According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the all-white, all-female Canadian Human Rights Commissioners allegedly discriminated against and mistreated black employees and refused to comment on the accusations..The union representing the employees said the commission violated its contract that says “there shall be no discrimination.”. Black employees .“The Commission has an important leadership role to play in setting the standards for eliminating systemic racism as an organization that is mandated to protect all Canadians against discrimination,” said the Association of Justice Counsel (AJC) in a statement, the union representing federal lawyers..“If the Commission is to maintain the trust and confidence of Canadians to protect them from systemic racism, then it must first look inwards and reform.”.The union said the Treasury Board formally cited the commission for discriminatory treatment of black employees. It did not release the Treasury Board findings..Union accounts of discriminatory practices included complaints that black employees faced “demeaning and humiliating behaviour from managers,” “tokenized in the workplace,” denied promotions, and excluded from training programs. .“Black and racialized employees at the Commission report an ongoing pattern of exclusionary and discriminatory practices in the way they are treated by management at the Commission,” said a union submission to the Treasury Board. .“They report a workplace culture and employer that denies, reduces, and discounts their lived experiences of racism at the Commission.”.“Black and racialized people working at the Commission continue to experience the adverse impact of policies, procedures, practices and attitudes that serve as barriers to their advancement, health, safety, and overall well-being,” said the AJC..In a 2021 report to the United Nations, the commission said it was committed to “the highest standards of equality.".“The Commission is dedicated to meeting the highest standards of equality and non-discrimination, inclusion, dignity and respect and is committed to being a fierce ally in the fight against racism in Canada,” said the Submission to the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. .The commission called itself “Canada’s national human rights institution.”.The commission called racism a “daily reality” in Canada, with racial profiling “in the workplace, schools, hospitals, shopping malls, and the airport.” Police, courts, and prisons also had “systemic and institutionalized racism.".None of the commission’s senior officials are black, Asian, or indigenous. A federal judge in 2019 faulted the commission for failing to investigate complaints that “white French Canadians” were given preference in government hiring.
