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Canada's attorney general is trying to stop the Canadian HumanRights Tribunal from hearing a long-serving aboriginal B.C.Mountie's complaints of discrimination within the RCMP. Attorney General Rob Nicholson has applied to Federal Court for ajudicial review of a decision to refer Cpl. Greg Morrison Blain'scomplaint to the tribunal. Blain left the RCMP in January afternearly two decades on the force. "I have suffered grave harm to my dignity and self-respect as aresult of the RCMP's callous treatment of me since I became amember," he writes in the complaint. "I am proud of my aboriginal identity and I feel that the RCMP hasdevalued this identity. The RCMP's demeaning conduct isparticularly hurtful to me as I gave grown up with the burden ofhundreds of years of oppression and discrimination by Canadianpolice forces." Blain currently serves as chief of the Ashcroft Indian Band inB.C.'s Interior. He approached the Canadian Human Rights Commissionin 2008, and an investigator was assigned to determine if thecomplaint merited a tribunal. The commissioner wrote to the RCMP at the end of March to say theevidence indicates the force may have discriminated against Blain. The attorney general, however, now claims that decision was made inerror. Both the complaint and the RCMP's response are contained in FederalCourt documents. Racist attitudes alleged Blain alleges supervisors discriminated against him both on thebasis of his ancestry and a psychological condition he developedafter a posting with the Canadian Civilian Policing Contingent inKandahar, Afghanistan. RCMP Cpl. Greg Blain alleges racial discrimination by the force inAfghanistan. (CBC) His first job was in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, in 1992. He sayshe was asked to take a full-time aboriginal officer posting eventhough he wasn't interested in the position and couldn't speakCoast Salish, the local native language. But a superior ultimately ordered him into the position, saying"staffing at Depot had informed him that they had 'found him anIndian.'" Blain claims supervisors in Nanaimo and his next posting in BellaBella treated him differently because of what he felt were"underlying racist attitudes." He was posted to New Aiyansh, innorthern B.C., in 1999. "New Aiyansh is a remote community and the RCMP provided housingfor the five members stationed there. However, myself and the otheraboriginal member were told we had to live in cramped800-square-foot trailers on the reserve, though we each hadfamilies of four," he writes. "The non-aboriginal members lived in two story] houses off thereserve." Inferior living quarters, menial tasks A large portion of Blain's complaint and the commission'sinvestigation concerns the Afghanistan posting and his subsequentreturn to Canada. Blain was a member of one of two groups of fourpolice officers in Kandahar. An RCMP officer teaches Afghan recruits policing techniques in aprogram that two lawsuits allege was racially discriminatory. (CBC) One consisted of three white RCMP officers and a M tis member ofthe Medicine Hat, Alta., police force. The "second group" includedBlain, a M tis, an Inuit and a black officer. Blain says the "second group" members were given inferior livingquarters, heavier weapons and menial tasks. "The complainant states that the 'second group' did the vastmajority of the training of Afghan police cadets. Training tookplace in temperatures of up to 50 C in a tent with noair-conditioning," the investigator writes. "During the training, the complainant states that to his knowledge,the 'first group' members were working in air-conditioned officesor out on missions. However if camera crews or dignitaries wereattending training on a particular day, the 'first group' wouldannounce that they were conducting training that day." On his return to Canada after the posting in 2007, Blain went onsick leave. He claims his doctor and clinical psychologist said hewas not fit for duty, but supervisors ordered him to attend amedical assessment regardless. He refused and claims the RCMP thenbrought a barrage of Code of Conduct charges against him concerningthe dispute over his medical condition and his role as the chief ofthe Ashcroft band, to which he says supervisors had given priorapproval. 'Interpersonal conflicts' blamed The commission's investigator recommends a tribunal limit itselfonly to the complaints that begin with Blain's posting toAfghanistan, because the prior complaints of racism involveddifferent people and don't span all the parts of his career. But the investigator's report concludes evidence exists to suggestthe RCMP may have discriminated against Blain and the other membersof the "second group" of officers. The investigator also suggeststhe tribunal try to "determine whether the respondent's apparentfrustration with the complainant's being on sick leave was a factorin its decision to pursue any or all Code of Conduct allegationsagainst him." The RCMP responded to the commission's investigation by sayingBlain failed to make use of internal grievance mechanisms. Theforce says his "troubles in Afghanistan resulted primarily frominterpersonal conflicts and his resistance to operationalrequirements, not his aboriginal ancestry." The RCMP also says the commission isn't equipped to evaluate itsinternal disciplinary mechanisms. The force takes issue with thereport's findings that Blain may have been treated differently fromother employees. "No evidence is provided on which this conclusion is based, nor arethe 'employees' referred to identified. It is not adequate tocompare the complainant to an undefined and large group ofemployees," counsel for the RCMP writes. "The complainant mustspecify the comparator group against whom he is evaluating histreatment." Civil claim Blain is also pursuing a separate civil claim in B.C. Supreme Courtthat covers many of the same allegations. His lawyer, Marjorie Brown, says the human rights tribunal is theproper place to hear his allegations of discrimination, especiallyin light of RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson's recent decision torequest an investigation into allegations of systemic sexual harassment . "Allegations of sexual harassment and allegations of racialharassment both tend to demonstrate that the business as usual, themanner of operating within the RCMP at least for these membersthat have made the allegations just isn't adequate to protectagainst that kind of behaviour," Brown says. "A full hearing into Cpl. Blain's allegations would provide exactlythe sort of mechanism for accountability that we understand theRCMP is claiming it is seeking to institute. So, the RCMP says thatit now wishes to hold those accountable that have committedharassment or discrimination. This is how you do that." The RCMP would not comment on the Federal Court case. I am an expert from polyester-sewingthread.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Cone Sewing Thread Manufacturer , China Polyester Spun Yarn, High Tenacity Sewing Thread,and more.
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