Merk is an unlikely crusader. She is a Regina grandmother, a golfer, a gardener. But this self-described "ordinary person" has waged a five-year battle for vindication after she was fired for reporting suspected wrong-doing in her own union.
It's a battle that led Merk to the Supreme Court of Canada, and could pave the way for the Whistleblower legislation that many say Canada desperately needs.
Linda Merk practically grew up in the Regina Ironworkers Union. Her father and brother were both officials. She began working in the union office when she was 16 and had been a bookkeeper for years when she began to notice what she thought was expense account double-dipping by bosses.
"As the months went on ... there were more things out of place and more things wrong and the membership were complaining to me and asking me what was going wrong," recalls Merk.
Merk did what she thought was the right thing: she reported what she had seen to the international union and when nothing happened, she went to the police. That's when her ordeal began in earnest.
"I was fired after going to the police," says Merk. "I wasn't shocked that I was fired but I was very saddened ... it has really made me look at things differently. You just can't keep going when you know something is wrong and you want it to be straightened out."
Merk appealed her firing in court, but lost. It was ruled that Whistleblower legislation in Saskatchewan required her to first report the wrong-doing to a "lawful authority" and that she had erred in going to the international union before going to the police. She appealed to a higher court and won, but lost in the provincial Court of Appeal. Merk's case in now before the Supreme Court of Canada � which has been considering her fate for the last five months. It is expected to rule any day now.
Merk's case is being considered by the highest court in the land at the very same time that another round of proposed Whistleblower legislation in Canada seems poised to die on the order paper.
Ottawa's point man on the legislation -- Treasury Board President Reg Alcock -- deflected criticism of the legislation. He said the legislation is still working its way through a parliamentary committee.
According to critics like Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch -- it's probably a good thing that Bill C-11 may not pass. He says it's a deeply flawed piece of legislation.
"Bill C-11 is a completely ineffective system and hopefully with this minority government situation we'll see the opposition parties push and we'll get an effective system passed before the next election," says Conacher.
Conacher says Canada needs an independent office, reporting directly to Parliament, to oversee Whistleblower protection. And he says that protection should go beyond public servants and be extended to private sector employees who report corporate wrong-doing.
"No one should be surprised to see scandalous behavior continuing in the federal government because it is effectively legal to act in corrupt, unethical ways," says Conacher. "There is no effective legislation anywhere in this country. Perhaps the province of New Brunswick comes the closest."
But it's likely the Supreme Court will make its Whistleblower ruling long before another piece of federal legislation is drafted. Linda Merk is hoping the Supreme Court will give her job back but more important -- she wants the court to pave the way for real protection for others in her shoes.
"It's been a long haul and I'm just hoping it's soon over," says Merk. "I'm hoping the Supreme Court will set a precedent so that we will have a comprehensive law in Canada. There are so many people who don't work for government that need some protection. If you're a person just all by yourself there's no way you can fight ... you'll get eaten up so quickly."
