 The Great Debate on the Kin Yip Chun case and Systemic Discrimination at the University of Toronto. Courtesy of the Varsity "I have found no evidence that Dr. Chun was improperly denied a permanent academic position in the Department of Physics because of his race.""Dr. Cecil Yip, Vice-Dean, Faculty of Medicine. "Mr. Pieters, I would caution you to be very careful about your allegations of racism in the hiring of faculty. I think some members are beginning to take offense that these are unsubstantiated allegations. Please proceed with caution."Academic Board chair, Mr. Roger Beck. "What I suggest is you look at the composition of the board. It is a black man who is talking about these issues because how can you understand systemic racism?" Mr. Selwyn Pieters, Member - Academic Board "Are you calling us all racist?" Mr. Warren Mar, Member - Academic Board "The allegation is not that this board is racist but that it may not be inclined to support the concerns of those who have had those experiences." Mr. Selwyn Pieters, Member - Academic Board. "I just don't think it is right for you to judge what we have been through in our own lives and whether we have the ability to understand racism or oppression." Governing Council chair, Ms. Wendy Cecil-Cockwell, who is president of Brookmoor Ltd. "If systemic racism did exist at the university, do you think it would extend to facilities and services going and hiring grounds workers to make rude and racist remarks?" Mr. Adel Sedra, Vice President and Provost "I believe in Dr. Chun's case where he has made all aspects of the matter public, it is appropriate for the university to respond fully to false claims made about the qualifications of other candidates"Mr. Robert Prichard, President, University of Toronto "Never in all of the years that I have been a member of this board have personnel matters come before it. ...Are we going to have a long parade of people presenting their grievances before the academic board?"Mr. Michael Marrus, Dean, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto "The university has looked ridiculous. We have looked like scattered chickens afraid to hear one man's truth. Stop looking like jackasses. Mr. Jacob Glick, Governor and Member - Academic Board. "Everything that Prichard is putting Dr. Chun through is unnecessary...This is about a system not an individual. This is about the effect of the university's employment system, which effectively excludes people of colour. ...This is about a system not about Prichard intentionally being evil or being racist. Human rights are not about assigning intentional blame... They are about redressing wrongs and changing a system that excludes on the basis of race. ...To point to their established procedures is to continue the systemic discrimination that they know is a problem..." April Burey, B.A, LL.B. (Dalhousie) LLM. (Harvard) "Cultural stereotyping in an almost exclusively white male department might have led to the formation of unduly negative opinions about Dr. Chun"Canadian Association of University Teachers
"The power imbalance inherent in the dynamic of an `old boys' network effectively screens out racial minority persons . . . who are unable to tap into this network..."
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In Ramsaroop v. University of Toronto Governing Council Mr. Ramsaroop took U of T to court on an application for judicial review to quash the decision of Susan Girard, Chief Returning Officer that he was no elegible to run for GC. Read the Ontario Court of Appeal decisionRamsaroop v. University of Toronto
In Pieters v. University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Dean Ronald Daniels Human Rights Complaints were filed with the Commission on May 08, 1998 and September 13, 1999 respectively against several law schools in Ontario alleging that their admissions policies, practices, procedures and test systemically discriminates against African Canadians applicants in contravention of sectiuons 1, 9 and 11 of the Code. The Canadian Bar Association entitled "Racial Equality in the Canadian Legal Profession". The CBA report which was critical of legal profession, also looked at the admission policies of law schools and noted that "grade and test-based policies . . . look at one narrow set of skills and fail to assess the breadth of an applicant's knowledge and experience." The CBA report recommended that "law schools must broaden their admissions policies and judge applicants on a range of criteria, which have been carefully examined to ensure that they do not inadvertently perpetuate racist assumptions."
Case Analysis, Queens University, Faculty of Law |
Case Analysis, University of Toronto, Faculty of law |
Case Analysis, University of Windsor, Faculty of Law |
Case Analysis, York University, Osgoode Hall Law school |
Index of the complainant reply to the Law Schools response to the human rights complaints |
Further Response from University of Windsor, York University and Queen's University Law Schools |
Index|
Pieters Offered Admission to Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
Law school bound By Richard McKergow, The Varsity, April 6, 2000
In Kin-Yip Chun v. University of Toronto Kin-Yip Chun, a Chinese Canadian, former U of T seismologist, brought in over $1.4 million in research grants while he was employed as a research associate at the University of Toronto. Dr. Chun alleged that the university did not pay him during his employment with this institution thereby exploiting him for ten year. He applied for tenure on four occassions and was denied a tenue stream appointment at the University.
