Ontario puts moratorium on suspending racialized public servants

2018/02/19 Leave a comment

Strong step:

The province has put a moratorium on suspending racialized public servants while it reviews how it processes complaints on racial discrimination.

The announcement came a day after more than 20 Black employees, mostly women, brought their concerns directly to Michael Coteau, Ontario’s minister of children and youth services, who is also in charge of the province’s anti-racism initiatives.

At a meeting Jan. 18, past and present public servants said they suffered racial harassment and faced reprisal when making complaints.

Coteau heard stories from Black employees who said their roles were steadily diminished despite years of positive reviews. Others had trained new staff, only to see those new employees be given higher, more lucrative positions. Some said their complaints about racial discrimination were mishandled. A majority of the participants said they had been suspended, demoted or fired while the staffers they had complained about faced no repercussions.

“When I started at the ministry, I was confused for the hired help,” Hentrose Nelson, who has worked in the public service since 2004, told Coteau. Nelson was one of the organizers of the meeting and she spoke about her experience with the complaints and suspension process.

Nelson is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against provincial Citizenship and Immigration Minister Laura Albanese, alleging systemic racism in the department.

None of the accusations has been tested in court.

Boafoa Kwamena, a spokesperson for the Ontario Public Service — which encompasses over 60,000 employees in the province’s ministries, agencies and Crown corporations — would not comment on specific complaints. She also declined to answer Metro’s questions about what prompted the moratorium or how long it will last, saying in an email this week only that it is in place pending the review of existing policies and procedures.

Where there is a clear case of wrongdoing such as theft or violence against another staff member, the moratorium does not apply as those cases are reviewed by the province’s Public Service Commission.

“Creating a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for everyone in the OPS is a top priority,” Kwamena wrote in an email.

She added that officials are working with the Black OPS Network, an internal employee network, on a three-point plan. It includes an independent third-party review of complex cases; an independent review of the Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Prevention policy with an anti-racism methodology; and developing an anti-racism policy. Attendees of the January meeting also called for these actions.

The review of the complaints process is intended to start by this March. A private sector lawyer will manage the review of complex cases. The OPS has declined to name the lawyer until a contract has been finalized.

“This is really something that we wanted to do for other Black women,” explained Jean-Marie Dixon, who has worked as a lawyer in the civil service.

Dixon says the action employees are taking now is for future generations. She wants to see people who have engaged in racism and discrimination fired as well as more funding and support for Black women going through a grievance, complaint or lawsuit.

Nelson welcomes the news of the moratorium and echoes the hope for more change to come.

“It’s not about our struggle only,” she said in an interview following the announcement. “It’s a systemic beast which we are trying to fight. It’s a huge win.”

via Ontario puts moratorium on suspending racialized public servants | Toronto Star

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Woman who ran Ontario’s first anti-racism office ‘not enamoured’ of Wynne’s ‘knee-jerk’ plan to revive it

2016/02/20 Leave a comment

Good cautionary advice, noting the need for more emphasis on enforcement of existing policies. However, there is a strong case for a ‘race’ or diversity lens being applied to policies and programs, just as there is for gender:

The woman who ran Ontario’s since-shuttered anti-racism secretariat two decades ago is today unconvinced the province needs to reopen the office under a different name.

Anne-Marie Stewart was the head of the Ontario Anti-Racism Secretariat, opened in 1992 under then-premier Bob Rae. She oversaw the office for three years, and helped implement programs to tackle racism and discrimination within the Ontario Public Service and in the community, until it was shuttered by Mike Harris’s government.

But with 23 years of hindsight, Stewart is unconvinced another office is the answer.

“It sounds like they are going to more or less repeat something that was disbanded. I’m not sure that that’s an effective way to go about addressing the situation,” she said on a call from Trinidad. “I think this is a knee-jerk response to the situation. I’m sure the government is well-meaning. I’m sure that the people who are pushing for it are well-meaning. But it’s not going to work if it’s not done properly and I don’t think they’re doing it the right way.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Tuesday that Minister Michael Coteau would have “anti-racism” tacked onto his existing profiles. He would be in charge of the new office, which would aid government in reviewing issues through a “race lens.” The hope is to combat recent issues like violence by police against people of colour or hate crimes targeting Syrian refugees. But the announcement, packaged as part of a response to Black History Month, included no cash or timelines.

“I’m not enamoured of this at all….I’m not even sure that today something so elaborate is needed. What is needed is to enact the policies. Make sure right across the government they do what is required and it will work,” Stewart said. “As with any kind of the thing the government is trying to do, there should be legislation and policies and people should follow them and the government should enforce them.”

The office she ran had an annual budget of $743,000 in 1994/95 (about $1.1 million today), according to a government briefing note from 1997. It ran grant programs, education efforts and hiring equity efforts. Its broad mandate “was to increase the capacity, self-sufficiency and leadership of racial minority and Aboriginal communities and to assist them in gaining equitable access to all government and non-government programs and services.”

NDP leader Andrea Horwath, who started pushing for a secretariat last year, said the government plan, without a mandate and funding attached, seems half-written.

“Well I mean again I don’t now what the government has up its sleeve, I don’t think anybody does,” she said, adding that her party’s proposal was to get something up and running quickly to start seeing action for those who need it.

Work is already underway to find an assistant-deputy minister to start running a shell of an office and draft its mandate and budget, minister Coteau said Thursday afternoon. He sees value in the standalone office as a place for ideas to to flow through and policies to be analyzed. He compared it to a “think tank” for good ideas to increase equity.

“I think that a standalone directorate is strategic because it allows for us to capture best practices. It’s almost like creating an internal think tank, a place where ideas can be brought forward,” he said.

Source: Woman who ran Ontario’s first anti-racism office ‘not enamoured’ of Wynne’s ‘knee-jerk’ plan to revive it | National Post

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