Senate ordered to reinstate executive

FEDERAL TRIBUNAL

• A federal tribunal has ordered the Senate to restore an executive who said he was fired on the basis of racial discrimination.

Darshan Singh served two years as the Senate’s human resources director, but his lawyer says he has no interest in returning to the role.

“He feels quite vindicated by this resolution,” Paul Champ said Thursday.

Singh was the first person of colour to join the Senate’s executive team of public servants.

But administration officials shuffled upper management in a way that Singh complained left him sidelined by a supervisor he believed was undermining him on the basis of racial prejudice.

The Senate fired Singh without cause in December 2015, but noted in a letter that there had been a “breakdown of confidence and trust which are essential to the viability of your employment,” and referenced Singh’s “attitude and behaviour” toward his supervisor.

Singh alleged he had been subject to unlawful treatment, saying he believed he was fired in retaliation for raising discrimination allegations that the Senate had not adequately probed.

Leo Housakos, a Conservative senator from Quebec who at the time was Speaker of the upper chamber, conducted an informal probe involving discussions with Singh’s supervisor, 12 other senators who had worked with her and various human resource employees.

Housakos concluded Singh’s allegations of discrimination had no merit.

The Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board, a quasi-judicial tribunal that deals with disputes within the federal public service and Parliament, noted the probe did not involve speaking with any person of colour — including Singh himself.

An adjudicator dismissed Singh’s case in 2021, but Federal Court ordered the tribunal to take up the case again, arguing “the most fundamental requirement of even an informal investigation had been ignored” in the Housakos probe.

A spokesperson for Housakos had previously indicated he wouldn’t provide comment while the matter was before the board, and “the case is best made there rather than in the media.”

Champ said Singh will keep a job at the Canadian Coast Guard that he took on during the eight-year period since his firing.

“It was quite a burden on him and his family to deal with this issue for so many years. But as a human resources professional, he thought it was important to follow through,” Champ said.

“Our client is hopeful that the Senate is going to, in future, try to be a model employer.”

The Senate has not provided comment on the ruling.