Law, Culture and Reprisals: a Qualitative Case Study Of
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Law, Culture and Reprisals: A Qualitative Case Study of Whistleblowing & Health Canada’s Drug Approval Process by Pamela Forward A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Legal Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2017 Pamela Forward ii Abstract Countries around the world consider whistleblowing a reliable warning system for corruption and regulatory failure because whistleblowers are usually employees who have in-depth knowledge of complex systems and organizations often impenetrable and incomprehensible to outsiders. Why then do whistleblowers, these harbingers of wrongdoing, suffer censure and reprisals? The search for an answer to this question sparked this case study of a whistleblower’s concerns regarding the effectiveness of Health Canada’s drug approval process in 1996. It highlights the resulting impact on the whistleblower, the organization, and ultimately the implications for public safety and accountable government. The methods used were process-tracing, in-depth interviews and data and document review. The results suggested problems with culture in the main organization Health Canada, possibly exacerbated by deregulation. The conclusion is a multi-faceted approach to addressing culture is needed before whistleblower protection legislation can work and accountable organizations can flourish. iii Acknowledgements First, and foremost, special thanks go to my thesis supervisor, Asst. Professor Paloma Raggo, School of Public Policy and Administration. Her expectations, knowledge, and guidance at once challenged, inspired and gave me courage when courage was failing. I also thank Assoc. Professor Vincent Kazmierski, Department of Law and Legal Studies, who was second reader. His astute comments and questions kept me focused, and at the same time stimulated me to think more broadly – not an easy feat. Thanks also to the other members of my Defence Committee, external member Assoc. Professor Ruth McKay, Sprott School of Business, and Chair- Professor Emeritus, R. Lynn Campbell, Department of Law and Legal Studies for a “never-to-be-forgotten” experience. The day of my defence was a high point of my life. I owe a debt of gratitude to the former Royal Victoria Hospital, School of Nursing- Alumnae Association, Montreal, whose financial support at a critical time allowed me to continue my studies. A very large thanks goes to the participant in the study, Michele Brill-Edwards, MD, FRCPC, without whose courage and patience in reliving her experiences this study would not have been possible. My gratitude also goes to a friend in the whistleblowing community, David Hutton, for several discussions and for critiquing a draft of this study. Thank you to Heather Eaton, and Sue Britton for their support and encouragement and to my many friends and colleagues in the health care and public service communities who listened and discussed - often and patiently. Thanks also to Marilyn Baird and Dorothy Cohen. You know what you did. My heartfelt thanks go to Andrew Squires without whose kindness and help this work would not have been finalized. Thanks also to Darren Paccione for jumping into the breach at the eleventh hour to provide essential help with formatting and copy editing. And finally to my family – adult children, siblings, niece and family- thank you for believing in me and for caring. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii List of Appendices ......................................................................................................................... ix 1 Chapter: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Definition of Key Terms .......................................................................................3 1.2 Purpose ...............................................................................................................4 1.3 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................6 1.4 Structure of the Study ..........................................................................................8 2 Chapter: Literature Review................................................................................................ 10 2.1 The Field of Whistleblowing and Famous Whistleblowers ................................... 12 2.2 The Motivation of Whistleblowers ..................................................................... 14 2.3 The Evolution of the Field .................................................................................. 15 The field in the 1980s ............................................................................................... 16 The field in the 1990s ............................................................................................... 18 The Field in the 2000s ............................................................................................. 23 The Field in the Current Decade .............................................................................. 28 2.4 Theories of Whistleblowing ............................................................................... 30 Reprisals, Cognition and Emotion ............................................................................ 30 Reprisals and Ethical Climate .................................................................................. 35 Reprisals and Normalized Deviance ......................................................................... 38 v Reprisals and Organizational Learning .................................................................... 39 2.5 The Problem of Reprisals ................................................................................... 45 Reprisals, Loyalty and Law ...................................................................................... 46 The Law and Protection for Whistleblowers .............................................................. 50 3 Chapter: Methodology and Methods .................................................................................. 55 3.1 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Methods ........................................................................................................... 56 3.3 Case Selection ................................................................................................... 60 3.4 Research Design ................................................................................................. 62 Research Questions ................................................................................................. 62 Theory ..................................................................................................................... 63 Unit/s of analysis ..................................................................................................... 64 Data Analysis: linking the data to the theory ............................................................. 66 Criteria for interpreting the findings......................................................................... 68 Judging the Quality of Research Design ................................................................... 68 Data Collection Process ........................................................................................... 71 Researcher Reflexivity and Avoiding Bias ................................................................. 72 3.5 Limitation of the Study ....................................................................................... 73 4 Chapter: Results of Case Study - Whistleblowing in Health Canada’s .......................... 75 4.1 Overview of the Case ......................................................................................... 75 4.2 Study Findings ................................................................................................... 84 Theme 1: Why blow the whistle. ............................................................................ 85 Theme 2: How reprisals occur. .............................................................................. 95 vi Theme 3: Why reprisals occurred? ...................................................................... 121 Theme 4: The Role of Law in Reprisals ............................................................... 130 Theme 5: The Role of Culture .............................................................................. 139 5 Chapter: Discussion ............................................................................................................ 141 5.1 The Research Questions ................................................................................... 142 5.2 Understanding Reprisals – The Literature and Theory ....................................... 149 5.3 Alternative Explanations .................................................................................