‘Canadian-style systemic racism’: Black public servants file suit against federal government

Proposed class-action lawsuit alleges Canada’s application of the Employment Equity Act violates the Charter equality rights of Black employees.

Nicholas Marcus Thompson, left, is one of the representative plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit against the federal government. Former senator Donald Oliver, middle, has long championed the idea of a new federal government Department of Diversity headed by a Black deputy minister, and before leaving politics former MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes, right, introduced a bill in the last Parliament to change the Employment Equity Act. Photograph courtesy of Twitter, The Hill Times file photograph and photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY CHARELLE EVELYN

December 3, 2020

The Canadian government has failed to uphold the Charter rights of Black employees in the federal public service, shirking its responsibility to create discrimination- and harassment-free workplaces, and actively excluding Black bureaucrats, allege plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit. “...

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