KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Old complaints about bullying and dysfunction at HRM workplaces resurfaced when Cathie Barrington, a former manager in HRM’s Council Support Office, was called out for posting vile racist posts on social media. 

Barrington was employed at the City until sometime in 2019.

Barrington’s Facebook comments were in response to the release of SIRT reports on police violence in the arrests of Santina Rao and a 15-year old teen in Bedford.

Barrington told Chronicle Herald reporter Andrew Rankin on Thursday that she’s sorry for posting the comments and that they were inappropriate.

But complaints both by staff and councillors about workplace dysfunctionality and racism at the office go back a long time. 

“For me the problem is that HRM knew about Barrington’s management style. When I complained they told me I was not credible. But now it’s in the Herald and we have screenshots. So many people went to Human Resources and complained that the department ordered a workplace assessment,” a former employee who worked at the Council Support Office when Barrington was a manager there tells the Nova Scotia Advocate.

An internal assessment marked confidential contains recommendations to address a variety of issues, including organizing sessions on respect in the workplace, boundaries, cultural competency, and weekly meetings between staff and management. 

“It is recommended that the manager and employees immediately cease all gossip. The manager and employees are to jointly create and sign an agreement to make this a gossip-free workplace. A facilitator may be necessary for this discussion,” one of the recommendations states.

Recommendations mostly ignored

Most of the recommendations were never followed up on, the former employee says. Working for the Council Support Office became so stressful for this employee that they had to go on sick leave, only to be subsequently terminated by the city. The former worker feels at least partially vindicated by the recent news story.

Several former councillors have spoken out about these issues over the last years,   

In the summer of 2018 Jackie Barkhouse, a former Halifax councillor, told the Nova Scotia Advocate that during her term she frequently raised concerns around a toxic  workplace for City Hall employees. But her complaints would be shrugged off by then Mayor Peter Kelly and senior management.

Barkhouse served as Councillor for District 8 (at that time, Woodside-Eastern Passage) from 2007 to 2012.

“I certainly became aware of instances of bullying at City Hall, and I took these concerns forward. I actually became isolated because of my involvement in these cases,” Barkhouse said at the time.

Former councillors Sue Uteck and Dawn Sloane joined Barkhouse in demanding a public inquiry.

“We have some wonderful people work for HRM. Unfortunately some of them left because of issues that had to do with management, bullying and racism,” said Sloane. “When at Council we all heard stories of bullying and racism.”  

“There was a lot that was held from us. There was a real culture of fear. Staff were not allowed to approach councillors. When I think back I believe I should have done more,” Uteck said.

The women, who all served until the 2012 election, said they themselves were often subjected to sexist behaviour by fellow councillors, some of whom are still around. Uteck mentioned frequent snickering while she would address council, and remembers calling out these fellow (male) councillors on that behaviour.

An HRM spokesperson tells the Nova Scotia Advocate that it cannot discuss individual cases. 

“However, the municipality has zero-tolerance for workplace bullying and harassment. Our Workplace Rights and Harassment Prevention Policy outlines our commitment to providing a harassment-free environment, where all persons are treated with dignity and respect, ” writes Senior Communications Adviser Maggie-Jane Spray. “Additionally, staff are able to anonymously report allegations of harassment or bullying through Human Resources.  All concerns brought forward are thoroughly reviewed.” Spray also mentions mandatory staff training sessions on harassment prevention, and the municipality’s Code of Conduct. 

Not an isolated incident

The City of Halifax has been plagued by frequent complaints about racism and toxic work environments in many of its departments. 

One report described the racism and misogyny at the Public Works department. After the Nova Scotia Advocate published the confidential report and councillors became concerned CAO Dubé initiated regular updates to Council. Just recently the Halifax Examiner revealed that progress was consistently exaggerated, confirming what Black employees were telling the Nova Scotia Advocate as recently as July of this year. 

Meanwhile Several Nova Scotia Human Rights tribunals have shed light on similar atrocious working conditions at Halifax Fire and Halifax Transit. 

