She was passed over for a promotion again in Quebec. Now, she's alleging systemic racism

In 1989, Wanda Kagan began her career as an administrative officer for the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal — a regional health authority in Quebec's biggest city. 

Thirty-six years later, Kagan — a 60-year-old Black woman — remains one of the few racialized employees in her department. 

Now on the cusp of retirement, the high school friend of former U.S. vice-president Kamala Harris says she has nothing to lose by going public with allegations of systemic racism at her workplace and her struggle with Quebec's human rights complaint process.

In her complaint with Quebec's Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission (CDPDJ), filed in 2022, she claims that despite her seniority and qualifications, her employer refused to adjust her salary and position for years. 

"Over the course of the 10 years that I was trying to advance my career, my white colleagues were getting 'team lead' [roles]," Kagan said, noting that she made several unsuccessful attempts to get written performance reviews of her work from managers. 

"I started to feel like I was being abused," she said.

While Kagan awaits a decision from the CDPDJ on whether it will accept her case, she is calling on the body to produce clear, public guidelines on how it investigates allegations of systemic racism in employment.

She says that sharing those standards are key to ensuring systemic discrimination cases are assessed fairly and consistently.

Kagan says her promotion was stalled by what her employer called a "clerical error." For years, she alleges her managers considered her a temporary full-time employee — a status rendering her ineligible for promotion — instead of permanent full time, while failing to check her personnel file. 

"I wasn't even a human being enough for somebody to have looked in my file to see what my qualifications were for advancement," she said.

Kagan filed two complaints against her employer alleging discrimination at work: one in April 2022 with Quebec's workplace safety board, the CNESST, and another with the CDPDJ, in October 2022.

Her allegations about systemic racism have not been proven in court. 

The CDPDJ is currently reviewing her complaint to determine whether it can go before the Human Rights Tribunal. 

In the commission's statement of facts, the CIUSSS maintains that only permanent staff who meet specific role requirements are eligible for promotion and that Kagan had a temporary full-time employee status from 2014 to 2021.