Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner

By Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press on November 12, 2024.

A government-funded report says Black executives within the public service are subject to harassment and intimidation, career stagnation, unjust workloads and, as one executive wrote, a "cesspool of racism." The Confederation Building reflects off the windows of a building in downtown Ottawa on Wednesday, April 7, 2020.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA – A government-funded report says Black executives within the public service are subject to harassment and intimidation, career stagnation, unjust workloads and, as one executive wrote, a “cesspool of racism.”

Rachel Zellars, a lawyer who authored the report for the Black Executives Network, wrote that the interviews she conducted with 73 participants were the “most distressing” she witnessed and recorded.

The report says executives were threatened physically, were subject to racist slurs and were harassed and intimidated, with Black women bearing the brunt of the abuse.

That resulted in workplace conflicts “so severe that they led to chronic depression, the use of antidepressant medications and suicide attempts,” she wrote.

Zellars recommends the public service ensure accountability for prevention of anti-Black workplace harassment and violence, appoint a Black equity commissioner and mandate cultural competency training.

Gerard Etienne, a former executive in the public service, says a commissioner would be a step toward fixing an endemic problem and their work would be more effective than having people rely on the Human Rights Commission, which doesn’t have a singular focus on anti-Black racism.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.