Racist remarks, humiliations, harassment. Racialized firefighters from the Montreal Fire Department told the Duty their path strewn with pitfalls in the barracks of the City.
Yannick (fictitious first name) is angry.It has been more than ten years since he joined the ranks of the Montreal Fire Department (SIM) with difficulty, and since that day he has had to fight against the racist remarks of some of his colleagues. Like his colleagues still in service who confided in us, he requested anonymity for fear of repercussions on his career.
The black firefighter still fondly remembers his first day in the barracks: “A guy comes up and says to me: ‘A negro crisse!’ (Given the subject of the report, The duty chose to report the exact words used by the various speakers.)
The tone is set.
Yannick has to face the famous initiation reserved for recruits. “They ask me if I have any allergies. I said I didn’t eat pork because I was Muslim. I was told: “You are going to eat pork here, my tabarnak!” I didn’t eat with them for two or three weeks. Then I ate pork. I lowered myself, but it didn’t work, ”he laments.
But it was not until 2020 that the firefighter decided to file a complaint, following an incident that took place when he was working in another barracks. “I was in the kitchen, an officer had come to work in overtime. We were doing the dishes, and the big window overlooked a parking lot. A heavy rain begins to fall. A young black woman was running to her vehicle. He said, “Send, my nigger! Run, my nigger!” I look at him and ask him: “Is that said?” He looks at me and replies: “Yes, it is said.” I gave him another chance and he repeated the same thing. I told him that I didn’t care if he was an officer, that was the last time he would say that! I insulted him [à mon tour] “recalls Yannick.
Following this complaint, David Shelton, who then held the position of chief of operations at the SIM, wrote on his own initiative a severe report on the officer who had made these racist remarks. “I was suggesting a significant sanction, up to and including demotion. […] The gentleman was next to the trackeveryone knew it, everyone had been protecting it for years, ”says Mr. Shelton, who is himself Afro-descendant.
“The Deputy Director of the Montreal Fire Department [qui a consulté le rapport] said that what was taking up a lot of space in his head was that the firefighter had also said inappropriate things. But these remarks were provoked by the captain’s racist comments. He still decided to say “call it even”, which was a ridiculous message to send to the teams involved, the hierarchy and other racist people or people who have a tendency to openly discriminate. The SIM must discourage these people from expressing themselves freely,” he said.
In interview with The duty, the director of the SIM, Richard Liebmann, who took office in January 2021, claims not to have been aware of such an incident. “If something like that goes up in my ears, it is sure that one will act”, he says.
Following these events, Yannick changed barracks again. But in the summer of 2022, although he has finally found a place where he belongs, he finally breaks down, exhausted by years of repeated incidents. “One morning, I freaked out. My captain found me in the fetal position and I was crying. However, things were going very well there. But I had been going through this for years. I broke. I went on sick leave. »
Silenced complaints
David Shelton worked for the Montreal Fire Department for thirty years. The first Afro-descendant firefighter appointed chief of operations, he was also coordinator of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, which is responsible in particular for raising awareness among SIM employees on these issues.
Mr. Shelton retired last year, but continues his fight against racism in the firehouse at the national level through his involvement with the Alliance of Canadian Firefighters. “Racialized firefighters suffer in silence. It’s heavy, flat and unfair. It’s a product of our company, but we can’t just say that or put it on someone’s back,” says the man who also considers that the current complaints management system is deficient.
A complaint filed by a firefighter to his immediate superior will be processed through the hierarchy of the service, which has eight ranks, before being processed by the human resources department, said the retired firefighter. “The complaint mechanism is internal, when it should be independent. The culture and relationships between people internally discourage the progress of complaints. Almost every time the complaints are crushed. The system tends to want to resolve complaints informally, but this has no real consequences. »
“People filing complaints need to feel confident in the system. The Afro-descendant person filing the complaint has exhausted all his options. She’s making sure that the next fifteen years of her career will be shit because she’s going to have to ‘deal’ with being someone who made a complaint,” says Mr Shelton.
“If people don’t report problems, it’s very difficult to act on them,” said SIM director Richard Liebmann. “We have several entry points when there is a report. We have the policy of no wrong door : when someone knocks on the door from his barracks officer, to the heads of operations, from his HR department manager, everyone will channel the complaint to go to the right place and investigate. We have to ask questions and, if we have to impose sanctions, we will do it, ”he assures.
A change that is long in coming
Since his arrival at the SIM, Réginald (fictitious first name) has been trying to attract recruits from diverse backgrounds in the barracks. However, he sometimes wonders if he is not throwing them into the mouth of the wolf. “For years, I have had young people that I have recruited who experience it as I experienced it. »
“I was on a first responder call, for a young black man who got shot [dessus] sitting in his car at close range. He was dead. My lieutenant said to me, laughing: “Worse, Reginald, did you know him?” On returning to the barracks, I said that the joke did not pass. But when you put a racist colleague in his place, it bothers everyone, ”notes the firefighter, who has to deal with the grievances of his colleagues with their superiors when he condemns such remarks.
“Another time, I’m at the table, a guy is talking about[Occupation double] and launches: “In any case, it is the trans and the nigger who will be eliminated.” I said, “I’m sorry! ?” We continued to eat. Next time he was a captain [qui utilisait le mot en n] ! I said : “Come on, Cape, not you ! “But it was I who found myself being a brute,” laments Reginald.
Director Liebmann recognizes the importance of sanctions, but is above all about raising awareness. “If we only give sanctions, it can anchor people in their racist ideas,” he believes. “It’s an education, a change that will take time. […] This year, we are working with human resources and the Office of [la commissaire à] the fight against racism and systemic discrimination to make training capsules at all levels. We started with the management, we continue with the staff and the civil executives, and we go down to the firefighters in the barracks. »
Reginald, however, believes that the training on bullying given by the SIM is not effective. “It’s very difficult for a firefighter to receive, being told how he should behave, what he can’t say in the barracks, when, for him, it’s his living room. »
Focus on officers
The director of the SIM is launching a new development and training program for officers this year, “a program aimed at firefighters who want to become lieutenants and lieutenants who want to become captains”, specifies Mr. Liebmann. “We focus on equipping these officers so that they can be able to have difficult discussions around the barracks table and make everyone understand that these behaviors are not acceptable. »
This is what still motivates Yannick: “I want to become an officer. I’m going to make sure there’s no one in my barracks who’s going to mess with anybody. »
Reginald, for his part, firmly believes in this solution and goes even further by proposing an evaluation system. “In the process of hiring or being appointed as an officer, you have to be assessed on your level of knowledge of multiculturalism, sexual diversity, etc. If you don’t have this sensitive point in you, you won’t be able to pass it on to your team, ”he believes.
Richard Liebmann remains hopeful that his barracks will evolve, slowly but surely, over the years. “These behaviors have no place. And these people — if they don’t change their approach, it could lead to dismissal — they no longer have a place at the SIM or at the City of Montreal,” says the director.
Contacted a few days before the publication of this survey, Yannick informed us that over the past two weeks, racialized SIM firefighters have been reminded that they do not have the right to speak to journalists. “They are told that if they are contacted, to fire [le ou la journaliste] to their superior. We don’t try to find potential attackers, but we monitor potential victims. It’s ridiculous ! »