UK
Canada
Canadian protection for whistleblowers is notoriously poor by English-speaking countries' standards. Until recently there was no formal protection for those who spoke up from a position of knowledge inside government, with even senior civil servants (
Shiv Chopra being one notable case) fired or constructively dismissed for speaking up about internal abuses.
In the private sector, the situation was even worse as Canada retained the unreformed common law of
libel without the exceptions for public issues or public interest that were added in all other English-speaking countries. This made
political libel cases unfortunately common, with one infamous case even filed by the Prime Minister himself versus Official Opposition for alleging that the Prime Minister, when in Opposition, had bribed MP
Chuck Cadman.
Historically, many Canadian private sector business scandals had come to light only through the intervention of the US SEC or other regulators (
Garth Drabinsky,
Conrad Black,
Steven Bingham being three notable examples), due in part to the lack of whistleblower protections, plaintiff-friendly libel laws and a lack of investigative journalism due to these.
Canadian government
Canada's parliament has instituted the
Public Sector Integrity Office (Canada), a parliamentary office for the protection for whistleblowers who speak up against abuses in government. However, that office was itself cast into some doubt when the first Integrity Commissioner,
Christiane Ouimet, was heavily criticized in the
auditor general's report in December 2010. Cabinet minister
Stockwell Day defended the office but independent groups urged the re-opening of already closed files.
India
As of 2009 the government of India has introduced the whistle blower law "Right to Information Act." To maintain and increase the stability in law, the government India is on the path to introduce an ombudsman law which was demanded by an civil society against corruption. Anna Hazare, a civilian, with his committee has demanded the ombudsman law called as "Jan Lokpal bill." A committee of 10 persons has been sectioned from the government who will lead this committee.