OTTAWA — A group of black federal public servants accuses the government of racism and threatens to back out of developing a mental health action plan for black workers.
The Federal Black Employee Caucus sent a letter to the Treasury Board’s director of human resources this month saying that workers support efforts to address racism in the public service, to be “continually confronted with its weight crushing”.
In a December 2021 mandate letter, the prime minister directed Treasury Board President Mona Fortier to create a mental health fund for black public servants. The government has earmarked $3.7 million over four years for the program.
This came about following a proposed class action lawsuit that was filed against the federal government in 2020.
Led by Nicholas Marcus Thompson, the $2.5 billion claim alleges that since the 1970s some 30,000 black public servants have lost opportunities and benefits because of their race.
The claim also includes 15,000 others who say they were never hired into the federal public service because of their race.
The class action lawsuit was not certified, and in October the federal government asked a Federal Court judge to dismiss the proposed lawsuit, arguing that it should instead be pursued in another jurisdiction as a labor grievance.
Thompson filed a motion in the lawsuit for the government to create a $100 million mental health fund for current and former black employees.
In their letter to Treasury Board, the black employee caucus said it took months to set up a task force, and they accused government officials of ‘blatant anti-black hatred’ in their language. and negotiate in bad faith. The group also accuses the employer of transmitting incorrect and outdated information.
“It was clear early on that there were reluctant actors representing the Crown at the table,” the letter reads.
The letter says the group will meet to decide whether to withdraw from the process, just six months after joining.
“The public service is playing games with the lives of black Canadians, and their mental health in particular,” Thompson said.
“The government acted in bad faith with us when they said they wanted to work on creating the mental health program.”
In a written statement, the Treasury Board said it remained committed to establishing the program and that Fortier had “met with Black employee networks to discuss and move these files forward.”
Thompson said black employees working on the case were disappointed and felt attacked, threatened, stressed and undervalued.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on December 14, 2022.
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