Dr. Kin-Yip Chun, former U of T Seismologist addresses Students, Faculty and Alumni at the University of Toronto on the Status of his grievances with the University
Dr. Chun was instrumental in raising Canada's profile in the araea of nuclear disarmament. He has spoken at the United Nations Geneva convention on his research in this area. In addition, Dr. Chun has published works (over 26) in a number of prestigious journals.
The University of Toronto has conducted its own internal investigation - which found that Chun was exploited but could find no evidence to support the claim that his exploitation was motivated by racial considerations.
Dr. Chun filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the University filed a motion to have the matter dismissed on the basis that it was vexatious and also on the basis of delay. The Human Rights Commission rejected the University's motion to dismiss the complaint and has assigned it for investigation.
Dr Chun case has generated widespread support from the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Canadian Association of Physicists, the Overseas Chinese Physicists Association, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences.
On February 01, 2000, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released its Section 36(1) Case Analysis Report which indicted that the evidence has substantiated Dr. Chun's complaint that he was denied tenured positions four times due to racially discriminatory recruiting and hiring policies and practices at the University of Toronto; that a poisoned environment existed based on racially oriented commentary at the Department of Physics; that Dr. Cecil Yip's investigation into Dr. Chun's allegations was flawed and that the appointment of a Board of Inquiry pursuant to the Human Rights Code is appropriate and necessary in this case.
Ontario Human Rights Commission Section 36 Case Analysis Report in Dr. Chun's Human Rights Complaint
ONTARIO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DECISION IN DR. KIN YIP CHUN MATTER The University of Toronto's Response to the Ontario Human Rights Commission Report on the Complaint of Dr. Kin-Yip Chun
The search for excellence: Do our committees really recruit the best? a professor wonders
University of Toronto Students Demand Action on Racism
Justice Committee in Support of Dr. Chun
Wang-Xia Liao v. University of Toronto - Wiao Xai Liao, a Chinese Canadian, was a student enrolled in the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto's Department of East Asian Studies in 1991. As part of the course requirements for the Masters program in which she was enrolled, she submitted a paper to her supervising professor. She was unhappy with the grade awarded and initiated the first level of what became a four-stage appeal process in accordance with the University's internal policies.
Wang-Xia Liao remained dissatisfied with the resolution of this process and in 1993 initiated a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (the OHRC) alleging that she had been treated in a discriminatory fashion by the University based on her race. Following a lengthy investigation and conciliation, the OHRC decided not to refer the appellant's complaint to a Board of Inquiry under the provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code. Wang-Xia Liao request for a reconsideration of this decision was denied on June 12, 1997 and the OHRC closed its file on the appellant's complaint.
There was an Application for Judicial Review to the Divisional Court which was dismissed. The matter is now in the Onario Court of Appeal.
The case of three Black Students being called ignorant sons of Bitches". On October 08, 1997, three Black students were on the foyer of the Transitional year program Department, when they were locked out of the building by a Caretaker. One of the students, Claude Davis, asked the Caretaker what he was doing to which the responded with a flurry of abuse. This abuse was motivated by the fact that a Black student dare to question the actions of a University of Toronto staff member. The incident was referred to campus police and human resources. They have turned the matter over to the Race Relations Officer to investigate.
In the case Martin Bracey v. University of Toronto. Mr. Martin Bracey, an African Canadian male who was a student at the University of Toronto was expelled from the University on October 19, 2000 [see, Minutes of the Governing Council Meeting (October 19, 2000), p. 4]. The minutes records as follows:
On motion duly moved and seconded,Mr. Bracey, a former student at the University of Toronto, had been vocal for his rights to be accomodated and not be discriminated because of his disability or his race before a university disciplinary tribunal. Mr. Bracey had raised health and safety concerns, which his advocates described as a "very serious respiratory disease, to the point that it constitutes a disability". A similar claim was raised by Mr. Bracey against his employer in the Scarborough General Hospital case before the Ontario Labour Relations Board. In both cases he alleges that he is allergic to certain chemicals, and requires accomodation. Little is known as to what attempts the University of Toronto made to accomodate Mr. Bracey's disability. However, what is known is that the University of Toronto has charged and convicted Mr. Bracey under its Code of Student Conduct. The University's position is that Mr. Bracey's "allegations of racism" constitutes "a course of vexatious conduct directed at one or more specific individuals based on the colour or ethnic origin of these individuals" contrary to the Code of Student Conduct, section B. 1(e).It was RESOLVED
THAT the President’s recommendation for the expulsion of a student, as outlined in the Secretary of the Governing Council’s memorandum of October 16, 2000, be approved.
