Workers’ complaints set to test city’s 1989 pledge to fight racism
As Montreal’s public consultation office prepares to table a report on racism and systemic discrimination on Monday, city council plans to pass a motion the same day reaffirming its 1989 declaration against racial discrimination.
However, a group of municipal employees and experts says a case involving complaints of systemic racism in the municipal workforce in the borough of Montreal North is already serving as a test of the city ’s commitment to fighting discrimination.
Allegations of racism, nepotism and refusal to promote blue-collar workers who are members of racialized minorities to higher-paying jobs in the borough became public on social media in January, prompting the city administration to mandate comptroller general Alain Bond to launch an internal investigation.
At the same time, the blue-collar union, Local 301 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), hired an independent expert to launch a parallel investigation into the workers’ allegations about the borough.
The union gave the expert, a university professor specialized in workplace harassment, “carte blanche” to interview employees and investigate any allegations that surface as fully as possible, said Hans Marotte, chief negotiator for CUPE Local 301.
“To satisfy our members, it was important that we also have someone independent of the city who conducts an investigation,” he said, adding that the expert hasn’t finished his work.
Because of the COVID -19 health emergency, both investigations were put on hold in March. But while the union’s expert is ready to resume his inquiry, some workers in the borough have grown impatient as they wait for word that Bond’s investigation is starting again.
An anonymous letter signed by the “Collectif des employés dit ‘racisés’” was sent to Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, the executive committee and different offices of the city this week complaining of a “glass ceiling ” for racialized minorities at the city and telling the mayor: “This time we ask you to act for a real and concrete change.”
“That’s why the people inside (the borough), they feel the mayor is going to say, ‘Yes, we’re against systemic racism’ and all these beautiful declarations, but nothing is being done in a concrete situation in Montreal North that’s been lingering for at least six months or more,” said Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-action on Race Relations (CRARR).
“The question is: if you can’t fix your own house, then how can you go in public and say something else?”
A spokesperson for Bond said only that the investigation “is ongoing, as well as our collaboration with the union.”
A petition with more than 22,000 signatures filed with the city clerk’s office in 2018 obligated the city to mandate the Office de consultation publique to hold a consultation on racism and systemic discrimination.
The report of the OCPM, which held its hearings in the fall, is to be tabled at a council meeting on Monday.
Marotte agreed the Montreal North case is a test for the city’s commitment to fighting systemic discrimination.
“There’s a problem all around North America, and certainly in Montreal,” he said. “Will the administration have the courage to do what it needs to do? I sincerely hope so.”