Tuesday, 16 July 2024

Halifax Fire

Liane Tessier: My case is symbolic of so many problems with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission

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Earlier today we reported how Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. The press conference and report launch was timed to roughly coincide with the third anniversary of the apologies issued to former firefighter Liane Tessier by the NSHRC and the Halifax Fire Service. This is what Liane said at this morning’s press conference.

Equity Watch calls for a completely revamped Human Rights Commission

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Equity Watch calls for major structural changes to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC) to deal with the many complaints about its fairness and timeliness that have been raised over the years. The organization lays out its critique and recommendations in Justice Impeded, a well-researched and detailed 50-page report that was launched through a virtual press conference this morning.

Judy Haiven: Questions remain in Halifax Fire gender discrimination human rights case

Last week a Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission Board of Inquiry decided that former firefighter Kathy Symington did not suffer discrimination while working at the Halifax Fire Service.

“In fact the Tessier case shows that for a woman to complain about a male-dominated workplace, such as the Fire Service, the woman has to be willing to fight for more than a dozen years, has to have an airtight complaint, witnesses, and certainly not criticize her superiors. Short of this, women are simply not believed.,” writes Judy Haiven.

One year after the Liane Tessier apology, what has changed at Halifax Fire?

It’s been a year since Halifax Fire chief Ken Stuebing publicly apologized to Liane Tessier, and both Halifax Fire and the Human Rights Commission are reluctant to share what changes were made at the organization to deal with the misogyny that was so prevalent. “We’re dealing with issues that were hidden, now we are letting it out of the bag and HRM and the NS Human Rights Commission don’t like it, because now they are being held to account,” Tessier says, pointing to the work of Equity Watch, the anti-bullying organization she co-founded.”