At this hour, fire chief Bill Mosher is speaking with the Halifax Regional Council in a closed-door secret meeting. Mosher was summoned to council after councillor Sue Uteck learned that a human rights complaint has been filed against the Halifax department of Fire and Emergency Services.
I’ve been working on this story exclusively for a week, and my questions to various councillors, city staff, firefighters, former firefighters and human rights investigators has no doubt prompted discussion of the issue, leading to Uteck’s interest.
My full account of the complaint and the history of racism in the fire department, running 3,500 words, will run in Thursday’s paper (and likely in this space tomorrow).
In the meanwhile, a short teaser:
Human Rights Complaint rocks Halifax Fire Department
by Tim Bousquet, news editor, The Coast
Disappointed with the results of an HRM-sponsored investigation into alleged racist activity within the Halifax fire department, a group of black firefighters is pressing forward with a complaint to the provincial Human Rights Commission.
The allegations, which are set forth in a series of documents provided to The Coast, include:
Of even greater concern than those specific incidents, say black firefighters interviewed for this article, is a tepid and inconsequential response to the incidents on the part of fire department management.
Fire department management did investigate several of the allegations, but these investigations have gone nowhere, reads the preamble to The Struggle for Acceptance: The Black Experience in Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency, a 15-page document with supporting evidence that was presented to the Human Rights Commission by the Halifax Association of Black Fire Fighters.
The results [of the investigations] have not been published, there has not been any follow up and this leaves us with no closure, continues The Struggle. As a result, we are left to question both the integrity and sincerity of these or any future investigations.
[Clip]
Check back Wednesday for more information, and the full, exclusive report.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
What,s new, Go to robynatwell.com for more of HRM racism. The only changes is the way they practice racism. They think they can bye you off. Iam glad to see they cant do it with the firefighters as they have done with so many others.Just to let you know the human rights has a tribunal on April 27/09 with a HRM employee.
Of course it’s about buying them off, sunny. That’s exactly what it’s always about. Whether it be by paying compensation, retroactive promotion through several pay grades, or assignment to higher level positions that they were “denied”, such Human Rights Complaints always end up being about money. And complaints to the Commission almost always end up finding fault, because they see racism everywhere. The HRC is like the affirmative action program for justice among minorities — they cannot lose.
I had a previuos employee write some stupid stuff about me on Facebook> Its not “always” about money> We need to send a message to people to not do this kind of stuff on the internet. I went to see a lawyer about what happened to me, I was not interested in making “money” i just wanted the louse to stop doing what they were doing. What other recourse do people have when they are being trashed on the internet, are you suppose to stoop to thier level and fight back with words?!? The pen is mightier than the sword, you can write anything you want on th net it has to stop or make people aware of the consequences period!!!