Ex-employee sues chair of refugee board amid allegations of race-based firing

BY COLIN PERKEL CP

TORONTO (CP) _ A former employee is suing the chairman of Canada's refugee board, claiming she was racially harassed by a supervisor and then fired when she formally complained about the ongoing mistreatment. The lawsuit against Jean-Guy Fleury and seven other current and former employees is the latest in a series of complaints of systemic racism and discrimination against the board, which deals with asylum seekers from around the world.

The suit, filed by former refugee protection officer Roxana Olivera in Ontario Superior Court, seeks $2.7 million in general, punitive and other damages.

"I want justice," Olivera said in an interview Thursday.

"I hope to clear my name, to regain my integrity."

In her claim, the Peruvian-born Olivera says her supervisor in Toronto, Jennifer Harnum, "publicly exhibited episodes of high-strung hostile, irrational, and at times racist outbursts and comments which went unchecked and unmitigated by her own superiors and supervisors and co-defendants."

None of the claims have been proven.

Attempts to reach Fleury, Harnum and other defendants Thursday were not successful.

A board spokeswoman in Ottawa said there would be no comment because it's a "private matter" that's before the courts.

At least five employees in the board's refugee protection division have previously filed formal complaints of racism and a "poisoned work environment" that have yet to be resolved.

They say they have been harassed, ghettoized in lower-level positions or denied permanent status.

"Racism and discrimination at the (board) has, and continues to be, a festering problem, unaddressed despite complaints from employees," Olivera's suit states.

On Wednesday, Senator Don Oliver, who is black, told a Senate committee hearing on human rights about virulent and systemic racism in the federal public service.

"I have been bombarded with these cases," Oliver said.

"A number of these human rights violations occur in our own public service."

Olivera's claim asserts that Harnum, who was promoted and now works in Ottawa, berated her in front of others and blamed those of Hispanic descent for missing files, including one she later found in her own office.

"The Latin American cleaning staff also use information from files to blackmail and/or sell information to others," the claim quotes Harnum as saying.

Despite repeated appeals to supervisors from Olivera and other employees to address the problem, nothing was done, the suit asserts.

In April, Olivera's lawyer wrote to Fleury and other board managers to complain.

Olivera, who earned glowing references during 11 years of full-time work with the board, was let go within days.

The Public Service Commission recently found she had been unfairly denied a job opportunity when a hiring panel ignored several supportive references in favour of a bad one from Harnum.

The Immigration and Refugee Board is Canada's largest quasi-judicial tribunal. In its refugee protection division, about 200 political appointees currently make decisions on more than 40,000 asylum applications each year.

Another 1,390 civil servants provide bureaucratic support.