See also: Vindicated Halifax firefighter Liane Tessier: I want the truth out there, I want to expose the structure of misogyny

“We are asking councillors and the mayor to support an independent inquiry. That’s the only way to get to the root and to have any success on a go forward basis,” Barkhouse said at the time. “An external consultant is absolutely not adequate. It needs to be done outside of HRM.”

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The post Bullying and dysfunction complaints resurface at Halifax City Hall appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – I was recently contacted by several African Nova Scotian HRM employees, both male and female. They tell me that they continue to be discriminated against, passed over for promotions including positions of supervisors and managers, while white people on the job for a few months are promoted. They also say that if African Nova Scotians are given any sort of promotion the positions are of short duration. 

These workers also say they have experienced racial slurs, anti-Black sexism based on gender orientation, divisiveness in hiring practices, violations of policies and procedures and they say that their complaints are not given due process and these situations continue without redress or resolution. 

With an increase in racism in HRM and around the world, I believe it is most important for Halifax Regional Council to do a serious review of racism-related reported incidents in all departments within the Halifax Regional Municipality ASAP.

In 2016, an HRM Employment Systems Review Report was published after a three month period, a consulting team (Turner Consulting Group, Inc.) from Ontario conducted a thorough analysis and review of HRM’s Municipal Operations Programs employment practices. 

See also: Review finds widespread racism at HRM Municipal Operations division

The consultants made 72 recommendations for “the elimination of systemic, cultural and attitudinal barriers to a diverse workforce and inclusive work environment.” You can read the report here.

Some African Nova Scotian employees continue to report that middle and upper management do not acknowledge or act on their concerns within the workplace. Although these 72 recommendations were put forth by the consultant’s report, not all have been implemented.

Several African Nova Scotian HRM employees I spoke with compare their working conditions to the working conditions in the Southern United States of the 1950’s.

In my humble opinion HRM has been singing the diversity song without learning the dance that goes along with it. And where is the voice and advocacy of any Equity and Inclusion Officer?

There have been two African Nova Scotians that were promoted to the position of supervisor, so I am told, since the 2016 report. This is a first step but it pales in comparison to all that is needed. Racialized people work just as hard and are very capable and responsible for completing their jobs, and they deserve so much better than what they apparently have to endure.

I guess the question is, what are the indicators of real equality and inclusion? It is so easy for others to be in denial and dismissive, hoping to make the conversation go away.  We must recognize that systemic racism is very much alive in Canada, Nova Scotia, and indeed within the Halifax Regional Municipality. 

Many Canadians employers and politicians take the route of denial, arguing that systemic racism is only a problem affecting African Americans south of the border. Well, those people should be honest and check themselves; closer observation may reveal the inner workings of a full-blown racist system.

It is way past the time to do the right thing, but better now than never. I believe these African Nova Scotian workers continue to suffer disproportionately, while their voices are not listened to.

Black Lives Matter, in employment also!

See also: City’s criminal record check continues to deter job seekers

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

The post Racism continues at HRM workplaces, employees suggest appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

Reparations for the enslavement of African Peoples in Nova Scotia should be taken more seriously by the government of Nova Scotia and the government of Canada

Nova Scotia Law Enforcement and the entire Criminal Justice System take anti Black racism, hate crimes and intolerance more serious with the application of law

Human Rights: The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC) make it a priority to hire some African Nova Scotians, especially as investigators and intake workers. Equally, the government of Nova Scotia introduce legislation to strengthen the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act in order to truly take a bite out of racism.

Employment HRM: Halifax Council implement all the recommendations of the Employment System Review Report, hire more African Nova Scotians and promote more African Nova Scotians to leadership positions. Equally, HRM leadership should make every sincere effort to control racially toxic work environments.

