Exasperated by a recent racist event in a Montreal fire station, two black firefighters filed a complaint for systemic racism and discrimination with the Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights (CDPDJ) against the Montreal Fire Department (SIM ), the City of Montreal and the Montreal Firefighters Association (ADPM). They are demanding an investigation into the differential treatment to which firefighters from diverse backgrounds would be exposed, as well as a public apology from the SIM for what they experienced.
“The discrimination and racial harassment of a systemic nature that the victims have experienced since they took up their position at the SIM still continues,” we can read in the document filed by the group Coalition rouge, which campaigns against racial profiling.
Alberto Syllion and Jean-Alain Cameau, two firefighters of Haitian origin with 15 and 13 years of experience respectively, believe that to date they have not been able to find a fire station where they feel at home.
“I must come to the obvious that cultural change within the SIM can only be achieved through the intervention of an external entity such as the Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights in order to conduct a systemic investigation into the racism and discrimination that has existed for years within this organization,” testified Mr. Syllion.
In their respective testimonies sent in addition to their complaint, the two firefighters say they experienced and saw numerous racist and discriminatory events from their first day of work at the SIM. Jean-Alain Cameau was reportedly greeted by a firefighter who called out to him, “A nigger scream!” “. Alberto Syllion no longer counts the jokes about visible minorities heard from his beginnings, “You are a good black man because we can make jokes of a nigger in front of you without you getting angry,” we can read.
“The final straw” occurred in mid-October, according to the documents. The firefighter, who is considered an ambassador for SIM’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, learned that the word was used repeatedly in the presence of a young black firefighter by a fire lieutenant. barracks 71, in the borough of Saint-Laurent.
Mr. Syllion reports that the young firefighter had already contacted him a year and a half earlier, in May 2022, to inform him of the racist vocabulary used by his superior. The situation would then have been reported to the captain of the barracks, but the recruit would not have wanted to file a complaint. Then, on October 14, the situation allegedly got out of hand again. “The recruit contacts me this time in distress, and he tells me that his lieutenant has started using the racist term more frequently in recent weeks and is provoking him by making puns. He tells me this has been happening so often lately that another firefighter suggested he go talk to the lieutenant one-on-one again and ask him to stop. The cadet took the lieutenant aside and told him his way of thinking, emphasizing the racist, dehumanizing nature and lack of respect. The lieutenant repeated the n-word numerous times in front of him, saying that it was nothing serious since it is his way of expressing himself,” indicates Mr. Syllion in his testimony accompanying the complaint filed before the CDPDJ .
Alerted to the situation, the barracks captain allegedly asked the recruit, in front of his colleagues, if he was comfortable continuing the shift with the lieutenant or if he preferred that the latter go and perform replacements elsewhere. “On the phone, the cadet told me that the chief should not have transferred responsibility for making the decision to him and […] that the lieutenant had no immediate consequences since he was working overtime the next day,” mentions Mr. Syllion in his testimony.
Noting that the Zero Tolerance policy had not been respected, Mr. Syllion decided to report to the barracks the next day.
Faced with his words, the lieutenant does not deny having uttered the n-word and admits to having first invoked his right to freedom of expression, we can hear in an audio recording of their conversation that The duty was able to listen.
“I thought that the chief was going to crack down and respect the zero tolerance policy that the service and the City in general like to brandish so much… Disappointed and humiliated, I left the barracks,” specifies Alberto Syllion in his testimony, disappointed that the chief only suspended the lieutenant two days after the incident was reported to him.
The City of Montreal believes that “actions were quickly taken”. “On Monday, October 16, 2023, it was decided to temporarily relieve the employee targeted by the allegations for investigation purposes. The investigation has been completed, and the employee who made the alleged remarks has been sanctioned,” said media relations manager Gonzalo Nuñez, who specifies that the leaders met with barracks staff “to reiterate that any form of racism and discrimination is unacceptable and [que] It’s zero tolerance.”
An investigation requested
According to the two firefighters, the inaction of the SIM, the City of Montreal and the ADPM further deprives employees of diversity of their right to dignity, honor and reputation guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and freedoms.
In addition to a public apology, the plaintiffs ask the CDPDJ to order an investigation into intentional and systemic discrimination as well as the differential treatment to which firefighters from diverse backgrounds would be exposed. They also hope for a review of policies and practices that would eliminate and prevent discrimination based, among other things, on race.
The two men are each claiming $40,000 for professional injuries suffered since their entry into the ranks of the SIM.
The plaintiffs also believe that the firefighters’ union “has contravened and continues to contravene section 17 of the Charter by discriminating against the victims and other black and racialized employees of the SIM, by not defending them against racism and systemic discrimination.”
The ADPM informed the Duty that he “deplores this type of incident invoked by the complainants; any reference to remarks of a racist or discriminatory nature which are not part of the values of the Association, as much as those of its president,” indicated in writing the president, Chris Ross, who intends to collaborate in the investigation.
Last March, The duty reported testimonies from SIM firefighters denouncing the racist remarks, humiliation and harassment they experienced at their station as well as the complaints system, which they said was failing. A few months later, the City of Montreal announced the establishment of a one-stop shop to receive complaints from its employees regarding racism and discrimination. The newly created Staff Complaints Support Center will be operational from December 4. The investigations will be carried out by the Montreal Public Service Commission (CFPM), and no longer by the human resources division.
The Red Coalition, for its part, denounces the lack of independence of the CFPM and the fact that it only has the power of recommendation to the City in these matters.