My Hearing

Announcement

The date for my hearing at the FPSLREB is now set — February 18–20, 2026.

This hearing is about the issues that I stand for — for all Professionals of the Public Service,
and the reason I decided to get involved with the Union: Fear of Reprisal and Political Pressures.

You can show your support, by attending it in person or remotely*.

Significance

The outcome of this hearing will signal what kind of Public Service, and what kind of Canada, we are moving toward:
a country where evidence is driven by political narratives, or a country where political narratives are driven by the evidence;
a country where professionals who speak up against political pressures affecting public safety are persecuted, or one where they are protected by law — as the foundation of a fearless professional Public Service that Canadians can trust.

Updates and Archive of Evidence:
https://ivim.substack.com/p/public-hearing-for-data-scientist

*How to attend remotely

Please note that the FPSLREB site shows this hearing as "in Person" only. However, I have requested to also allow remote attendance and the Board has confirmed they will arrange that. Here is the note received from them, for those wishing to attend remotely:

Please be advised that the Board will only be able to accommodate up to 100 participants (including witnesses and observers) who can attend the hearing remotely. To that end, the Board requires that the grievor submit, by no later than February 12, 2026, the following information: Contact information (names, email addresses) of all participants attending the hearing virtually including their role (witnesses or observers). Once the grievor has provided his list of participants, the hearing link will be sent to all pre-registered participants.

Note: Observers are not permitted to participate in the hearing in any way and must remain muted with their cameras disabled for the duration of the hearing.

NB: I have requested FPSLREB to confirm that emails and names that will be sent to them will only be used for the indicated purpose (which is sending the hearing link) and will not be shared with any party.

Outline:

Announcement

Significance

*How to attend remotely

Summary:

References

Timeline

The discipline letter (October 12, 2022)

Investigation Report (Apr-Jun 2021)

Evidence provided by the Employer:

Grievor's Past Hearing Presentations

Union's Decision To Drop The Support

Summary:

In October 2022, after several months of investigation, my employer suspended me for five days without pay for discussing in public official Government of Canada data related to COVID-19 vaccines: including in public-service data science forums, social media and at the Freedom Convoy.

I am accused of having "willingly posted information that is contrary to the message that the Government of Canada is promoting which is that COVID-19 vaccines were safe and effective".

My position has been that the data showed what it showed. I used my professional data science skills, to make official public data easier to understand, for the benefit of public servants and Canadians. Given the observed trends, there was urgency and a moral duty to share this information.

I used all democratic and professional tools available to me at the time to express concerns arising from these observations. This included an open letter to the Chief Science Advisor of Canada, Dr. Mona Nemer; a submission to the Office of the Auditor General (neither of whom responded); an attempt to file a complaint with the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (which was unsuccessful due to submission system constraints); inviting other data scientists to validate the data and the concerning observations, and collectively discussing how to address these issues in a climate of fear of reprisal.

My actions were guided by the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service, by good faith, and by conscience. The urgency arose from rising mortality, including among younger Canadians — trends that were later acknowledged by Health Canada, nine months after I had identified them in the data. I understood that timely access to factual public information could save lives and reduce the risk of preventable harm associated with new medical products that lacked long-term post-marketing data.

Many colleagues, both within and outside the public service, assisted with data analysis and validation and shared the same concerns. However, many expressed fear of reprisal and chose to remain anonymous, then and now.

In this context, I felt compelled to act as a public voice. Firstly , because of my professional standing within my agency and across the Government of Canada, built for 20+ years of service, including national and international recognition exactly in the field of vendor product evaluation and data analysis, and contributions to the community. Secondly, I had already done so before - just before the pandemic, when I similarly used open data-visualization tools to demonstrate systemic issues revealed by Public Service Employee Survey data to help colleagues address those concerns.