HRM, Nova Scotia municipalities, the provincial government and companies seeking employees throughout Nova Scotia should aggressively recruit African Nova Scotians and other individuals from marginalized groups. For far too long African Nova Scotians have been unemployed and underemployed. True diversity in a harassment-free workplace is a blessing and makes good business sense.

Counselling / mental health: The government of Nova Scotia should recognize and support Afrocentric mental health counselling based on cultural influences.

Specifically, culture influences:

1. What type of threat is perceived as traumatic;
2. How individuals and communities interpret the meaning of a traumatic event and how they express their reactions to the event, etc.;
3. What is seen as an appropriate response for African Nova Scotians

Poverty: Anti-poverty programs should be maintained and improved to include on the job community training programs, valued prior learning assessment tools, increased income support payments that truly equal the cost of living, etc.

Health: The medical community must stop over- prescribing medication for African Nova Scotians and start recognizing traditional African medicine involving herbalism and other treatments. Prescribing medications that are highly priced only serves to affect one’s mental health when they cannot afford to have the prescription filled.

Funding: Based on taxes paid by African Nova Scotians on a yearly basis, part of these funds should be redirected back in the African Nova Scotian community for much needed programs and services like Africentric mental health services, addiction services, recreation, youth-centered programs, seniors programs and programs for women, etc.

Education: Additional African Nova Scotian teachers should be hired, African Nova Scotian history, traditions and culture should be a part of teacher training in Nova Scotia, thus leading to greater sensitivity with African Nova Scotian learners. The Lynn Jones Collection of African Nova Scotian historical print media should become a part of the History being taught in the public school system in Nova Scotia, etc.

Adoption Disclosure: In 2019, the Nova Scotia Government (Department of Community Services) should open the files on African Nova Scotian children that were forcefully taken and otherwise removed from their families during 1960-2000. These children were adopted within Nova Scotia, Ontario and a few other provinces. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services of Ontario says” they are unable to provide information unless the province of birth has open disclosure.”

The post An African Nova Scotian wish list for 2019 appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

Just over the last couple of weeks we heard about two blatantly racist incidents.

This week El Jones reported on a life size display of a young Black woman with a baby at the Early Childhood Education class at the Yarmouth Community College. The cardboard cutout was coded with negative stereotypes associated with Black women, smoking, drinking, dressing provocatively, being bad mothers, etc. The display was up for a week.

And earlier this month we heard how a young Black man, Nhlanhla Dlamini, was bullied, and ultimately almost killed by a racist co-worker who shot him in the back with a high-velocity nail gun while he ran to escape his torturer.   

It would be convenient if these were incidents perpetrated by two bad apples. Unfortunately, in both cases all the apples in the basket were bad.

“How did the instructors walk past this everyday for a week and say nothing about it before it was taken down? Why are these instructors not fired and the students not expelled?” asked Black educator Vanessa Fells in a Facebook post, referring to the Yarmouth incident.

Similarly, in the case of Nhlanhla Dlamini, none of his co-workers felt compelled to speak up and halt the torture. Far from it, they laughed and went along with it, including Nhlanhla’s boss, who could have stopped it just like that.

“I wonder how the story might have turned out had someone on Nhlanhla’s crew said to the person who shot him, “Hey, why don’t you leave the kid alone?” What if they’d come up to Nhlanhla and said, “You know man, you don’t have to accept this kind of treatment. Let’s do something about it together.” What if someone had shown him some compassion or solidarity? Or even in the aftermath, some empathy? This experience would feel different for us,” writes Stacey Dlamini, Nhlanhla’s mother.

The central actions were racist, but so was the silence of the bystanders.

So are these maybe “isolated” incidents, the kind of things that happen, apparently, in backwards rural Nova Scotia?

Good try, but wrong again.

Right here in urbane Halifax, managers and co-workers allowed a Black Halifax Transit transit worker to be bullied and abused by a racist supervisor. Nobody in power did anything. When the supervisor got his job back, he did it again. And again he wasn’t stopped. When it became public Halifax management decided to fight the claims in a Human Rights Tribunal. Now, after they lost the case, they say they’re sorry.

