Copyright The Ottawa Citizen)

The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Jul 26, 1994. pg. A.5

An RCMP officer with Prime Minister Jean Chretien's protection staff says he was denied promotion because he is black. His complaint, lodged with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, could become another high-profile testing ground for a sensitive area of discrimination law.

Const. Calvin Lawrence, a 16-year RCMP veteran, has never faced racial insults or harassment at work. But when he was denied promotion to corporal, he made what his lawyer calls an "adverse inference.

In Lawrence's view there is no logical explanation why he wasn't promoted, so he concluded the reason must be racism.

"What other explanation could there be? asks Peter Barnacle, Lawrence's lawyer.

In February, 1992 the RCMP upgraded his position to corporal. Lawrence, 45, was assured that rather than hiring a corporal to replace him, he himself would be allowed to compete for the newly reclassified job.

But the promotion never came.

The RCMP said in a prepared statement that it is "committed to providing a working environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity and where everyone has the right to work in a professional atmosphere which promotes equal opportunity and prohibits discriminatory practices.

Credit: CITIZEN