Finally and critically, I was also guided by personal experience. During the Chernobyl disaster, I was a child in grade 8 in Kyiv, and I remember how my parents saved me—and many other children —by defying official narratives that claimed everything was safe, facing threats of punishment for non-compliance. My father, a physicist, had access to a Geiger counter and used it to measure radiation levels in school playgrounds, just as I now use my data-analysis tools and professional position to measure and communicate risks affecting the safety of my own children’s generation.

In essence, this hearing is about the limits on duty of loyalty and subordination in a democratic country like Canada. What are those limits? Can an employer instruct an employee to act in a way that places political direction above the safety of the employee, their children, or the country itself? What I did is what any public servant with my skills and access to evidence should have done. I am sure my father would have done too.

References

Conduct Policies: Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service, CBSA Code of Conduct, Scientific Integrity Policy
Grievor's CV: Expertise & recognition in data visualization and vendor products performance evaluations: https://science.gorodnichy.ca
Grievor's CV: Expertise & recognition in contributing to GC Community: Scientific Integrity, Culture Improvement, "Leader of Tomorrow"
GC Data Science CoP Portals developped / led by the Grievor since 2019: https://open-canada.github.io (prior to March 2021, https://ivi-m.github.io)
1. Learn Data Science with R: Notes and tutorials from the R4GC Community ‘Lunch and Learn’ meetups: https://open-canada.github.io/r4gc
  - https://open-canada.github.io/r4gc/index.html#lunch-and-learn-data-science-with-r-meetups
  - Codes for processing Health-related databases: https://open-canada.github.io/r4gc/health-related-databases.html
2. Analysis of Official Canada Data Related to COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy and Safety: https://open-canada.github.io/vitals (after 10 February 2021 https://ivi-m.github.io/vitals):
  - Reporting COVID-19 vaccines side effects: https://open-canada.github.io/vitals/report-side-effect --> evidence for the Grievor
  - White Papers:
    - “Additional observations related to the ‘Elephant in the Room’ – from the Government of Canada COVID-19 daily epidemiology updates”, White paper (10 February 2022) <-- used as evidence in allegations against the Grievor (NB: It was removed from https://open-canada.github.io followinh the complaint from "informer", however it is still on https://ivi-m.github.io/vitals )
    - “Some observations from Canadian Vital Statistics Death (CVSD) Database related to the ‘Elephant in the Room’”, Comment submission to The Lancet Journal (6 January 2022)
    - “Statistical analysis of the official data sources related to vaccine efficacy and safety (NEW EVIDENCE SINCE OCTOBER 2021)”, Additional details (14 January 2022)
    - “One Year since Vaccination. What we have learnt - using Open Canada Data and Data Science”, Special Edition presentation for the Government of Canada Government of Canada Data Science community ‘Lunch and Learn’ Meetup by Dr. Dmitry Gorodnichy (4 February 2022) <-- used as evidence in allegations against the Grievor
3. Developed Apps and Knowledgebase https://open-canada.github.io/Apps | https://open-canada.github.io/UseR/
PSES results Web App developed by the Grivor:
StatCan and PHAC Covid-related data Visualization App Grievor developed:
Data evidence gathered by the Grievor:
1. ANALYSIS OF OFFICIAL PHAC DATA
  - Evidence of using Data-Skewing (aka Algorithmic bias) techniques used by PHAC: Reported “Cases Following Vaccination” statistics are skewed ("Adjusted") to Support a Political Narrative of Vaccine Effectiveness, When the Actual Unskewed Data Showed the Opposite <-- used as evidence in allegations against the Grievor

Data log: PHAC "Cases Following Vaccination" data log (googlesheet)
Summaries of key findings:
- https://en.gorodnichy.ca/evidence/data-skewing-by-phac
- https://sites.google.com/view/open-canada/dashboard/cases-following-vaccination