Similarly, a report by an external consultant reveals how Black (and disabled, gay, trans, female, you name it) workers suffered abuse and discrimination by managers of the Halifax Municipal Operations division, for so long that it became habitual and institutionalized. You’ve probably heard about the report, but you really should read it to understand how terribly bad things are.   

Nobody said anything. Councillors claimed they had no idea, but even if councillors didn’t know, which is hard to believe coming from people who live and breathe City Hall. Regardless, they should have known. That’s their job.  

Carding in Halifax, and the larger problem of anti-Black police brutality that it reflects, is yet another example of how racism in Nova Scotia is allowed to fester.

We’ve heard so many stories of anti-Black racist police actions by now, told by so many reputable sources, in the North End, in Lucasville, everywhere forever, that to suggest it isn’t happening is plain silly. We also know the numbers, the famous ones about Black men being three times more likely to be stopped for a police street check as white people. These numbers don’t lie.

Yet when African Nova Scotian community members asked for an immediate moratorium on police street checks, it took Council six months to effectively deny that request and hire an expert from Ontario to then ponder these stats for the next 16 months or so. The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission even repeatedly suggested that the inquiry is happening because of that request.

Six months is also what it will take the city bureaucrats to to come up with reasons why we need a CFL stadium here. Do you get a sense of where our priorities lie?

When you have a problem, step one toward a solution is to recognize it. We have a problem, and we don’t even see it. It’s easy and painless to agree that bystanders remaining silent while poor Nhlanhla was taunted is wrong and effectively racist. Now we need to consider our own silence.

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The post Anti–Black racism in Nova Scotia is white people’s problem appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Members of Equity Watch, an organization that fights for an end to bullying and racism in the workplace, want the Halifax Auditor General to look into working conditions for the City’s employees.

At an Equity Watch press conference this afternoon at St. Andrew’s Church on Robie Street, Judy Haiven, former firefighter Liane Tessier, and former councillor Jackie Barkhouse all expressed their frustration about the city’s lack of progress. The city is not in any real way dealing with a long list of complaints about working conditions from workers in most divisions, they say.

Meanwhile Raymond Sheppard, a spokesperson for African Nova Scotian city workers said things in the Municipal Operations Program division have not improved since Halifax CAO Jacques Dubé famously apologized and promised to deal with these issues. When we met with the CAO, he explained that as an Acadian he understood our problems. That’s not why we were there, Sheppard said.

“In all honesty there has not been one thing done to deal with African Nova Scotians being passed over for promotions, hearing the n-word every now and then, not being considered for access to training, and so many more. All I see is people paying lip service,” Sheppard said.

”They check off tasks, but they lack the political will to make real changes. The door must not only be opened, but a hand must be extended in welcome,” said Sheppard.

The phenomenon of a dysfunctional workplace at City Hall is widespread, said Haiven, listing  a litany of complaints and issues that have come to the fore in just the last few years.

Last year the city had to apologize to firefighter Liane Tessier for systemic gender discrimination at Halifax Fire, and this year we heard of a reign of racist terror at Halifax Transit, we had African Nova Scotian outside workers rally at City Hall because of racism they encountered at work, and chief financial officer Amanda Whitewood left the City’s employment soon after she received inappropriate text messages from Dubé, Haiven said.

Haiven referred to one recent incident where an employee was told to take down a rather innocuous anti-bullying sign, designed by the Halifax Regional Police Department, that he had put on his cubicle wall. The employee was on stress leave for five months after being chewed out by management, and a year later a grievance filed by NSUPE is in arbitration.

“This case is going to cost the union and management tens of thousands of dollars, the City could settle this today, say they’re sorry, yet they choose to fight the employee and the union, much like it fought the Halifax Transit human rights case for years, and for what?” Haiven said.

A management structure that has shown itself that powerless to tackle these issues can’t be trusted to fix itself, said Haiven, calling upon an independent body such as the City’s Auditor General to look into these matters. “Justice must be done, and it must be seen to be done,” Haiven said.

