Markham employee on leave after using N-word in George Brown College guest lecture

A downtown Toronto college says it is investigating after a guest speaker used the N-word during a case study presentation on Wednesday.

George Brown College says it condemns the use of the racial slur in the strongest terms and called the incident “disturbing and troubling.”

The city of Markham, Ont., confirmed in a statement that the language was used by a member of its staff in a case study presentation on an arbitration decision presented to students.

City spokesman Bryan Frois says the staff member was placed on administrative leave and a third-party investigator has been brought in to review the situation and make recommendations.

George Brown president Gervan Fearon says the college also immediately launched a formal investigation.

Fearon says its Office of Anti-Racism, Equity and Human Rights is connecting with students from the class to provide supports and will take action to prevent the incident from happening in future.