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African
Canadian Legal Clinic | Abdulahi
Mahamad: The racial dimensions of this Somali born man who
has been targetted by Edmonton police are emerging |
More race stories
July 25, 2006
Dear Brothers, sisters and friends,
First of all, my family and I thank you
all for your continuing moral support in my struggle for dignity.
This is an update of what happened yesterday in the Courtroom
at the Federal Court of Canada.
Recap: As you know, a hearing regarding
an attempt by a Prothonotary (this person is not a Judge, I believe
an assistant to the Judge) at the Federal Court to prevent my
ordeal, as an African-Canadian, from being heard on its merit
by a Judge. As you all know, I experienced vicious, humiliating,
malicious and serious human rights violations including racial
harassment, systemic discrimination, stereotyping and racial
profiling; solicitation of corruption, extortion and solicitation
of narcotic substances and extortion by "IRB officials"
in the course of my employment with the Immigration and Refugee
Board (IRB).
The Immigration and Refugee Board, a
government agency, has done and still doing everything possible
to prevent that my concerns are investigated, addressed and dealt
with. The IRB has blocked every avenue that would lead to the
truth being known. Yesterday hearing was exactly about that.
They came to Court to ask the Judge that the Court NOT deal with
my grievances on their "MERIT".
I am informing you that THEY FAILED.
The Judge saw through and he did not buy it. The Judge DISMISSED
their arguments and ALLOWED that the matter should be heard on
its merit. Thus, my application with respect to abuse I endured
in the department of the IRB will now be heard by a Judge.
WHY THE IRB DOES NOT WANT MY CONCERNS
TO BE HEARD BY THE COURT?
During the hearing, it appears to me
that the Judge said something to this effect: if the Applicant
(Franois A. Moussa) has not abandoned this case so far, there
is probability that he will not abandon it. Yes, Mr. Justice...you
are absolutely right. I promised my children that I will not
abandon this matter that has injured my dignity unless they "bury"
me alive(referring to the IRB's confidential memo). I am not
prepared to give up!
The IRB has money and its "mighty
forces" of lawyers that the department of Justice has allocated
to them to cover-up the wrong. But I have the TRUTH. Sooner or
later, it will come out! At the Federal Court or elsewhere...
Quoting from "Injusticebusters.com",
William Blake [The Proverbs of Hell] wrote: "Truth can never
be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd". Further,
Sheila Steele [Editor of Injusticebusters.com] stated the following:
"Truth suppress'd, whether by courts or crooks, will find
an avenue to be told". Finally, a Somali proverb (borrowed
from Injusticebusters.com) says: "If you hold the mouth
of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage".
Again, we thank you for everything.
Francois and family.
16 February 2004
"NOTARIZED"
- REGISTERED MAIL.
- The Honourable Paul Martin
- Prime Minister of Canada
- Ottawa, Ontario
-
- Dear Mr. Martin,
Subject: Corruption and
systemic discrimination at the IRB
I am writing you in your capacity
as the Prime Minister of Canada. I am aware that this matter
does not fall strictly under your prime ministerial purview,
but given your role as the Head of the Canadian Government, I
felt that you would have both a special interest in and a particular
capacity to assist on this issue.
In your address of Thursday,
12th February 2004 at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, you
invited "anyone who knows anything that could help shed
light in this area or anywhere in the country should come forward".
I understand that my issue does not have the magnitude of the
present problem, but in all it does have a common ground with
corruption.
I am a Canadian citizen of
African descent working for the department of the Immigration
and Refugee Board (IRB) in Vancouver, British Columbia. The following
information illustrates my vulnerability in the Canadian society.
The subsequent information
has been provided to numerous authorities on several occasions
but no action has been taken. Time after time I have requested
authorities within the Public Service to investigate this matter,
but to no avail. At issue is the solicitation and receipt of
bribery to which three managers of the IRB have subjected me.
This was a condition to secure my employment with the Board.
These briberies were provided to them behind closed doors, and
I was asked to keep the dealings "confidential", otherwise
I will dig my "own grave". Moreover, I was stereotyped
and racially profiled by one of the managers who requested that
I supply her with narcotic substances.
I also informed the Immigration
and Refugee Board, in general terms, of other serious wrongdoing
in the regional office. This wrongdoing consisted of misappropriation
of the Board's fund.
Furthermore, I have been racially
harassed and systematically discriminated against on numerous
occasions as a result of my race and place of origin. The IRB
used my status (member of a visible minority group) as a scapegoat
to meet the qualification as a diversified organization. In due
course, I was even coached during an internal competitive process
for a position of Receptionist where I would be visible to the
general public, but at a lower level of the occupational group
in spite of my university education, abilities and qualifications.
The regional office of the Board used all sorts of subterfuges
to deny me any opportunity to further compete for positions higher
than the entry level.
When informed about this wrongdoing,
the Chairperson and the Headquarters of the IRB in Ottawa used
the defense mechanism of minimization, denial, delusion, repression,
suppression, bullying, misinformation and dissociation to deal
with my complaint internally. Furthermore, the Executive Office
of the Board in Ottawa uttered threats and intimidation
via letters - asking that I do not discuss any related solicitation
of bribery with anyone. Needless to mention, every possible
effort has been, and is being made, to cover up this issue.
More disturbing is the fact
that the IRB turned a blind eye and failed not only to investigate
this wrongdoing, but also to provide me with a workplace environment
that is free of harassment and discrimination.
