Whistle Blower Policy
Last Updated:
April 28, 2025
When you use our services, we may collect basic information like your name, email address, and usage data to help us improve your experience. We never sell your data to third parties. Any third-party tools we use are carefully selected to ensure your data remains secure.
Purpose
This policy explains what For Women & Girls Alberta ("FWGA," "we," "us") does with submissions made through our secure submission platform. It is written in plain language so that anyone considering a submission can decide, with full knowledge, whether to proceed.
If you are reading this on the secure submission platform, please also read the Disclaimer shown before the form. The Disclaimer summarises the most important points; this Whistleblower Policy provides the detail.
What We Accept
We accept submissions from women and girls in Alberta — and from those who care for them — describing experiences in which an institution, policy, or law in Alberta disregarded sex-based rights to safety, privacy, dignity, or fairness.
We also accept submissions from women who have been silenced, disciplined, or penalised for raising sex-based concerns, and from professionals who have witnessed institutional failures in their work.
We do not accept submissions that are abusive, that incite violence, that name individuals in defamatory terms, or that are made for purposes unrelated to the platform's purpose. Such submissions may be deleted without further action.
Who Handles Submissions
Submissions are received by a small group of authorised reviewers within FWGA, working under written confidentiality obligations. The named reviewers and the review structure are documented internally and reviewed regularly.
Reviewers triage each submission, classify it for pattern analysis, and determine whether further action is appropriate — for example, follow-up with the submitter (only with the submitter's consent and through the secure channel they have chosen), referral to legal counsel, or use in advocacy.
How Submissions Are Used
Submissions are used in the following ways, subject always to the consent options the submitter selected on the form:
Internal pattern analysis — we track patterns of incidents across institutions, regions, and sectors in Alberta.
Advocacy and policy work — aggregated, anonymised findings inform our submissions to government, our policy audits, and our public communications.
Legislative engagement — we may share aggregated findings with elected representatives in support of remedial legislation.
Legal advocacy and litigation support — where a submitter has expressly consented, an account may be shared in confidence with legal counsel working on women's sex-based rights advocacy in Alberta or Canada.
Education and public awareness — anonymised quotes or references may be used in publications, with whatever level of pre-approval the submitter selected.
Confidentiality
All submissions are treated as confidential. We do not publish, share, or disclose identifying information about submitters or the institutions they describe outside the uses listed in Section 4 and consented to by the submitter.
Where a submitter has provided contact information, that information is held only for the purposes of follow-up they have requested, and is not shared further.
FWGA is not a law firm, and submitting to us does not create a solicitor–client relationship or attract solicitor–client privilege.
Limits To Confidentiality
There are narrow circumstances in which we may need to act on information beyond a submitter's consent:
6.1 Child protection
Alberta's Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act creates a duty for any person who has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a child is at risk of abuse or neglect to report this to the appropriate authority. If a submission contains information indicating such a risk, we will take legal advice on whether and how a report must be made. Where a report is made, we will not identify the submitter to authorities unless required by law to do so.
6.2 Court orders and lawful authority
We may be required by a court of competent jurisdiction to disclose information. The submission platform is technically designed to minimise the information available for disclosure, but we cannot promise absolute resistance to a lawful order.
6.3 Risk of imminent serious harm
If a submission discloses an imminent risk of serious harm to any person, we may take steps necessary to prevent that harm, which may include contacting emergency services.
These limits are real but rare. We mention them so that submitters can make informed decisions before submitting.
Retention
By default, submissions are retained for the period necessary to support FWGA's advocacy, policy, and educational work. Submitters may request a specific retention period at the time of submission, and may request deletion at any time using their receipt code.
Once a submission is deleted from the platform, the underlying record cannot be recovered.
Security
The submission platform runs on GlobaLeaks, an open-source platform purpose-built for confidential submissions. Submissions are encrypted both in transit and at rest. Access is restricted to a small number of authorised reviewers using individual credentials and two-factor authentication.
Submitters are encouraged to strip metadata from any documents before upload. We strongly recommend that submitters use the Tor Browser when submitting, and we operate a Tor onion service for that purpose.
No Legal Advice
FWGA does not provide legal advice. If you require legal advice about your situation, please consult independent legal counsel. Resources for low-cost or no-cost legal help in Alberta include Legal Aid Alberta, the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA), and student legal services at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary.
Updates To This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The version date appears at the top of the document. Material changes will be announced on the FWGA website.
Contact
Questions about this policy or about how a submission has been handled can be sent to:
[CONTACT EMAIL]