Together Montreal again demanded, on Monday, the holding of an independent investigation into racism and discrimination at the City of Montreal. But the Plante administration swept aside his request by rejecting his emergency motion filed with the city council.
“I’m amazed that the administration won’t let us talk about this issue. There are people who have been attacked,” lamented the leader of the opposition, Aref Salem, a few minutes after the rejection of his party’s motion.
In the emergency motion, Ensemble Montréal requested that the City, in collaboration with the unions, appoint a grievance arbitrator, a retired judge or an external investigator to conduct an independent investigation.
This motion echoed the investigation conducted by The duty and published last week. It reported the testimonies of about thirty City employees, from nine boroughs of the metropolis, who claimed to have suffered racism and discrimination. Employees have complained to their employer without having obtained justice.
As the opposition motion was not tabled in time, it needed the unanimous consent of city council to be added to the agenda. However, an elected member of Projet Montréal, the mayor of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, François Limoges, immediately expressed his opposition to the tabling of the motion. After lengthy discussions, this motion was rejected.
“The City will continue to investigate the City. HR will continue to investigate HR,” Salem said. “You can’t make a different soup with the same ingredients. These ingredients need to be changed. »
Questioned on this subject earlier during the meeting, Mayor Valérie Plante reiterated that she considered “unacceptable” the treatment suffered by certain employees cited in the investigation of the Duty. She said the city has reviewed its hiring and complaints processes. According to her, an independent investigation is not appropriate in the circumstances. “For me, the time is no longer for documentation, but for action. This is what we are working to do, ”she said.
Last Wednesday, the mayor had rejected the first request for an investigation made by the opposition.