Kelly Donovan

Public Enemy No. 1: The Police Whistleblower

Society EN ↓ 10 episodes

Kelly Donovan is a Canadian police whistleblower, who chose to speak out in 2016 about the way police were (or were not) investigating themselves for domestic violence. She faced immediate reprisal for speaking out, and resigned in 2017. Kelly made it her mission to change Canada's laws to protect future police whistleblowers. To try to silence her, the police service has continued to retaliate against her since her resignation. Stay tuned to find out why the police have spent over half a million dollars to try to silence her.

Author

Kelly Donovan

Episodes

A decade of retaliation 22.03.2026 14:45

After a break from podcast episodes, Kelly updates listeners on how the legal saga continues. The police service has now spent over $816,000.00 on these legal matters and have not given up in their fight to silence Kelly.

The price of inadequate whistleblower laws 04.11.2025 24:23

Kelly was unsuccessful in her attempt to force the human rights tribunal to hear her multiple requests to dismiss the police service's case against her.

The sad state of Canadian whistleblower laws 04.11.2025 26:28

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.

We can all get behind truth 04.11.2025 21:22

Kelly explains issues she had identified in the legal profession, and why things have to change so that self-represented litigants are not marginalized.

Did not buy my silence 04.11.2025 32:31

It's one thing to agree to be silences by an NDA, but Kelly explains 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, she is violating an agreement.

Surveilled, persecuted and abandonned 04.11.2025 25:14

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.

It was all a bad dream 04.11.2025 30:42

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.

Second kick at the can 04.11.2025 29:00

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.

Whistleblower retaliation 04.11.2025 33:02

Kelly resigned from policing in June, 2017, but because was advocating for protection for police whistleblowers, she continued to face retaliation at the hands of her former police service.

Where it all began 04.11.2025 30:21

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.