Being inept to resolve this
matter in a more professional and unbiased manner, the IRB has
retaliated against me. The Immigration and Refugee Board has
elected the use of a subtle tactic that consists of constructively
dismissing me. In doing so, the IRB's objective is to avoid responding
to several allegations of wrongdoing I brought forward against
the Board. At the time of writing you this letter, the IRB -
without any foundation to justify its action refuses to
reinstate my employment despite my indeterminate status
with the Commission. Is this the end result to resolve the issue
of solicitation of bribery and systemic discrimination?
I am taking this opportunity
to inform your Honour that when the three individuals of the
regional managerial team were enjoying the solicited bribery,
my employment with the Board was assured. Moreover, I was even
promoted to an acting position at a higher level.
Through this situation, I can
only hope that you will understand the difficulty of being a
visible minority employee working for the Immigration and Refugee
Board.
This is a very serious matter.
I believe that the Canadian community needs to know how the officials
of the IRB have treated a Black employee who has simply complained
about the humiliating and dehumanizing solicitation of bribery,
harassment and racial discrimination. I am informing you that
denigrating and inaccurate reports that may be put forward would
simply have the objective to cover-up the wrongdoing, as this
has been the case time and again.
I look forward to hearing from
you.
Sincerely,
- François Alain Moussa
-
-
- c.c.: The Honourable Irwin
Cottler, Minister Responsible for the Human Rights
- The Honourable Judy Sgro,
Minister Responsible for the IRB
- The Honourable Jean Augustine,
Minister of State (Multiculturalism)
- Ms. Mary M. Gusella, Chief
Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission
- Mr. James Moore, Member of
Parliament.
-
-
- New racism claims against
Refugee Board
- Former employees
claim they were subject to abuse
COLIN PERKEL, CANADIAN PRESS,
Jun. 9, 2004
The federal agency that deals
with refugee claimants from around the world is facing fresh
allegations of racism from several current and former employees.
In human-rights complaints
and labour grievances, at least four black and other non-white
employees in the refugee protection division of the Immigration
and Refugee Board say they have been subject to harassment, ghettoized
in lower-level positions or denied permanent status.
In the latest complaint filed
recently with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, a 15-year
board employee said colleagues used racist terms such as "spook"
to refer to a fellow black employee.
Initial complaints to a supervisor
resulted only in a warning that he "be careful" because
he could be targeted with a counter-harassment complaint by the
co-workers, said Norm Murray, a black refugee protection officer
based in Toronto.
"Management at the IRB
. . . has created and supported a poisoned work environment,"
Murray said in his unproven complaint, a copy of which was obtained
by The Canadian Press.
In another case, a Hispanic
employee was issued a redundancy notice in April that was to
have taken effect in late May. However, she was told to leave
her Toronto office almost immediately.
"I find this procedure
irregular and strange," she wrote in a farewell e-mail to
colleagues.
"Perhaps, it is a coincidence
that these drastic measures have been taken within days of my
having filed a formal complaint decrying racism and harassment
in the workplace."
Raoul Boulakia of the Refugee
Lawyers Association said it's imperative the board deal openly
and honestly with the allegations, a position he said he made
clear to its chairman, Jean-Guy Fleury.
"Obviously you can't have
any racism in an institution that's dealing with people from
around the world," Boulakia said.
Several board employees, supervisors
and even one senior union official refused to discuss the allegations
publicly, saying managers had warned them against talking to
the media on the threat of discipline or dismissal.
Jeannette Meunier-McKay, president
of the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union, said while
discrimination and harassment complaints come from across the
public service, "it seems to be more predominant within
the IRB for some reason."
She refused to say how many
such grievances the union was dealing with.
Fleury and executive-director
Marilyn Stuart-Major refused to comment but a spokeswoman said
the board was "looking into the matter" and takes allegations
of racism seriously.
The board is already under
scrutiny for other reasons. Results of an external investigation
leaked last week found evidence of ``improper conduct" on
behalf of two politically appointed decision-makers who allegedly
didn't write rulings themselves.
Immigration Minister Judy Sgro,
who earlier this year announced changes to the way board members
are appointed, would not comment on the racism allegations.
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.
An extensive public-service
survey in 2002 found a slightly higher ratio of respondents at
the board believed they had been discriminated against. However,
in Toronto, 27 per cent said they had - a rate far higher than
the 17 per cent civil service average.
While most of the problems
appear to have been in Toronto, the board's only black employee
in Vancouver has also complained to the human rights commission
about what he called "corruption and systemic discrimination."
In a letter to Prime Minister
Paul Martin earlier this year, Francois Moussa said three managers
had asked him for bottles of liquor to secure a permanent job,
and one "racially profiled" him by asking him for narcotics.
When he complained, he was
given a job stamping thousands of envelopes.
Moussa, who has been on stress
leave, accused senior board members of a cover-up.
Toronto lawyer Pamela Bhardwaj,
who is familiar with the racism allegations, said she believes
there's a real problem.
"There may be a few bad
apples that you want to weed out but when management is attacking
the victims and promoting the bad apples, that is unacceptable,"
said Bhardwaj. "It's really disturbing."
Selwyn Pieters, a black lawyer
and refugee protection officer in Toronto, said he was harassed
after he complained.
An anonymous note at work warned
him his manager would give him a ``hard time because American
blacks are big time trouble-makers."
Pieters also has a human-rights
complaint alleging he was subjected "to adverse differential
treatment, individual, institutional/systemic, and cultural/ideological,
racism."
Don Oliver, a black senator
from Nova Scotia, said he didn't know whether the refugee board
was any worse than other federal agency.
But in a hard-hitting speech
recently, Oliver portrayed the entire civil service as rife with
racism and urged the government to appoint an anti-racism commissioner.
In an interview, Oliver said
his speech had prompted dozens of e-mails from civil servants
across the country saying they were "so happy that someone
finally has the courage to stand up and say it."
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
