Transport Canada yesterday said it is reviewing “impairment policies” including random workplace drug testing. The review follows the repeal of a 95-year ban on recreational marijuana last October 17: ‘It will consider the prevalence and risk of impairment from drugs including cannabis.’
A federal panel cautions gender-neutral language may provoke “complaints, jokes or refusals” in government polling. Agencies are struggling with terminology for Canadians who identify as neither male nor female: “For example, individuals who are non-binary, a-gender or two-spirited.”
Quota-protected farmers should brace for an urban backlash over costs of federal aid, members of the Senate agriculture committee said yesterday. Cabinet has promised $4.3 billion in compensation to egg, poultry and dairy producers affected by trade pacts: “We’ve given them some ammunition.”
A labour board has upheld the firing of a federal employee accused of secretly recording a supervisors’ meeting. The case unraveled when a manager spotted a tape recorder atop a six-foot filing cabinet: “It is not government policy to record employees.”
Labour Minister Patricia Hajdu in a confidential 2018 order waived penalties against major corporations that illegally hired migrant workers, according to Access To Information records. Staff urged Hajdu to keep it “low profile”.
The chair of the Senate human rights committee says she has encountered anti-Black bigotry on Parliament Hill, aboard commercial airline flights and in “countless” other circumstances. “I am feeling emotional just telling you this,” said Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard (Independent-N.S.).
“I don’t wear a sign that says I’m a Senator, so when I am in public spaces and people don’t recognize me, I am treated with the same kind of discrimination that faces other people of African descent in this country,” said Bernard: “It’s like a thousand little cuts.”
Bernard in a Senate webcast marking African History Month with O’Neal Ishimwe, a Senate page, said: “As a person whose family has been here since the 1700s, a person of African descent, as a Black person growing up in Canada, you were made to feel every single day that you don’t really belong.”
In a subsequent interview, Bernard cited specific instances of “racist micro-aggression” she has encountered as a legislator. “Racism is actually a form of violence,” said Bernard. “Every time you experience that, it’s a micro-violent act.”
Bernard said in 2018 she attempted to board a Parliament Hill bus to attend Senate business. “It was a very cold, blustery day and I was bundled up,” she said. “I was taking a shuttle bus to Parliament’s Centre Block. As people ahead of me got on the bus, I stepped on and was immediately asked for ID. I was the only person of African descent on the bus, and the only one who was asked for ID. I had to unbutton my coat to find my Senate pin. Nobody else who got on that bus was asked for ID.”
“Bystanders didn’t say anything,” said Bernard. “I had other passengers address me: ‘Excuse me, Senator’, ‘Are you going to sit down, Senator?’ The driver knew.”
“We need to ensure all staff who work on Parliament Hill are respectful of all people,” said Bernard. “It’s important. This is significant. We are all Canadians.”
“Now I prefer to walk,” said Bernard. “I try to avoid encounters that may be uncomfortable.”
“Vile” Incident
Bernard said she filed a formal complaint with an unidentified carrier – “I don’t want to name the airline,” she said – following a separate incident last December on a flight from Ottawa to Halifax.
“I was in an aisle seat and after all passengers had boarded, I saw that nobody was sitting in the window seat. So I moved. The flight attendant spotted this and in a very vile, accusatory tone said: ‘Why did you move? Who gave you permission to move?’ Her tone was so vile, a passenger in the next row had a shocked look on her face. The flight attendant noticed this, and proceeded to explain to the other woman, not to me, that ‘I have to check because people pay extra money for these seats, and we can’t just have anybody sitting there.’”
“I sat quietly for the rest of the flight,” said Bernard. “This was racist micro-aggression, absolutely. Later I asked the other passenger, this was a white woman, if she would act as a witness for my formal complaint, and she agreed. I filed my complaint December 19. I haven’t had a response yet. That flight attendant did not even apologize.”
“These are two examples that stand out, but of course there are other incidents,” said Bernard. “If I as a Senator have to deal with this, where are we? And what hope is there for the critical mass of people of African descent in this country?”
Bernard described the bus incident as the “last straw” that prompted her March 1 to introduce a Notice Of Inquiry to “call the attention of the Senate to anti-Black racism”. The matter is pending.
Bernard also sponsored Bill S-255 An Act Proclaiming Emancipation Day to observe each August 1st the anniversary of the passage of an 1834 U.K. Act For The Abolition Of Slavery Throughout The British Colonies. The bill is awaiting a vote on Second Reading.
“It is largely an educational tool,” said Bernard. “We need to understand the institutional harm of slavery that occurred in our country. I don’t want this just to be about individual cases of discrimination. We have not seen systemic change. We’re not seeing the progress for people of African descent that we should be seeing.”
“We used to talk about the glass ceiling for women,” said Bernard. “But for African-Canadians, there is a concrete ceiling. It is nearly impossible to break through that.”
Bernard, a former professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Social Work, was appointed to the Senate in 2016.
By Staff 
A locomotive engineer fired by Canadian Pacific for drinking rye on duty has been ordered reinstated by a labour board. An arbitrator ruled alcoholism is a disability under the Canadian Human Rights Act: “The duty to accommodate does not excuse the conduct.”
A charity cited for poor bookkeeping and unexplained consulting fees to a director has lost a bid to keep its license. The Federal Court of Appeal noted the same man was involved with the Humane Society of Canada Foundation that was also stripped of its charitable status: “It is difficult for a charity to reverse a decision of the Canada Revenue Agency.”
A Tax Court judge has delved into the inner workings of casinos where staff pocket lucrative tips worth as much as $1,000 a week. Details came in the case of a minimum-wage slot attendant with a Master’s degree who failed to pay tax on tips worth 112 percent of his income: “So, are these amounts taxable or not?”
The Department of Public Works has delayed introduction of a new policy on blacklisting federal contractors implicated in wrongdoing. Staff yesterday would not say why the deadline was skipped, or whether delays were due to an ongoing corruption probe of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.: “The government is committed to taking action against improper and unethical business practices.”
Newly-hired federal managers complain they are overworked and literally underpaid. Nearly two-thirds of executives surveyed, 61 percent, say they have not received cheques they’re owed due to ongoing foul-ups in a payroll system that has cost taxpayers $1.2 billion to date: ‘There is missing and incorrect pay.’
Electing more women politicians is good for the nation’s health, says a University of Waterloo study. Researchers suggested women in office, regardless of political party, are more likely to spend on programs that lower mortality rates: “Yes, women in government do in fact advance population health.”
Labour organizers yesterday protested the dismissal of criminal charges against a concrete company accused of negligence in a truck driver’s death. Cabinet two years ago promised to step up enforcement of a law that made employers criminally liable for needless industrial accidents: ‘Consequences must be more than a cost of doing business.’
The Commons justice committee yesterday voted 5 to 4 against summoning ex-attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to testify on alleged political interference in the Department of Justice. Liberal MPs agreed to investigate allegations, but set no hearing schedule or deadline to report to Parliament: “This is really a joke.”
A proposed climate change rewrite to the National Building Code will not force homeowners to renovate older properties, the National Research Council said yesterday. Realtors and builders had protested owners could face costly refits when selling: “It is not mandated that everyone refit their homes.”
