Don't be afraid to talk, Nova Scotia whistleblowers say

Two rural Nova Scotians who publicly questioned the behaviour of their municipal officials are encouraging others to have the courage to speak out when they feel something is wrong.

Susanne Roy filed a freedom of information request which raised questions about the amount of money spent by officials with the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, and charged to taxpayers, on alcohol and fine dining.

There is currently no policy restricting the purchase of alcohol by municipal officials in her area, but Roy's inquiries — coupled with a CBC News investigation — have prompted a policy review.

Hal Davidson, a member of the black community in Amherst, wrote a formal letter to town councillors asking them to conduct an independent review after a veteran councillor, police board member and mayoral candidate admitted he said "I'm not your n--ger" in July while working a side job delivering pizzas.

Councillors said they had no authority to deal with racist comments made outside of official duties, but agreed to a policy review. The province is also considering whether to implement a code of conduct for municipalities.

Challenging

"It was very difficult," Roy told the CBC's Information Morning. "There is a sense of entitlement here ... and they were very upset when I started inquiring into this."

She said she relied on a friend with experience to help her file a freedom of information request, and she still made a lot of simple mistakes. She also had to raise more than $2,600 to pay for it, Roy said, which was eventually reimbursed.

Motivation

"There are so many people afraid to talk, because the municipality is probably the biggest employer in the area, and they are worried about the repercussions," Roy said.

It helped that she only moved to the community in 1995, she said, so her ties didn't run too deep.

"I seem to jump in quite often, where people fear to tread," she said. "When I see something that I feel is very wrong, then I will dig in for the long haul."

Ethical dilemma

Davidson said he was facing an ethical dilemma.

"Do you expose it, or do you remain quiet — and what are the consequences?"

He said he knew going public with the story would make the town of Amherst look bad, but he couldn't let a prominent member of the community make a racist comment without repercussions.

"This isn't about an attack on individuals," Davidson said. "It's about social responsibiliy."

Intimidation

He said some municipal officials tried to make him feel bad about the amount of work required to resolve the issue, "and I'm saying, well, it's a big issue and maybe you should be putting a lot of work into it."

"I think that, as citizens, we have the right to raise those issues," Davidson said.

Roy said she was also discouraged from pursuing her concerns. "There are different, subtle forms of intimidation used to try to stop me from getting this information and making it public," Roy said.

She described meeting with bureaucrats in a boardroom where they had a conversation about "how inconvenient this was for them."

Advice

Roy said she would encourage other Nova Scotians to act the way she did. "If you see something's wrong, and you know it's wrong, stand up, dig your heels in and don't back down."

Davidson passed on advice from a former colleague: "When dealing with ethical issues, please have the principle of thick skin."