Trudeau Liberals employed immigration manager who called Indigenous ‘lazy,’ Africans and Mexicans ‘dirty’: Report

"It will take bold, decisive action to convince employees there is a real management commitment to change," said the report Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups. The document said management had "an obvious internal cultural code in operation," reported Blacklock's.

It added: "The problem is so deeply rooted in the organizational culture and in the values of people in power who have held it for a long time and are not likely to change."

The department commissioned focus groups with employees who self-identified as black, Asian, "mixed origin," and Caucasian. "Employees paint a picture of an organization fraught with challenges at the level of workplace culture," said Focus Groups.

Employees said they liked their jobs on the whole, "which makes the disappointment and concern about racism witnessed from within all the more emotionally acute."

Participants cited specific examples of bigoted remarks, including unidentified managers who:

• referred to cubicles where black employees worked as "the ghetto."
• nicknamed countries in Africa "the dirty thirty."
• described Nigerians as characteristically corrupt and untrustworthy
• said Mexican immigrants "just come here to collect social insurance."
• said, "Indigenous people are lazy."
• said, "if the natives wanted their land, they should have just stood up."

Other employees described managers "discussing the physical characteristics of 'black girls'" and asking to touch black employees' hair.

One manager speaking to employees of Latin ancestry quoted Speedy Gonzales with joking references to "Andale."

Another asked non-Caucasian employees: "Where are you from?"

"Participants shared a large number of specific examples of racism witnessed within the department as well as their causes," said Focus Groups. "These include but are not limited to microaggressions ranging from well-intentioned comments with hurtful impacts to blatantly racist tropes."

"Participants expressed concern that some of the overt and subtle racism they have witnessed by both employees and decision-makers can and probably must impact case processing," said the report. "Some point to differences in refusal rates by country as an indicator that some form of bias must be at play."

Employees said they "do not believe there are currently any consequences for racism or racist behaviour at the department, or if there are consequences that go beyond a slap on the wrist, they do not believe they are applied in their sectors," the report added. "There seems to be no lasting accountability for those accused of racism."