There are parallels between what is happening at the City and the scandals that plagued the Dalhousie dentistry faculty in 2015, in that it took an entirely independent observer like Constance Backhouse to deliver a credible investigation and recommendations. Earlier in-house efforts by the university to resolve the issues were weak and inconclusive. It is that kind of independence that made Backhouse successful and that only the City’s  Auditor General can bring to the table, Equity Watch believes.

Former firefighter Tessier, who received formal apologies from both the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and the City after her gender discrimination complaint was validated by a Human Rights Tribunal, said many of the commitments the City made at a a result of that decision have not been followed up on.

“Halifax Fire promised to change hiring practices and introduce effective policies to deal with a systemic gender bias,” said Tessier, “yet we have seen no evidence that any changes have been implemented. The City committed to make it safer for women to speak out, but what did HRM do to address this?”  

Tessier points to the case of former firefighter Kathy Symington, who like Tessier experienced discrimination and bullying, and who has been battling both the City and the Human Rights Commission to find justice. Have the City and the Human Rights Commission learned nothing from my case, Tessier asked.

Jackie Barkhouse spoke of her frustrations while serving as a Councillor for District 8 (at that time, Woodside-Eastern Passage) from 2007 to 2012. I witnessed harassment, and suffered harassment myself, she said, and I raised it time and again with Mayor Peter Kelly, Human Resources officials and senior management.

Most of the Equity Watch members at this time are current or former employees of HRM, and that’s no coincidence, Barkhouse suggested. Management is passive and reactive, acting only when issues around working conditions are formally brought forward, rather than genuinely trying to address problems before they escalate.

See also: Making the questions go away. City implements dubious tip line, starts process to acquire consulting services

The post News brief: Racism and bullying at City Hall persist, advocates say appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – At last Tuesday’s council meeting councillor Matt Whitman announced that he will propose a motion that the city’s Auditor General become involved in the city’s efforts to deal with widespread racism allowed to fester in city workplaces for decades.

I didn’t think I’d ever write this, but on this issue Whitman is absolutely right.

In July 2016 first NEWS 95.7 and then the Nova Scotia Advocate wrote about a consultant’s report that described widespread racism, ableism and sexism at HRM’s Municipal Operations Programs (MOPS) division. We posted the scanned report on our website, over the next two years we published several follow ups, and we issued FOIPOP requests to find out what the city was doing about this god awful mess.

Yet councillors say they didn’t know anything was amiss until African Nova Scotian city workers rallied in front of City Hall earlier this summer.

That admission alone should tell you something. Councillors are the folks who live and breathe city politics, but they didn’t know. They should ask themselves how come. 

It’s also not what what the city told the Nova Scotia Advocate in August 2016.

“Council has received an update regarding the report and staff will be presenting any recommendations as they relate to changes to the Employment Equity Policy, for Council’s approval, in the coming months,” wrote city spokesperson Adam Richardson, a Senior Communications Advisor.

Maybe management’s update wasn’t very good. Or maybe councillors weren’t paying attention during these briefings, just like councillor Zurawski last Tuesday, who, ten minutes into the discussion about workplace racism asked a question about water conditions, given the drought this summer.  

Deputy mayor Waye Mason was onto something when he suggested that the problem goes deeper than simply completing the report’s recommendations. After all, some 60% of these recommendations have been checked off by now, but for the workers on the ground, the ones who took time off from work to rally, it appears not that much has changed.  

Even the 2016 consultant’s report observes that on the surface things are actually pretty good. Policies and procedures may require some tinkering, but they’re mostly fine. The Halifax website includes lots of photos of culturally diverse workers. There are even units and positions on the org chart to make sure HRM lives up to these commitments.

Yet the real mess, “the climate of fear and intimidation,” was hidden behind this bureaucratic facade. So far management has further tinkered with that same facade, a policy here, a process there, but has failed to address the workers’ real concerns.

