Immigration Canada staff in postings abroad mocked, harassed by managers: employee survey

Multiple employees at the federal government's Immigration Department said they were subject to racist micro-aggressions, harassment and professional marginalization during postings in its offices abroad, according to a survey commissioned by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Staff cited management making fun of their accents, and group leaders expressing "overt disdain and even hatred for people from certain countries and for immigrants to Canada in general, using racial slurs and stating support for violence against people from other countries," according to a summary of the survey's findings published by the department.

"Being a black person here is an extreme sport. I kid you not. We are not protected," one employee is quoted saying in the document.

Another employee expressed the opinion that long, overseas postings have enabled a level of comfort for leaders to express racist thoughts.

"The space enables it. It's like seeing a shocking example from a training happening right in front of you. Expressed by an older white man."

Employees are unnamed in the survey for confidentiality reasons. Pollara Strategic Insights was hired to conduct the work, and it interviewed 62 staff members.

Some progress in last two years

Pollara conducted a similar survey in 2021. Back then, multiple employees described supervisors and colleagues using offensive terms with racialized staff, who, they said, were also getting passed over for international postings and other professional development opportunities.

The more current survey noted some progress and behavioural shifts in the last two years, but not at the IRCC's foreign posting locations.

"There has been a shift in acknowledgement that there is a problem. And now we have data showing there is a problem," one employee said.

The survey noted a number of staff found the IRCC to be a better workplace than other federal departments where they have worked, "both in terms of its internal diversity (at least at lower echelons of the organization) and in terms of its commitment to tackle racism head on."

Pollara also found employees saw a slight increase in the number of racialized staff getting hired or promoted, and praised "an increase in opportunities for employees to share their experiences with peers and allies through multiple working groups."

However, asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a problem racism was at the IRCC, some 63 per cent of the surveyed employees gave it a 7 or higher.

Participants also asked for the creation of an independent office to report racism-related complaints, suggesting the department should have an ombudsman.

IRCC union not consulted

The Canada Employment and Immigration Union, which represents someIRCC employees, said it was surprised by the existence of the report.

"We've been raising the red flag for years about the systemic racism issues at the IRCC," said the union's national executive vice-president Crystal Warner.

"We're a bit frustrated to learn at the last minute again that something has been done on this front and that the unions were not consulted."

She said it is not surprising employees would be asking for an ombudsman's office. "This is a department with some of the worst staffing violations with nepotism and the way they hire people," she said.

The union launched a policy grievance about systemic racism with the IRCC last year.

CBC News has reached out to the Immigration Department for comment on this story.