Following a Global News story Wednesday about allegations of systemic discrimination at McGill University Health Centre, others have come forward describing incidents of name-calling, bullying — even physical assault.
One MUHC employee spoke to Global News on condition of anonymity about what she claims she faced at the institution.
“It’s the safety of my life,” she told Global News from her home. “It’s as simple as that.”
The employee, a patient attendant, said she is also afraid she’ll lose her job, but she still wanted to tell her story.
According to the employee, she’s been passed over for advancement many times, even though she earned a degree in recreational therapy in 2012, while working.
She claimed she’s applied for many positions but to no avail and wonders if it’s because she’s Black or that she speaks with an accent some may consider foreign.
“Since 2012 up to today, not even one interview?” she asked rhetorically. “I think I have applied to more than 50 (positions) just at the MUHC.”
She said that the same has happened to other racialized colleagues and that lack of promotion for racialized staff is not the only problem at the institution. She also claims a manager attacked her.
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“Instead of hitting me with the fist, she went and hit the wall,” she said.
The union representing the workers says it has heard stories of managers assaulting other employees, physically and verbally, often with no consequences for the manager.
“A Black worker received a head butt (from a manager) and we’re still fighting that,” said Jean-Pierre Dubois, CSN MUHC union advisor.
There are other stories of intimidation that have created an atmosphere of tension, according to employees interviewed by Global News.
The patient attendant who spoke to Global News recalled one incident in which she claimed a white manager chased a Black employee on the highway, the latter fleeing for his safety.
“That’s how bad it was,” she said. “Everybody on the unit was talking about it.”
Union officials say they aren’t surprised that there are accounts of discrimination in a report on the situation at the institution, expected to be released publicly in a week.
They point out that there’s a culture of intimidation where workers don’t feel safe making complaints and that the institution needs more accountability.
“No matter what they always take a position to defend their managers,” Dubois claimed. “No matter what. So that’s the other thing that has to change.”
The MUHC refuses to comment until the report is released.
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