On Tuesday we found out there hasn’t even been an effort to find out what the African Nova Scotian workers actually think about the current situation, no workshops, no dialogue, nothing. Nor do we yet know how diverse (or not) the city workforce actually is, something the 2016 report identified as a big problem. Cost was an issue, and we wanted to do the workforce survey first, a bureaucrat told the councillors on Tuesday, two years and three months after the report came out.

Meanwhile we have also learned about racism at Halifax Transit, misogyny at Halifax Fire, and through the work of Equity Watch, of bullying in many other divisions as well.  

The notion of pulling in the City’s Auditor General is a good one. She’s tough, she has the know how, and most importantly, her office operates independently from management.

See video of Council’s discussion (at 39 minutes).

The post For once Matt Whitman is right: City’s Auditor General should look into workplace racism at City Hall appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – “I’ve never been more upset in my time on council,” Waye Mason told his fellow councillors after a Nova Scotia Human Rights tribunal determined that HRM allowed racism to fester unchallenged for decades at Halifax Transit.

It made him physically ill. “Mason told his colleagues that upon reading the details contained in that decision he was sick to his stomach,” Jacob Boon reported for the Coast after the June 20 council meeting.

Mason is to be commended for being upset. Yet, even with his stomach so badly affected, Mason does not think a public inquiry is called for. Instead CAO Jacques Dubé will provide quarterly public progress reports on racism, sexism and harassment within the municipality’s workforce, Boon writes.  

“A public inquiry would be a moment in time. This is an ongoing commitment,” Waye Mason is quoted as saying in the Coast article.

There is lots wrong with this statement. For starters, ongoing commitments to keep the public updated and public inquiries aren’t mutually exclusive. We should do both.

Council and city management had years to fix the widespread racism and bullying that occurs at its workplaces. They were awful at it.

As councillor Lindell Smith suggests, councillors’ collective tummies should have been aching two years ago, when we first reported on the widespread racism (and misogyny, ableism, and homophobia) at the city’s Municipal Operations division.  

https://twitter.com/LindellSmithHFX/status/1027288599887339520

Behind closed doors councillors were given progress reports by management, the Nova Scotia Advocate was told two years ago, but clearly they never asked questions. Just a couple of months ago, African Nova Scotian outside workers rallied at City Hall because regardless of reports and recommendations nothing had changed on the ground. “The anti-Black racism and discrimination within HRM is at 1950s levels,” the workers explained. “We must do better,” said the mayor.

Even the Halifax Transit human rights decision wasn’t a revelation. The story of Halifax Transit worker Randy Symonds, who was subjected to racism and settled with the city in 2006, was widely reported. Ever since stories of racism at Halifax Transit never really went away. The Human Rights Commission held regular public hearings. Racism at Halifax Transit is very old news. 

Where were our councillors all this time?  What has changed that now we can be confident that these same councillors will hold city management accountable?

This Tuesday at Halifax Council there will be an update by CAO Jacques Dube, requested by Lindell Smith and focused on the Municipal Operations division, home to the workers who keep our parks looking lovely and our streets and sidewalks free of snow. 

See also: Former HRM councillor’s reports of widespread workplace harassment and bullying fell on deaf ears.  

The post Why trust councillors to fix racism and bullying at city workplaces? appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

The tip line was quickly implemented after a recent wave of reports of racism, ableism, misogyny and bullying were reported at Halifax Transit,  at the division that employs the City’s outside workers, at Halifax Fire, Halifax police, and elsewhere.

Jackie Barkhouse, a former HRM councillor, doesn’t think a tip line is much of an improvement, since it operates entirely within the confines of the current chain of command.

“What’s really new here? This is what Human Resources has done all along,” she says. “This isn’t acceptable in any way, shape or form. Nobody within HRM is going to complain about HRM to HRM.”

Barkhouse is a co-founder of the anti-bullying organization Equity Watch. That organization has asked for a public inquiry into the city’s labour woes. Two other former councillors, Sue Uteck and Dawn Sloane, have added their voices to this demand.

