Edi Lecture: Deconstructing Systemic Racism in the Public Service

What are some of the current struggles faced by BIPOC civil servants? How can governments and public sector organizations identify, disrupt, and dismantle systemic racism to build capacity and achieve equitable representation?

Moderated by Dr. Margot Hurlbert, JSGS Professor, CRC, and EDI Committee Member, this EDI Discussion Series event features panelists:

Kerry-Ann Douglas-Powell (she/her), Manager of Organizational Transformation with the Government of Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate, has implemented several initiatives driving anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion in Ontario’s public sector.

Dr. Genevieve Fuji Johnson (she/her), Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, conducts research on the gender and racialized demographics of those in governance positions in Canadian universities.

Mohammed Hashim (he/him), Executive Director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, has worked as a labour organizer and human rights advocate for over a decade and has dedicated his career to supporting equity, inclusion, and community empowerment.

Neal Kewistep (he/him), Executive-in-Residence with the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School, has spent most of his career fostering relationships with government, community-based organizations, Indigenous organizations and educators. He currently co-faciliates governance and leadership workshops with First Nation communities throughout the province.

*Please note, due to technical difficulties, Kerry-Ann Douglas-Powell was unable to present, but was introduced as a presenter at the lecture.

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FYI:

I have emigrated from Canada a year ago to protect my health and life, but am concerned about the safety of my good friends who still live in Ontario/Canada because of the corrupt legal system and prevalent systemic discrimination there.

I migrated to Canada 15 years ago with a hope for better life as a skilled worker and obtained a professional license to practice in Ontario. I have many friends in Canada, and my clients appreciated my work. However, I found it very risky continuing to live in Ontario / Canada, and couldn’t continue doing any business where there is no fair legal protection and do not respect my basic human rights.

There are too many fraudulent organizations, individuals, legal professionals, and public servants with authority. People with fiduciary duty openly lie, abuse their authority, commonly downplay the significance of their criminal acts, and together try to maintain their status quo biases.

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Specific examples of what I have experienced:

[Employment/Criminal Case]
- Punished by the system for pointing out the risk of clients' data manipulation by the upper management of a company; legal proceedings were constantly interrupted by the Board; they have suppressed/buried the evidences that I have provided; they did not share all case files with me/the applicant but among all other parties until one minute before 5pm on the last day of the statute of limitation; the Vice Chair had interrupted the direct negotiation between the parties and closed the case by canceling the hearing; the Board’s lawyer told, 'sue the Ontario government if you have any issue';

[Civil Case]
- Ignored by the system when filed a complaint about the fraudulent practices (to LSO) and a fraudulent charge of over 10K without any itemized invoice (to the Superior Court of Justice) made by a contingency lawyer after failing to negotiate and abandoning the client(me); preferential treatment was given to the fraudulent lawyer without any reason at Court; the lawyer is apparently a son of board members / public servants of the province and the country;

[Residential Tenancy/Public Health Case]
- Punished by the system for requesting the property owner to eradicate health hazards (toxic mold, pests, and dusts) from my living space in a residential rental property; LTB proceedings was biased and unfair, interrupted multiple times when I spoke and suppressed the use of my evidences in the hearing (e.g., a letter from a medical doctor, warning the danger of continued exposure to toxic mold), downplayed the risks of exposure to asbestos/lead and the obvious contraventions of the laws [OHSA, RTA, and municipal Property Standards by-laws] by the property owner; LTB suggested the [former] Tenant to pay for the order reviews only to decline those reviews; LTB's selective omissions of evidences that are inconvenient to the other party/ the property owner; my basic human rights were clearly violated -- no response from LTB, Tribunals Ontario, nor Human Rights Tribunals; the property owner, municipal Property Standards office, and LTB have colluded, needlessly delayed the proceedings, and closed the case after 2.5 years without issuing any order against the property owner’s contraventions of the laws, while I had continued to suffer from the prolonged exposures to health hazards (I have paid the rent in full for over a decade without any delay, even during the Covid lockdown, out of my retirement savings [I was not eligible for the government financial support during the lockdown -- no income]). At least two of sixteen units in the building had their balconies literally falling apart; cracks, wall debris, and friable materials are common in/on the building; my neighbors were afraid of falling through the cracks from the balconies of the upper floors — you'd never hear about these things in news because they are all colluded and do not issue any official orders.

[Healthcare Issue]
- I left Canada before Nov. 30, 2021, as I had serious reactions to the first Covid vaccine-shot (my immune system was compromised) but my physician had refused to diagnose them then — there was no proof of the reactions to the first shot; later the physician had made lies and terminated the doctor-patient relationship; I was required to take the second-shot, or else… I have disposed / gave away of my belongings within two weeks and left the country to protect my health and life -- fled from Canada.

Reported to CBC, but they do not reply.
Posted Gogle Reviews, but they deleted them.