In response to the disciplinary charges against Bracey for calling the University of Toronto racist several students leaders wrote:
On Wednesday July 15, 1998, at a hearing in the expulsion of case of Woodsworth College student Martin Bracey under the Code of Student Conduct, Hearing Officer Peter Wardle asked Investigator and Prosecuting Officer Ian Blue the following question:
"If I hear evidence and accept it would suggest that Mr. Bracey made comments... That the University of Toronto was racist, does that really go to the offence under the Code?"On behalf of the University of Toronto, the Prosecuting Officer answered:
"It is my respectful submission it does."
We the undersigned declare that in our opinion the University of Toronto is racist.
Chantal Sundaram
Oriel Varga
Vilko Zgobar, Law Student
Dan Goldstick, Professor, Department of Philospohy
Michael Johnston, Student, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Elan Ohayon, Graduate Student
Stephen Pender, President, Graduate Students Union
Terry Buckland, Executive Director, Arts and Science Students Union
Adrian Whiteman
Chris Ramsaroop, President, Students Administrative CouncilIn October 2000, the University of Toronto's Governing Council expelled Martin Bracey under provisions in the Student Code of Conduct.
In the case Hollis Joe v. University of Toronto (No. 1) (1995), 25 C.H.R.R. D/472. Dr. Joe, an African Canadian librarian at the University of Toronto alleged that he has been subjected to racism in hiring practices and a poisoned work environment at the University of Toronto. Dr. Joe's complaint also involved allegations of being targeted for reprisal actions in his capacity as Chief Steward for CUPE 1230 - where he has provided assistance to staffers experiencing discrimination and harassment. Dr. Joe has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the matter went before a Board of Inquiry.
In Dr. Shehla Burney v. University of Toronto Shehla Burney, a South Asian Canadian, had applied for a tenure track position at the Faculty of Education, she was rejected in favor of a white female who was hired for the position. According to Dr. Burney's complaint the tenure committee chaired by Dean Fullan and made up of four white professors chosed a white candidate without a doctorate rather than her. Dr. Burney filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission alleging that systemic racism in University's hiring practices was a factor that resulted in her not being hired in 1990. Dr. Burney presented statistical evidence to show that at the material time all 74 of the Faculty teaching staff were white The matter was referred to a Board of Inquiry by the Commission.
Subsequently, the University presented a settlement proposal to the Commission which it felt addressed the Commission's concerns and the Commission withdrew its support for Dr. Burney at the Board of Inquiry stating that it had settled the matter with the university to its satisfaction.
Dr. Burney was not satisfied and wanted an order from the vice-chair Paula Knopf ordering the Commission to pay her legal cost. Dr. Burney stated in her submissions to the Board of Inquiry "In this incredible unfair process, I have been totally margainalized, silenced and oppressed by the very institution whose mandate is to protect the individual's human rights... I have been wronged a second time, ironically enough, by the Human Rights Commission which has chosen to find an easy, cowardly, ineffectual, cheap way out that once again discriminates against the very it is supposed to serve."
Unfortunately, for Dr. Burney vice-chair Paula Knopf did not have the jurisdiction to order the Commission to pay her legal cost. However, in her ruling she stated that the Commission has the right to stop prosecuting a complaint without the complainant's consent.
Dr. Burney has since applied for the same teaching position and was not shortlisted in the 1995 competition.
In February 1998, Dr. Burney was shortlisted by the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning for an "English Position" and at the Candidate Seminars she presented "Towards an East/West Aesthetics: The World, the Text, and the English Classroom" which explored the notion of an East/West aesthetics which signifies a pedagogy wherein both the East and the West function as referents of "Our" culture, undercutting the prevalent hegemony of Eurocentric concepts of 'cultural literacy.
