The City of Montreal promises to set up a one-stop shop by the summer to allow employees who are victims of racism and discrimination to file a complaint and be taken care of so as to avoid undue delays and try to restore a climate of confidence.
At the end of a rendering of accounts made Tuesday by the commissioner for the fight against racism and systemic discrimination, Bochra Manaï, and by the managers of the various departments of the City, the president of the executive committee, Dominique Ollivier, indicated that the one-stop complaints counter would be operational in the coming months.
“The work is very advanced. What we want to do, before deploying this one-stop shop, is to make sure that it really respects best practices,” said Ms.me Oliver at a press conference.
An external committee will accompany the City to ensure that this new window offers victims real protection of their rights and effective resolution of situations that led to complaints.
The City also intends to review the disciplinary measures related to racist and discriminatory behavior so as to harmonize them across City departments and the 19 boroughs. “The sanctions that currently exist are provided for either in collective agreements or in the Act respecting labor standards. However, they are applied in different ways in the various boroughs, almost on a case-by-case basis. We really want to do some work to ensure that the penalties are harmonized and are also commensurate with the problems that we will see. The idea is really to discourage undesirable and unacceptable behavior. »
Montreal is therefore stepping on the accelerator in the wake of an investigation published last week in The duty which recounted the testimonies of some thirty employees who were victims of racism and discrimination in the workplace.
Dominique Ollivier ensures that she takes full measure of the distress and frustration of the employees who have denounced discriminatory behavior, but who come up against the complexity of the complaints system and the absence of disciplinary measures against abusers and stalkers.
“We hear the cry from the heart of people who are victims, who say that the delays are too long, and that they see no resolution,” she said. “This work of recognition, justice and, if necessary, reparation, we must do it and we are doing it. And we have to speed it up and harmonize it. »
The city’s director general, Serge Lamontagne, denied having launched an “internal investigation” into cases of racism by sending an email to all city units on March 20 to have, in a within 24 hours, data on cases of racism recorded in 2022. “This is not a survey. Usually, I receive the accountability report at the end of the year. My objective was to ask if there was a lack of follow-up with these racialized people. It allowed me to see that disciplinary measures were applied in all units, but we have to go further. »
Further details will follow.