1. Analysis of StatsCan "Vital Statistics" data:
  - Evidence of increased mortality among young and deaths with unknown causes correlated with beginning of COVID-19 vaccination
Grievor's action to address concerns
1. Alerting his management
2. Requesting to creating safe places at work to discuss concerns related to vaccines
3. Developing a page and guidance on how to report covid vaccine side-effects on Health Canada portal (in the absence of direct link and such guidance on official pages)
4. Engagement of other data scientists to validate concerning observations
5. Open Letter to Chief Science Advisor of Canada
6. Submission to Office of Auditor General

Timeline

Coming soon

The discipline letter (October 12, 2022)

This letter is further to the findings of the administrative investigation into allegations of misconduct,

which determined that improper conduct on your part had occurred and further to the pre-disciplinary

meeting held on August 3, 2022, the purpose of this letter is to render my disciplinary decision.

It was determined that the allegation of misconduct, specifically that you willingly neglected to follow

management expectations, and willingly posted information that is contrary to the message that the

Government of Canada is promoting, on social media platforms including Government of Canada

platforms, on COVID-19 vaccination’s safety and efficiency was founded. Your actions were found to

contravened the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service (Integrity, Excellence and Respect for

Democracy) and the CBSA Code of Conduct (Chapter 1: Our Values (Respect, Professionalism and

Integrity), C – Leadership Conduct and D – Expected Standards of Conduct (3. Social Media, 4.

Private, Off-Duty Conduct and Outside Activities, 5.2 Public Criticism of the CBSA and/or Government

of Canada, 6. Electronic Network Access and Uses and 12. Neglect of Duty).

In determining an appropriate disciplinary measure, I considered all mitigating and aggravating factors,

including that you cooperated and have been forthcoming throughout the investigative process, that you

have a clear disciplinary record and delays in the process. However, I have also taken into account your

repeated unwillingness to stop posting the information on social media even after being provided with

clear expectations, and your lack of remorse and recognition that your posts are not in line with the

Government of Canada’s messaging. However, on September 9, 2022, you have assured me that you

have taken down all posts and will not be posting these types of posts in the future, therefore, I also

taken this into account.

Therefore, in accordance with the authorities delegated to me under Section 12(1)(c) of the Financial

Administration Act, I have decided that a 5-day suspension without pay is an appropriate disciplinary

measure. The date of your suspension will be from October 31th to November 4th 2022. In addition,

you are required to take training Navigating Social Media as a Public Servant (TRN125) which is

offered via the Canada School of Public Service.

Subject to and as provided in Section 208 of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, an

employee who feels that he or she has been treated unfairly or considers himself or herself aggrieved by

any action or lack of action by the employer is entitled to present a grievance no later than twenty-fifth

(25th) day after the date on which he or she is notified orally or in writing or on which he or she first

becomes aware of the action or circumstances giving rise to the grievance.

Be advised that a copy of this letter will be placed on your personnel file for the period corresponding to

Article 38.04 your collective agreement unless subsequent disciplinary action is taken. In accordance

with your collective agreement any document or written statement related to disciplinary action placed

on the personnel file of an employee shall be destroyed after 2 years have elapsed since the disciplinary

action was taken, provided that no further disciplinary action has been recorded during this period. This

period will automatically be extended by the length of any period of leave without pay.

Lastly, I would like to clearly articulate that my expectations from this day forward are that if you wish to

post information, comments, videos, other authors’ posts and/or videos that contain information that
may be contrary to, or not in line with, either the CBSA’s or any of the Government of Canada’s policy,

procedures or messaging, that you must seek management’s and/or the CBSA Office of Values and

Ethics guidance prior to posting such information on any social media platform, including, but not

limited to, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs, Wikipedia, Instagram, Google docs or any other

tool or device that allows for participatory multi-way information sharing, dialogue and user generated

content.

In appreciation of the stress caused by these circumstances, I want to remind you of the availability of

our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) should you require their support and guidance. The external

service provider, LifeWorks may be reached 24/7 at 1 877 367 0809 or TTY, for hearing impaired: 1 877 338 0275.

