Former Remai CEO seeks end to rights probe
The former leader of the Remai Modern art gallery has applied to have a four-year-old Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission investigation into a complaint against him halted. The application on behalf of former Remai Modern executive director and chief executive Gregory Burke cites the unusually long process that far exceeds the commission’s stated timelines and the damage done to Burke’s reputation and health.
The complaint was made by a former employee in 2015 and alleges Burke discriminated against her and harassed her because she is a woman.
The case has been widely reported as one of harassment of a female employee by Burke, but there are no accusations of sexual misconduct by Burke in the complaint, which is included in an affidavit by Burke as part of the court filing.
“The proceedings have been ongoing for more than four years,” says the application for a stay of proceedings filed by Burke’s lawyer, Jay Watson, at Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday. “To date, they have not progressed beyond the investigation stage.”
Burke, who now lives in Toronto, provided The Saskatoon Starphoenix with the documents ahead of the court proceedings. He declined to comment on the matter because it is before the courts.
The complainant’s Saskatoon lawyer, John Beckman, said he could not comment Tuesday until he has had a chance to talk to his client. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission was also approached for comment, but did not immediately respond.
Burke was advised in August that the commission was expanding the investigation to see if his alleged behaviour toward women was a “pattern or practice.”
The application cites the delay as “unreasonable” and says Burke has suffered harm as a result. The expansion of the investigation also exceeds the commission’s jurisdiction, the application says.
Burke’s affidavit says he has attempted to find work, but he has been advised that he is unemployable until the human rights complaint is settled.
As the application makes clear, the length of the investigation deviates starkly from the timeline set out by the human rights commission.
Under the commission’s timeline, mediation on a complaint is supposed to be completed in 90 days and the investigation is supposed to be finished in a further 180 days.
Within 60 days after the completion of the investigation, the subject of the complaint, in this case Burke, is supposed to be informed whether the complaint has been dismissed or referred to trial.
Burke says in his affidavit that media coverage of the complaint caused him severe stress. The coverage was “vague,” according to Burke, and referred only to a harassment complaint by a former female employee.
CBC News first reported on the complaint on March 6 based on a document that did not include details.
Burke had accepted a position as executive director of the Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand in December 2018 but after media coverage of the complaint reached New Zealand media, Burke and the gallery came to a mutual agreement for him to withdraw his application.
When Burke learned of the pending CBC story in late February, he became ill, suffering from insomnia, gastroenteritis and nausea, according to his affidavit. He went on medical leave up to and including his last day at the gallery on March 15.
Documents included in Burke’s affidavit submission include details of the complaint against him, as well as his response. The art gallery is also named in the complaint. The complainant’s name is redacted in the material.
“I categorically deny these allegations,” Burke says in the affidavit.
The original complaint was made on Oct. 6, 2015 and covered the time frame from March 2013 to Oct. 6, 2014, when the complainant resigned.
The nine-paragraph complaint contains only one instance with a date — that Burke told a “misogynistic and inappropriate story” in March 2013 when the two first met. No details of the story are provided in the complaint.
She further says Burke undermined her authority as a senior manager by limiting her input at meetings and ending meetings
early. She also alleges Burke talked about her work with other employees, “creating and encouraging a toxic atmosphere of negative innuendo and gossip.”
The complaint adds: “He regularly undermined me by making disparaging remarks about my soft-spoken voice.”
Burke suffers from hearing loss. The complaint says Burke used “contradictory directives and withholding of information to demean me and other female staff,” but does not provide examples.
She says she felt “compelled” to resign.
Burke received a letter from the commission informing him of the complaint on April 21, 2016, his affidavit says.
Just over a month later, Burke and his lawyer at the time applied to have the complaint dismissed.
Burke did not hear back for nearly a year, but received a letter from the commission on May 17, 2017, saying that the request for a dismissal had been denied. An investigator had not been assigned to the case at this point.
That letter details Burke’s position that the complainant refused to accept Burke’s vision for the new Remai Modern that would open in October 2017 and “expressed dissatisfaction with Burke’s management style and the operational decisions that he made.”
The complainant “repeatedly declined Burke’s right to provide direction for her,” the letter says. It’s noted that the complainant did not report harassment or discrimination during her employment or in her resignation letter.
Her resignation letter said it had been a “great pleasure” to be part of the gallery team, according to the commission’s letter.
A timeline in the application for a stay of proceedings shows the commission sent a letter on June 9, 2017 advising that Lewanna Dubray had been assigned to investigate the complaint. This timing means the investigator was assigned well past the prescribed timeline for the investigation to be complete.
The complainant was interviewed for the first time on May 1, 2018, and Burke was interviewed for the first time on Nov. 27, 2018. The complainant was interviewed twice more in March, the documents show.