There are reasons to be sceptical about a solution which leaves the status quo untouched.

It took a rally of Black city workers earlier this year to alert the media that nothing much had changed for the better two years after an external consultant identified all kinds of racist practices at the workplace. During these two years neither city management nor city councillors were able to make real changes, although you would never guess that from the upbeat progress reports issued by the bureaucrats.  

As Liane Tessier’s case showed, at times HR personnel were decidedly adversarial to bullying victims, while CAO Jacques Dubé’ was himself the author of creepy emails to female staff, and had to take a short leave of absence as a result.

The tip line and the resulting investigations need to be hands off and independent from the CAO, says Barkhouse.

As it happens, there is already such an entity within the city’s org chart, Barkhouse points out. “The office of the Halifax Auditor General (AG), as the only independent entity within the city, is well positioned to take on these new responsibilities,” she says.

Council should fund the AG, so it can hire the expertise needed for this, says Barkhouse. Employees are a huge part of the city’s budget, and as such it’s perfectly within the AG’s mandate to look into these issues.” 

The city doesn’t see it that way.

“No, there is no need for shared infrastructure. The initiative consists of hiring an administrator and adding the phone line,” writes Nick Ritcey, senior communications advisor for the city in response to our question.

Now the city has decided to hire a consultant, as it so often does when the public asks awkward questions (think carding, Cornwallis). A Request for Proposals was issued for a review of the city’s safe workplace policies and practices, with a final report to be delivered by April 30, 2019.

Just how hands-off will that investigation be?  Not very. Language in the RFP suggests that the CAO and upper management will be looking over the consultants’ shoulder at every step.

The successful bidder will, “upon contract award: Participate in a meeting with the CAO, Human Resources, the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, Legal Services and Business Unit Directors to
review the objectives and scope of the project and the methodology to be used by the contractor,” the RFP states.

That’s a meeting councillors, voters, regular employees, bullying victims, unions, or external stakeholders are not invited to.

The post Making the questions go away: city implements dubious tip line, starts process to acquire consulting services appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

The city has been under pressure to act since a Nova Scotia Human Rights tribunal found examples of widespread and horrible racism at Halifax Transit. In early 2016 another report referred to similarly widespread racism, misogyny and ableism at the division that employs the City’s outside workers.

Meanwhile Tessier herself was bullied and harassed by city managers and fellow male workers, and had to fight both the city and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to finally be vindicated last year and for the city to (sort of) apologize. It took her well over a decade to reach that point.

She has since co-founded Equity Watch, an organization by and for victims of workplace bullying. More members of Equity Watch are HRM employees than work anywhere else, Tessier says.

“The city isn’t just reluctant to change, they actively resist change. I had to fight them for 12 years to prove that gender discrimination was happening. The city simply can’t be trusted,” Tessier tells the Nova Scotia Advocate.

To illustrate her point Tessier describes how during a restorative meeting organized by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, Halifax fire officials and Human Resources types she named and talked in detail about her abusers.

“They all just sat there and stared at the ground in front of them,” Tessier says,”They didn’t even take notes.”  Not one of Tessier’s abusers was ever penalized for their actions. In fact, many of her abusers were promoted.

A press release issued by Tessier on behalf of Equity Watch points out the difference between a public enquiry and the process that Halifax Council apparently has settled on.

A public inquiry would seek input from public interest groups (especially those from affected by the discrimination e.g. women, African Nova Scotians and the disabled) as well as former aggrieved employees of HRM, and give them tools to monitor HRM’s progress.  Given that the problems are plentiful and systemic a public enquiry is the only way to get to the bottom of things, the press release states.

Tessier is not opposed to the quarterly updates, she just thinks it isn’t enough. “Why not do both,” she asks.

As part of her settlement with HRM, Tessier also asked for an independent inquiry, with a more narrow focus on gender discrimination at Halifax Fire. That request too was rejected by the City as being too expensive.

