Barrister & Solicitor
P.O. Box 518
31 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, Ontario. M5C 2J6
Tel: 416-787-5928 (work)
selwyn.pieters@utoronto.ca
by Selwyn Pieters, B.A., LL.B.
Barrister & Solicitor
P.O. Box 518
31 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, Ontario. M5C 2J6
Tel: 416-787-5928 (work)
selwyn.pieters@utoronto.ca
Selwyn Pieters is a Barrister & Solicitor. He has a special interest in Charter litigation, human rights and equality rights issues, civil litigation, international and domestic human rights law and policy, public interest law particularly whistleblowing legislation and policy, access to information and privacy law, administrative law and issues surrounding anti-Black racism including racial profiling. Selwyn has also recently been involved in a documentary Selwyn that is scheduled to be aired on CBC Newsworld in April 2005.
Dr. Shiv Chopra
Dr. Shiv Chopra was employed as a Microbiologist and Drug Evaluator in the Bureau of Veterinary Drugs of the Health Protection Branch of Health Canada, until he was fired in June 2004 together with two of his colleagues Drs. Haydon and Lambert.
The racism that Dr. Shiv Chopra experienced at Health Canada was and continues to be purposively caused with the aim to hide a very serious workplace corruption and his continual attempts to expose it by "whistleblowing" or exposing unethical practices. The corruption that he speak of is on account of a deliberately faulted regulatory management of food safety and human health, and in which racism was and continues to be used as a principal factor to damage his credibility and to counter his admittedly world class contributions in his job.
A Human Rights Tribunal is set to convene hearing into Dr. Chopra's allegations against Health Canada starting on or around February 2, 2005. This complaint also involves another complainant, Cris Basudde, who has actually died in December 2003, while literally crying about a similar treatment for him. There should have been an inquest in the death of this scientist.
Dr. Chopra cases together with the other materials that are indexed below addresses fundamental rights and responsibilities of public servants including: What is the nature of the employee's duty of loyalty to his/her employer? Does the duty of loyalty oblige an employee to disclose any illegal and unethical activities? Does public criticism of the actions or policies of an employer constitute a breach of the duty of loyalty? When is whistleblowing justified? When is it insubordination? Where do adjudicators draw the line between the duty of loyalty and the public interest? What protections exist for whistleblowers? What statutory protections are already in place? Are the existing protections adequate? Are public service employees held to a higher standard of loyalty? In what circumstances will the public interest in disclosure prevail? What would be the impact of the proposed federal Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act? In what circumstances is the failure to report misconduct by other employees a breach of the duty of loyalty? What is the appropriate disciplinary action? Should the penalty be equal to that imposed on the employee engaged in the misconduct in question? Can it be greater?
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