City of Montreal creates new reporting system for racism complaints

The City of Montreal says public sector employees who experience racism and discrimination in the workplace will now be able to file a complaint with an independent commission.

The city is calling it a systemic solution to a systemic problem and it comes after recommendations from a committee of experts.

City workers facing racism in the workplace will soon be able to go to the Commission de la fonction publique de Montréal (CFPM), an independent body that already handles complaints relating to staffing and management issues at the city.

"It's a credible instance already among the employees so now that we are giving them those extended powers we believe that it's going to help with the confidence in the system," said Dominique Ollivier, president of the city's executive committee.

Civil rights activist Fo Niemi is working with more than 30 city employees who say they've faced racial discrimination at work.

"They get a lot of being called the N-word, harassed, being basically ghettoized, being marginalized, being unfairly evaluated and denied job promotions," said Niemi, who heads the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR).

He says a common theme is when the workers go to their superiors, their complaints are not taken seriously. Niemi said the current process for reporting workplace racism isn't working.

"It's not effective, it's not credible, in part, because there's no accountability on the part of the people who are responsible for the process and also there's not enough budget, there's not enough means to make the process work," according to Niemi.

The opposition at City Hall worries that without proper investment the commission will not be able to handle the complaints either.

"I think that we are all going to realize whether it is a good institution or not once we see how the complaints are going to be handled," said Ensemble Montreal's Alba Zuniga Ramos, who represents the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.

"And most importantly, one of the things that is really important for us is to see if the resources are going to be given to the commission so that it can do its new mandate properly."

The city's director general says he expects the number of complaints will actually go up once the commission takes over the process because employees will be more confident coming forward.

The changes should come into effect before the end of the fall.