Global Affairs Canada has promoted one of its executives with documented problematic behavior, which included making concentration camp jokes at a Jewish employee and calling another employee a “terrorist,” a report blames.
Canada’s international relations department “committed a serious case of mismanagement by failing to adequately address the inappropriate behavior” of public affairs director Latifa Belmahdi, writes Canada’s Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, Joe Friday, in an investigative report released this week.
Despite a damning first report of her behavior in 2017, this executive continued to bully her co-workers, and was even promoted within the government. This left employees “with the impression that AMC [Affaires mondiales Canada] endorsed his behavior,” wrote the commissioner after interviewing 24 people for his investigation.
Among the actions for which she is accused, the director allegedly shouted, threw objects, made fun of the work of the employees, and regularly said that she did not like her job and was going to commit suicide. She also allegedly slapped an employee, and presented a member of her team as “their terrorist colleague”, the report records.
She also called a Jewish employee a “concentration camp” training session, and made jokes about another employee’s weight by saying that she “must have eaten too many cupcakes again.” »
For all of these reasons, Commissioner Friday came to the conclusion that Ms. Belmahdi’s management style “did not align with key leadership competencies expected of leaders in the public service. He recommends imposing disciplinary sanctions on him.
The report particularly irritates Global Affairs Canada, which has been aware of this problematic behavior for many years. The department “neither ensured that an action plan was put in place nor followed up with Ms. Belmahdi’s employees to see if the inappropriate behavior had improved. »
This constitutes a breach of the federal government’s obligation to ensure a healthy work environment.
Latifa Belmahdi received questions from To have to, but did not respond. In a statement, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Anabel Lindblad said the department “takes very seriously all matters relating to the health and well-being of its employees, both in Canada and abroad. »
The organization also says it works to “avoid any hateful or anti-Semitic comments at all times”. AMC does not specify whether any sanctions have been taken against the executive under investigation.
The duty revealed last year that the executive promotion mechanism at Global Affairs Canada seemed to favor applicants from the Anglophone majority.