Some Black employees of the Canadian federal government, including me, refer to our workplaces as “the plantation”. We don’t do this because we’re in chains, being underpaid and over-whipped. We do this because the treatment that many of us face is based on systemic anti-Black racism just like slavery was in Canada. Here is my story.
I am an African-Canadian man who has worked for the federal government for over 20 years, the last 11 with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Communications. I have also lived with depression for most of my adult life and for all 11 years that I have worked with ECCC. During those 11 years I got used to seeing my white colleagues, sometimes junior ones, being given privileges that I was denied. I didn’t question it because, like most depressed people, I didn’t think very much of myself, or my work, so I thought it was because my work wasn’t good enough. This is despite the fact that I had consistently good performance reviews.
However, about three years ago, I learned to manage my depression in a way that allowed me to start doing things I had never done before, including questioning my treatment at work.
In early 2018, I questioned one of my managers on her decision to give an acting position to one of my white, junior colleagues, who had been with us for three months, without even offering it to me who was the senior team member. Her response was to suddenly say that my work wasn’t meeting expectations, despite my consistently good performance reviews, and to immediately impose a formal work action plan on me. Action plans are normally the last resort after many efforts to help employees deal with performance issues. Action plans are also required before firing someone.
In response to my manager imposing the action plan, I filed a union grievance against her citing anti-Black racism and the impact of her actions on my depression, the symptoms of which had begun to return.
The day after filing my grievance, my manager accused me of “several aggressive incidents in the last two weeks”, a completely unfounded claim, and said they were “concerned for my health and safety and the health and safety of my colleagues”. She then ordered me to have a medical exam to prove I was fit for work, despite the fact that I had returned to work 10 days earlier, cleared by my doctor, from stress leave I had taken due to the treatment I was experiencing.
My union representative, who was at the meeting, told me that I had no choice but to do another medical exam, and leave immediately, or my bosses would have me escorted out by security. I left immediately and was off work for about a month. During that time, my manager, without informing me, and with the support of the director general, had me officially banned from all ECCC buildings and circulated the poster below to all ECCC security guards.
It says, “Access revoked by order of XXX. As of today, March 16, 2018, Robin no longer has access to any Environment and Climate Change Canada buildings. If Robin Browne presents himself at reception of [any ECCC building], ask him professionally for his access card and to leave the building. If Mr. Browne refuses to cooperate, please contact a security officer immediately at 819-918-8903. Don’t hesitate to call 911 if ever Robin shows signs of violence.”
I got what I now call my “mugshot”, through Access to Information. I also contacted my Member of Parliament and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna’s office and told them everything that had happened. I told them that since Prime Minister Trudeau had recently become the first Prime Minister to acknowledge systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism exist in Canada, including citing the lack of support for Black people with mental health issues, banning Black guys with depression from ECCC buildings, on false pretenses, was pretty bad optics.
A few weeks later my formal work action plan, and the manager who had imposed it, were gone and I was back working in the buildings from which I had been banned, as if nothing had happened.
There is more to tell, but that will come in later posts. Let me end this one by saying that I have continued to question discriminatory treatment of myself and my colleagues and the response like I describe above has continued non-stop. Let me also say that I am co-founder of the Federal Black Employee Caucus (FBEC) currently organizing to help the government fulfill the Prime Minister’s commitments and the attendance, and stories shared, at our meetings clearly show my story is disturbingly common in the federal public service. I co-founded FBEC in December 2017, just months before the non-stop harassment began.
But maybe it’s just a coincidence…
Note: The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Black Employee Caucus. To contact an FBEC spokesperson use the Contact Us page on FBEC’s website.