The City of Montreal says its new procedures to handle complaints of racism and discrimination by employees are meant to restore faith among victims.
“People are going to know, from the beginning to the end, what has happened with their complaint,” explained Dominique Ollivier, executive committee president who’s responsible for human resources and the fight against racism and systemic discrimination.
She announced the changes Wednesday following recommendations by an external advisory committee.
The new process includes the centralization of all complaints and follow-ups, mandating the city’s Public Service Commission, a group independent of the city administration, to receive and investigate complaints.
“Periodically we’re going to (reveal) the number of complaints that we have received, what actions have been taken, and the number of sanctions, while respecting confidentiality,” she said.
The change comes after numerous reports by city workers, of racism, harassment — even bullying over the years, and Ollivier admits that the complaints process was cumbersome.
“It was very difficult for the people to understand, ‘where should I make my complaint, how should I go, who’s going to decide of it’s just or not’,” she pointed out.
Workers who have spoken out publicly have also said there was little or no follow-up or that they faced reprisals following complaints, and the city has also been blasted for not moving more quickly to fix problems.
Civil rights worker Fo Niemi, who runs the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations and has been helping racialized blue-collar workers who have complained about racism for years, applauds the city’s new complaints process.
He wonders though if the Public Service Commission of three members has the expertise to handle all the complaints.
“There’s no diversity among the commission members,” he said noting that the members are all white women. “That has to change in order to give a message of credibility and legitimacy.”
The opposition party is hopeful but wants more information.
“We do have questions concerning the resources that are going to be allocated to the commission,” said deputy leader Alba Zuniga Ramos.
The City hopes the new system is up and running in the coming months.
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