“But look at all the money the city spends on lawyers to fight people like me, not to mention the small fortunes it pays on settlements when the city is found to be in the wrong,” Tessier counters. “You just can’t investigate yourself, simple as that.”

The current trend among councillors and mayor is to claim that they weren’t aware of any problems within the City that they lead. Tessier doesn’t think this is a credible excuse. Indeed, her own case, as well the troubles at Halifax Transit and among the outside workers have all been widely reported, going back many years.

That claim of innocence and ignorance was also recently contradicted by several former councillors.

On June 14 former councillors Sue Uteck, Dawn Sloan, and Jackie Barkhouse told the Nova Scotia Advocate that the previous Council was well aware of occurrences of workplace racism and bullying. They too are calling for a public inquiry into the matter, and they too are adamant that anything led by staff will be inadequate.

“(A public inquiry the only way to get to the root and to have any success on a go forward basis,” said Barkhouse at that time.  “An external consultant is absolutely not adequate. It needs to be done outside of HRM.”

Contact Equity Watch through its website, Facebook page ,email equitywatchns@gmail.com or call (902) 718-7445

The post Former Halifax firefighter Liane Tessier on the need for a public inquiry into racism and bullying at HRM: The city simply can’t be trusted   appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

The two former Halifax councillors joined their colleague Jackie Barkhouse, who spoke out earlier, for an impromptu press conference at the Grand Parade in front of City Hall late this afternoon.

Also there was Liane Tessier, the Halifax firefighter who suffered sexist abuse and had to fight for justice for twelve years before receiving a formal apology from the city. Tessier and Barkhouse are the founders of Equity Watch, the organization that fights workplace bullying and that has also called for a public inquiry.

“If you look at past practices at HRM, there was  a culture of entitlement within senior management, and that started from the very top,” says Uteck.

“In the instances that I remember, like in the case of Liane, women suffered terribly and there was no consequence. So what, just take us to the Human Rights Commission, we’ll just pay the maximum amount, and it will go away,” Uteck says.

“We have some wonderful people work for HRM. Unfortunately some of them left because of issues that had to do with management, bullying and racism,” says Sloane. “When at Council we all heard stories of bullying and racism. Council has to stop being mushrooms.”  

“There was a lot that was held from us. There was a real culture of fear. Staff were not allowed to approach councillors. When I think back I believe I should have done more,” Uteck says.

The three former councillors say they want to see an enquiry that is public, not a report by a consultant who reports to Halifax CAO Jacques Dubé. They all agree that bullying and racism are indeed pervasive at HRM, and are not a matter of some individual cases, as suggested earlier by Halifax Dubé.  It happens everywhere, they say, Halifax Fire, Halifax Transit, Public Works, Planning….

The women, who all served until the 2012 election, say they themselves were often subjected to sexist behaviour by fellow councillors, some of whom are still around. Uteck mentions frequent snickering while she would address council, and remembers calling out these fellow (male) councillors on that behaviour.

“We are asking councillors and the mayor to support an independent inquiry. That’s the only way to get to the root and to have any success on a go forward basis,” says Barkhouse.  “An external consultant is absolutely not adequate. It needs to be done outside of HRM.”

“The fact that these former councillors now have come out in support of workers and seeking a better and safer workplace in HRM is incredible. I am really thankful that they are bold enough to do this,” she adds.

Dawn Sloane has some further thoughts on why CAO Dubé should not be in charge of any kind of investigation of abuse and harassment at the workplace. Not that long ago Dubé apologized to all staff after it became known that he had sent a female employee scary and weird messages.

“I have no faith in mr. Dubé’s judgement calls, after what he did to one of his employees. Simple as that,” says Sloane.

Contact Equity Watch through its website, Facebook page ,email equitywatchns@gmail.com or call  (902) 718-7445

See also: Putting bad bosses on notice. No more bullying and no more discrimination, says new organization.

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