Kelly was unsuccessful in her attempt to force the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to hear her multiple requests to dismiss the police service's case against her. This has only meant that the battle to try to hold them accountable continues, at an extremely high cost to the public.
Out of 60 countries, Canada has the worst whistleblower protection laws. Kelly takes listeners through a recent case that only came to light because of the persistence of a police whistleblower, and how our current laws are not offering any protection to municipal police officers who choose to do the right thing.
Finishing off Season 1, Kelly explains issues she has identified in the legal profession, and why things have to change so that self-represented litigants are not marginalized. Kelly hopes to unite a divided society to demand truth, transparency and accountability from government.
It's one thing to agree to be silenced by an NDA, but Kelly explains to listeners that she had always refused to be silenced by the police service, yet they continue to try to enforce an agreement against her, claiming that when she speaks publicly about what she witnessed as a police officer, she is violating her agreement. Let's explore NDA's and how they are being misused to silence critics.
Kelly reminds listeners what started all of this and made her Public Enemy No. 1. Learn why most police associations don't help women who make a "blue on blue" complaint, and what almost pushed Kelly over the edge at Christmas, 2022.
In this episode, Kelly provides more detail about the two human rights cases, and goes back to the Court of Appeal for the second time. By the end of August, 2022, the police service had spent over $550,000 in legal fees to try to silence her.
While the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario cases slowed to a halt, Kelly pushed on with her civil lawsuit, in hopes to have her day in court against the police service and police chief. She never expected the set back she was about to encounter.
Following Kelly's resignation from policing, she thought she would be free from retaliation and could focus on advocating for better whistleblower protection laws; she was wrong.
In this introductory episode, Kelly Donovan explains why protecting police whistleblowers is so important and she shares her story of what happened to her when she chose to report to the police services board what she believed were abuses of power when police investigate themselves for domestic violence. This is the first episode of a series of podcasts spanning Kelly's career as a police officer, and the whistleblower retaliation she still faces today.