A former City of Vancouver firefighter says he was forced to quit his job after enduring a year of racist harassment.
Luis Gonzalez has filed a human rights complaint alleging his colleagues at the fire department continually discriminated him based on his skin colour while training in Vancouver in 2014.
“In my first week, we had just finished doing a training exercise outdoors and we came back into the classroom. We had to change out of our gear into some dry stuff and as I was taking off my shirt I was all sweaty and one of the training officers said ‘A real wet-back, eh? And that’s kind of how it began,'” Gonzalez told Global News.
He adds the harassment progressed throughout his time training as a firefighter and he was singled out for being Latino. Some of the discrimination Gonzales faced included allegedly being asked if he was part of the violent gang MS-13, and being nicknamed ‘poco lento’, Spanish for ‘a bit slow’, and ‘Slowpoke Rodriguez’.
In September 2014, Gonzalez filed a complaint with the City of Vancouver human resources department against Fire & Rescue employees Dave Lyons, Jeff Snider, Jim Kasper, Mark Wincup, and Lorne Kuva.
A report from the City dated October 2014 concluded that “the majority of the complainant’s allegations were not confirmed by the respondents or witnesses,” aside from confirmation that cartoon posters titled ‘Slowpoke Rodriguez’ were displayed in the workplace and a senior firefighter raised his voice to Gonzalez in front of his colleagues.
The two confirmed complaints were in violation of the City’s Respectful Workplace Policy and the Human Rights and Harassment Policy, leading the City to confirm that “disrespectful, harassing conduct did occur towards the complainant during the time he was on staff with VF&RS.”
Regardless, no disciplinary actions against any of the Vancouver Fire employees named in Gonzalez’s complaint were mandated.
“The matter was taken very seriously and a comprehensive investigation was conducted in accordance with City policies. The investigation did not substantiate grounds for disciplinary sanctions against any individual or employees of VFRS,” said a statement from the City of Vancouver.
To that, Gonzalez says he would take a polygraph test to prove his allegations are true.
“I know these guys are going to say none of this stuff ever happened … but a couple people have verified what has gone on in the past, and I know it’s still going on.”
“A lot of these guys, I know for a fact that when the city was doing their investigation, they were taking it as a joke.”
Gonzalez said the culture of the Vancouver Fire Department made him too frightened to bring these allegations to light while still with the department.
“I know that things would have been very difficult for me if I would have came out with something like this during my time there,” he added.
According to the 2014 report, the City recommended further training within the department on harassment prevention and respectful workplaces.
-With files from Catherine Urquhart
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