Those who have followed the story of Corporal Robert Read were dismayed when the Supreme Court of Canada refused on May 10 to hear his appeal. A former Mountie, Cpl. Read was fired for speaking out about corruption and cover-up in the force. In making this decision, our highest court tacitly endorsed the practice of persecuting the messenger and suppressing the truth. This is clearly wrong in the known circumstances.

The story begins in 1996, when Cpl. Read was assigned to investigate whether our immigration system had been infiltrated by organized crime in Hong Kong, allowing criminals to flock to Canada. Alarming irregularities had previously been reported by senior diplomat Brian McAdam in that mission. Serious system deficiencies were also confirmed by the auditor general in 1990 and again in 2000, when the situation had deteriorated even further.

When Cpl. Read began to uncover important evidence that had been ignored, he suddenly encountered interference from his superiors. Convinced that his investigation was being sabotaged in order to bury an embarrassing problem rather than address it, he finally went public with his concerns. RCMP management fired him for "disgraceful conduct" and claimed there was "not a shred of evidence of cover-up, wrongdoing or of illegal action."

The External Review Committee that investigated Read's case noted that the force had for seven years "failed to take appropriate action to determine if employees of the [Hong Kong] mission had engaged in immigration fraud." The committee vindicated Read's actions and recommended that he be reinstated immediately. Then-RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli ignored this recommendation and continued to push for dismissal, citing the "higher standard" that Mounties are held to.

Just what is this so called "higher standard"? It is the credo that loyalty to the force trumps everything else, including the rule of law and the public interest. This idea is not unique to the RCMP and pervades our entire national public service. It is reinforced in the government's new whistleblower legislation, which cites public servants' "duty of loyalty to their employer," yet is silent regarding their duty to uphold the law or the public interest. "Do what you are told, and keep quiet"–that is the unmistakable message.

Within the RCMP, this credo has been carried to the extreme. The McDonald Commission revealed that during the 1970s the force routinely and deliberately broke the law, yet managed to keep these illegal practices secret through a powerful management-imposed code of silence. Today, this code of silence seems stronger than ever.

Two recent scandals demonstrate this: the Pension Fund boondoggle and the forensic labs. After years of cover-up, both were finally made public through the efforts of retired Mounties. Mounties still on the payroll were either unable to expose the wrongdoing or were too scared of their bosses to try. Our brave and honest Mounties have truly been muzzled.

What can be done to restore public confidence in the RCMP? An essential start is the establishment of effective, independent civilian oversight as recommended by Justice O'Connor in the Arar Inquiry report. New leadership is also required to help restore the integrity of the force, and some are calling for a "clean sweep" of top-level management.

But none of this will work unless we also un-muzzle the rank and file. We must enable our Mounties to speak up when they see wrongdoing, without fear of retaliation.

The Federal Accountability Act (FAA) was supposed to accomplish this, but its so-called 'ironclad' protection for truth-tellers is deeply flawed. The new integrity commissioner (still not named) is a toothless tiger who cannot order corrective action or prosecute wrongdoers. He/she also lacks the tools to protect truth-tellers from vengeful bosses and has little power to provide relief when they suffer retaliation.

Inexplicably, RCMP employees fare even worse under this new law. While all other public servants can approach the new integrity commissioner directly (bypassing their internal regime), RCMP employees must first exhaust the Force's internal process, which is under the RCMP commissioner's control. This truly is a case of asking the fox to guard the henhouse. Look at where it got Cpl. Read.

Since our Supreme Court has failed us in these circumstances, the government must now amend the FAA to spell out the true 'higher standard.' The first duty of Mounties–and all other public servants–must be to uphold the law and the public interest, not to display mindless loyalty to leaders who may be incompetent or worse.

The government must do this if only to prove to us that it is serious about tackling corruption. This is what Canadians want, what the RCMP needs, and what courageous truth-tellers like Robert Read deserve.

Joanna Gualtieri is a lawyer and director of the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR), David Hutton is a co-ordinator with FAIR, and David Kilgour is a former member of Parliament and a member of FAIR's advisory board.

editor@embassymag.ca