Carol Sip spent three decades working in the Canadian Federal Revenue Agency, but her retirement plaque is the last thing she wants to see on her wall.
Instead, it sits stored away in the original packaging.
“Why would I hang it up? It will only bring back awful memories,” Ms Sip (pictured) said.
“It should be something that you should be proud of, but I’m not proud of it because I know what I went through,” she said.
Ms Sip is one of a group Black Federal employees involved in a proposed class-action lawsuit launched last December against the Federal Government alleging years of discrimination and seeking some $C2.5 billion (about the same in Australian dollars) in damages.
Earlier this year Federal employee, Monica Agard broke her silence about being Black in the Public Service after a senior colleague at the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Toronto office allegedly praised “the good old days when we had slaves”.
Since then, the proposed class-action lawsuit has come another step closer to reality after a motion was filed for it to be certified.
It will fall to the re-elected Liberal Government to decide whether to challenge that.
However, in the run-up to the recent election, the Liberals issued a policy plank promising support for Black workers.
In the past Government maintained that its workers could find help through employee assistance and health-care programs which the plaintiffs have long said fail to address the specific trauma of anti-Black racism.
Now its election platform states it will “establish a mental health fund for Black Public Servants, and support career advancement, training, sponsorship, and educational opportunities for Black workers”.
Liberals’ spokesperson, Alex Wellstead would not explicitly say the Government would support certifying the class action to go forward but acknowledged “black Canadians face unique challenges when it comes to mental health in the workplace”.
Ottawa, 23 September 2021
