A Federal Court docket choose on Monday dismissed a movement to certify a proposed class-action lawsuit launched by Black public servants in 2020 who alleged there was systemic racism inside the public service.
In an “order and causes” doc, Justice Jocelyne Gagné mentioned the case didn’t sufficiently meet the class-action requirement that the claims elevate frequent points.
Gagné additionally mentioned the scope of the plaintiffs’ declare “merely makes it unfit for a category process.”
Filed in 2020, the category motion sought $2.5 billion in damages due to misplaced salaries and promotion.
The Black Class Motion Secretariat, a gaggle created because of the lawsuit, is in search of long-term options to handle systemic racism and discrimination within the public service, together with compensation and the appointment of a Black fairness fee.
Gagné mentioned the courtroom acknowledges the “profoundly unhappy ongoing historical past of discrimination suffered by Black Canadians” and that plaintiffs have confronted challenges within the public service.
Nevertheless, she mentioned the plaintiffs did not current an satisfactory litigation plan and that they didn’t current grounds for the courtroom to say jurisdiction over the case.
The doc additionally mentioned there are a number of class actions in opposition to particular person federal departments and companies alleging racial discrimination, which “overlap considerably with the current motion.”
Proposed class members, the choose mentioned, “would subsequently be included within the class definition of those different class proceedings.”
Plaintiffs name choice ‘main disappointment’
The Black Class Motion Secretariat mentioned in a information launch Monday that the ruling was a “main disappointment, however it’s not the top of our struggle for justice.”
It mentioned “this has been a David vs. Goliath battle, and whereas at present’s consequence is irritating, it solely strengthens our resolve.”
The information launch mentioned systemic anti-Black racism has lengthy been acknowledged by the federal authorities and that the plaintiffs will meet with their authorized group to “discover subsequent steps.”
In 2023, a grievance ruling by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat discovered that the Canadian Human Rights Fee discriminated in opposition to its Black and racialized workers. In 2024, an inside report discovered that public servants working on the Privy Council Workplace have been topic to racial stereotyping, microaggressions and verbal violence.
“For many years, Black public service employees have confronted systemic discrimination, and at present’s choice does nothing to vary that actuality,” mentioned Nicholas Marcus Thompson, head of the Black Class Motion Secretariat.
A Federal Court docket listening to occurred final fall to assist decide whether or not the lawsuit might proceed.
On the time, the federal authorities filed a movement to strike, asking the choose to dismiss the case. The federal government argued that Black public servants might file grievances or human rights complaints.
The federal government additionally known as to take away Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP members, in addition to Division of Nationwide Defence and Correctional Service Canada workers as class members due to ongoing comparable class actions.
Thompson says the federal government used procedural obstacles to “keep away from addressing the deserves of this case, relatively than standing on the aspect of equity and accountability.”
The federal government has spent round $10 million preventing the category motion.
“Black employees deserve greater than recognition of previous harms — they deserve actual change,” he mentioned.
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