We are awaiting the results of that competititon.
In the case R v. Forbes and Caskenette. On April 24th, 1997, University of Toronto Police Constables Steve Forbes and Michael Caskentte arrested a Black student in the University of Toronto Libruary for trespassing. The student in question did not have his college identification - having lost it on campus the previous day.
The student was arrested, handcuffed and assaulted by these two University of Toronto employees. The student subsequently reported the matter to the Metropoitan Toronto Police, sought medical attention and laid charges against the two persons.
The University of Toronto has withdrawn the trespass charges against the Black student and the student has withdrawn the criminal charges against the two U of T employees and has launched a small claim action against the University of Toronto to recover his student fees.
The Small Claims matter has now been settled out of Court between the University and the student.
We will bring you up to date on the following cases - Racism at the Faculty of Medicine (the Fong case), Racism at Trinity College (the Farhan Memon case), the Alexander report (Racism at the Faculty of Law), the into the heart of Africa fiasco and other incidents which makes the University of Toronto a hostile, poisoned and unwelcomed environment for Blacks and other racial minorities.
April Burey a distinguished black lawyer, BA, LL.B, (Dalhousie); LL.M (Harvard) was employed as a sessional lecturer with the University of Toronto since 1991. She has applied for tenue in several competition since that time and was rejected in every competition. More recently, a position in race and gender studies was open and following a tenure stream search a white female was hired for the position. Ms. Burey was amongst three Black females who had applied for the position. According to the Faculty of law dean, Ronald Daniels, Ms. Burey was shortlisted for the position but was not hired because the successful candidatehad the vote of confidence for the cross appointment from the Dean of Law.
The Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, the Jamaican Canadian Association, the Arts and Science Students' Union and the African Canadian Legal Clinic amongst a host of individuals and groups have rallied around Ms. Burey's case.
Professor April Burey Receiving a Honourary Degree For her efforts to rasie awareness of systemic racism at U of T fFcaulty of Law from Chris Ramsaroop, President-elect Students Administrative CouncilThe Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto is notorious for excluding Blacks from its school. Since the inception of the Law faculty no more than 25 Black students have graduated from the school. In the 1996 Acedemic year there was no graduates from this law school. Furthermore, in the 1997-1998 first year class (of 2001) only one Black female was admitted to the school out of a class of 145 students.
At the October 09, 1997, meeting of the Academic Board of Governing Council at U of T, board member Selwyn Pieters called upon the president Robert Prichard to address systemic racism in University's hiring practices as it relates to Black and Chinese scholars.
Prichard refused to address the issue, instead stating that the allegations brought to the University's attention by Ms. Burey was unsubstantiated.
To make matters worst the Chair of the Board Boger Beck attempted to silence the member stating "I would caution you to be very careful about your allegations of racism in the hiring of faculty. I think some members are beginning to take offense that these are unsubstantiated allegations... Please proceed with caution."
The African Canadian community is calling upon the University of Toronto to strike a community advisory committee to advise the University on issues that affect African Canadian faculty, staff and students - including recruitment of students, hiring of faculty, curriculum issues and retention of African Canadain Students.
April Burey open letter to Dean Ron Daniels Re: Race and Gender position
What you can do to help
1.Please send letters of protest to:
The President of the University of Toronto, Rob Prichard
Please CC correspondence to: The University of Toronto Governing Council, c/o Mr. Louis R. Charpentier
Vice-President & Provost, U of T, Adel Sedra
Vice-Provost, Arts & Science, U of T, D. CookContactsPresident, Mr. Rob Prichard
rob.prichard@utoronto.ca
Simcoe Hall
27 King's College Circle
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1
Phone: (416) 978-2121
Fax: (416) 971-1360
The University of Toronto Governing Council
c/o Secretary of the Governing Council
l.charpentier@utoronto.ca
27 King's College Circle
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1
Phone: (416) 978-6783
Fax: (416) 978-3939For updates on these cases, or to assist with the fight against systemic racism at U of T, please send your name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone and fax number to:
Selwyn Pieters
obarri@oocities.com
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This page was updated on January 10, 2000.
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