Black civil servants suing federal government say budget falls short on mental health supports

A woman who is part of a proposed $2.5-billion class-action lawsuit filed by Black civil servants alleging discrimination by the federal government says she's disappointed in mental health measures included in last week's budget.

Last Thursday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised $3.7 million over four years for Black-led "engagement, design, and implementation" of a mental health fund. Karen Marie Dickson and her group Black Class Action called for $100 million for a similar fund last year. 

"There has to be trauma-informed care, there has to be culturally-competent care and there has to be race-based data collected on mental health care for Black federal workers," the former assistant crown attorney said.

"And $3.7 million does not pay for all of that."

Dickson says she was coerced into quitting her job in 2006 after facing targeted attacks from management for advocating for racialized workers in the workplace. She alleges the harassment started in 2005 when she took time off to mourn the loss of a grandparent and was told she'd have to undergo psychiatric tests to re-enter the office.

"This was not like a psychologist or something like that. This was a psychiatric assessment that this manager wanted in order for me to resume my job," Dickson, 53, told CBC News.

After losing her job, Dickson says she eventually became homeless. Years later, she says she's still recovering from trauma she never would have experienced if she wasn't Black.

"If I were a white employee, I would have been referred to employee assistance."

In addition, she says despite working for the Department of Justice for over eight years, she got promoted only once while white colleagues moved through the ranks. The latest available figures from Statistics Canada show Blacks make up about 3.5 per cent of the federal public workforce. However, advocates say Blacks report an above-average level of harassment and discrimination and are over-represented in the lower ranks of the civil service.

That's what led Dickson to join Black Class Action, the non-profit that launched the lawsuit against the federal government in 2020 over alleged discriminatory hiring and promoting. The allegations in the suit have not been tested in court. It is scheduled for a certification hearing in September.

Jennifer Carr, the president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, says it's been a reality for years that Black, Indigenous and racialized groups experience systematic barriers around harassment, recruitment and retention, education and training, and the need to address past wrongs.

"The discrimination, the racism and the lack of timely and effective actions are nothing new for many of the the federal Black employees that we represent," said Carr, adding the measures in the budget do little to curb their skepticism.

"It's a start, but it's definitely not enough. There's a lot more of the systemic issues that we need to address."

The idea for a mental health fund came after the group launched its lawsuit. That's when Black workers came out in droves to share stories of the discrimination and trauma they faced, says.Nicholas Marcus Thompson, the secretariat for BCA.