Our amazing colleague Edwise Jean-Pierre has been fighting the good fight against the pompous, preening, persecuting Ontario Ombudsman, who has never met a camera lens he didn’t like. From the Ottawa Citizen story about her ongoing battle for justice:
OTTAWA — The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman, which investigates public complaints about provincial government services, is facing allegations of discrimination from a former employee.
In an interim decision dated Nov. 13, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario dismissed two complaints against Ombudsman André Marin’s office, but agreed to hear a third complaint filed last year by former receptionist Edwige Jean-Pierre.
Jean-Pierre, a black woman of Haitian and Congolese descent, was born and raised in Ottawa and is a graduate of the University of Ottawa. Now a resident of Toronto, she is also an actor and playwright of some repute.
In her complaint to the tribunal, Jean-Pierre alleged two primary incidents of discrimination…
A co-worker emailed a poster to office staff soliciting participation in fundraising for the annual Run for the Cure cancer event. It provided examples of services employees could auction, including being “slave for a day.” The poster graphic showed several Caucasian men clutching and waving what appeared to be dollar bills.
The poster felt like “a slap in the face,” Jean-Pierre told the Citizen on Friday. “Of course, being from the African diaspora, I found it really offensive.”
She said the incident was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” after two years in what she called a “toxic environment.”
Edwige sounds like a strong woman. Standing up to bullies in not an easy thing to do; especially one who hides behind the power of his office and so easily abuses that power for vindictive purposes. (Did we ever find out exactly how Andre Marin got access to that innocent police officer’s private information when Marin has no jurisdiction over police?)
It should be noted that the woman ultimately responsible for the racist poster is a Director in the Ombudsman’s Office, a lawyer, on Ontario’s sunshine list and has been named in more than a few discrimination cases. She chaired the committee that produced this garbage. Once again, Andre Marin is making GREAT use of taxpayer’s money!
slave days ..in 2013…out of an office filled with lawyers …awful…
Sounds like the Ombuds Office is dysfunctional if the number of Human Rights Tribunal complaints are an indicator. Jean-Pierre sounds like she may have a legitimate case.
Apparently they were very happy when Marin was finally gone from the federal position he held before he became Ontario Ombudsman. It would appear that this man is a total narcissist, only concerned with himself, his ego and abusing his privilege and powers as a lawyer to oppress staff. It sounds like a toxic working environment for sure. The fact that they are so many lawyers in this office is quite disturbing — obviously they are not people with any semblance of compassion, caring, sense of fair play or justice.
Marin also sounds like the type that plays toxic lawyer mind games with his staff. Enough of him and his ego already! To tell staff to write testimonials so he can get a renewal of his appointment (after oppressive behaviour such as detailed above) is the ultimate insult.