Investigation Report (Apr-Jun 2021)

Go to : https://ivim.substack.com/p/public-hearing-for-data-scientist to view the entire document redacted.
Key quotes are pasted below.
The statements to be challenged are marked with (?)

Incident Date(s):

February 4, 2022, February 11, 2022 and March 18, 2022 and April 1, 2022

Background:

Provide a brief summary of the events that gave rise to the investigation. Answer the Who, What, Where, When and any other information concerning the incident(s) under investigation.

....

On February 1, 2022, Mr. Gorodnichy’s Director, Director Data Science also clearly (?) outlined during this bilateral meeting to follow the established process(?) to voice his concerns (?) about COVID vaccines and to not discuss concerns (?) of COVID-19 Vaccines at work or publicly that contradicts (?) the Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Policy).

On February 4, 2022, Mr. Gorodnichy’s Director reached out to Mr. Gorodnichy to let him know that he is aware (?) that Mr. Gorodnichy didn’t follow his advice (?) on February 1, 2022 on not discussing vacation safety in the workplace and asks for clarification as to why he didn’t follow his advice.

...

On February 11, 2022, the Director is made aware (?) of other posts from Mr. Gorodnichy on open sources GCcollab about vaccination safety messages that is contrary (?) to the message that the Government of Canada (GOC) is promoting, which is that vaccines are safe and efficient. The Director requests that Mr. Gorodnichy takes down those posts wherein he is using GOC network, devices, or online infrastructure immediately and informs him that he has ccd LR to determine next steps in addressing this matter.

On Monday February 14, 2022, Director of Open Canada – Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), reaches out to Labour Relations (LR) TBS to inform them that on Friday February 11, 2022 they noticed that Mr. Gorodnichy’s post on the Open Government GCcollab page was inappropriate (?) for their pages and therefore removed it. They’ve also informed the GCcollab team as there was a white paper also being promoted on a page owned by Mr. Gorodnichy and it was also removed for not respecting the terms of use of the GOC platform.

No other posts seemed to have been posted by Mr. Gorodnichy after February 11, 2022, the day his Director requested that he takes down his posts. However, on March 18, 2022 Mr. Gorodnichy posts on GCcollab page an invite to an event with the subject matter being analyzing vaccine side effects using Data Science, on his personal twitter account he posted information about COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficiency and on April 1, 2022, another invite through GCcollab page with the subject matter being special update on new results from PHAC – analyzing using Spreadsheets and R.

On April 4, 2022, LXXXXX HXXXX, Director of GCTools, contacted LR TBS who forwarded the email to AXXXXX CXXXXX, A/Manager LR and HR Redress for CBSA to address the matter. It was decided that given the ongoing conduct issue and that Mr. Gorodnichy is not following the conditions of use of the platform to reset the employee’s password and pulled the post with the April 8, 2022 workshop invitation. Therefore the employee lost his right to have access to their account wherein he used a CBSA email address. However, Ms. HXXXX did indicate that any employee are free to set up and account using a personal email and participate without representing themselves as a public servant.

Management, in consultation with LR, gathered the information above and established the allegations (outlined below under “Allegations”). A notice of investigation and a fact-finding interview invite was prepared and sent to the employee with an attempt to conduct the fact finding interview/meeting on April 14, 2022. The employee requested more time to prepare and the fact-finding interview occurred on February 27, 2022. Mr. Gorodnichy was accompanied by Lisa Dubé, union representative, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).

...

Evidence provided by the Employer:

My presentation at the Data Science R4GC CoP Lunch and Learn on Friday noon, 4 FEB 2022: video-recording
My speech at the Freedom Convoy (4 FEB 2022): video-recoding
Paper co-authored with other data scientists on "Elephant in the Room" (identifying "red flags" with covid vaccines data and how they are reports, and recommendations on how to address these "red flags":
Snapshots from www.IVIM.ca
Snapshots from Twitter