Ontario, public service unions face racism suit

TORONTO • Two Ontario public service employees have launched a lawsuit against the provincial government and the unions that represent them, alleging they’ve been subjected to systemic racism for years.

Jean-marie Dixon and Hentrose Nelson claim they experienced prolonged antiblack racism that led to harassment and mistreatment over their careers in the Ontario Public Service.

They allege such mistreatment took the form of aggression from colleagues, coordinated attempts at intimidation, being mistaken for janitorial staff and demotion from long-held positions.

The women also allege the unions they belong to failed to respond to their complaints and helped uphold a culture of systemic racism.

The $26-million lawsuit, which contains unproven allegations, calls for a number of actions, including a “truth and conciliation” commission for racialized employees of the Ontario Public Service and anti-racism training for all staff.

The government and one of the unions named in the suit didn’t respond to request for comment, while another union — The Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario — said it couldn’t comment on individual cases but it had long advocated for an end to systemic discrimination within the public service.

Dixon, a Crown lawyer on leave from the Ministry of the Attorney-general, said the ideals that shaped her career expectations have been entirely at odds with her experience of working for the Ontario government.

“I went in with the idea that I would be able to work for an employer that valued humans, that valued dignity, that encouraged people to seek justice,” she said at a news conference in Toronto. “My dreams were crushed. I immediately began to experience anti-black racism in the workplace.”