Human rights case “like a gaping wound”

Pic River’s Bonnie Couchie was shook to the core after being terminated in a discriminatory manner from a contract to deliver Aboriginal relations for provincial government staff.
While Couchie eventually won her case against Ontario (Municipal Affairs and Housing) in 2011 at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and was awarded $20,000 in general damages, the ordeal consumed her life for over three years.
“After the first session (May 13, 2008), I was fired and I was told I was fired because I was a poor presenter,” Couchie explained. “As somebody that has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary humanities with a focus in native studies, an undergraduate in law and politics and indigenous learning, and who has taught indigenous law and history at universities and college, I had really taken great pride in my ability as a teacher so this termination came as a shock to me.”
Although Couchie and her non-Aboriginal co-presenter both received mixed reviews on their presentations after the first of six sessions they were contracted to deliver on Aboriginal relations for staff from various Ontario government ministries, Couchie was terminated while her non-Aboriginal co-presenter was kept on with direction to get “refresher work.”
Human Rights Tribunal vice chair Jennifer Scott concluded that Couchie was subject to “heightened scrutiny, disproportionate blame and over-reaction when compared to her co-presenter.”
Scott also found that the ministry “was prepared to remediate the poor performance of the non-Aboriginal person, but was not prepared to remediate the performance of the Aboriginal person.”
Couchie relived the experience in the hopes that other people will not have to during a Sept. 4 Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC) meeting at Confederation College’s Learning Cafe in Thunder Bay.
“It’s one thing to be discriminated against in the first instant, but you can almost get away from it quicker if you don’t talk about it,” Couchie said. “But here I was, talking about it and fighting this case, so it was right out in the open like a gaping wound for three years.”
But she still has not received any similar contract work since being terminated and has had to rely on other opportunities to earn a living.
“I have been disillusioned by this whole process,” Couchie said.
Couchie encourages others to stand up for themselves if they are being discriminated against.
“Call things what they are as they happen,” Couchie said. “Don’t expect that this process is going to make things all better — it’s not. If you choose to embark on a human rights case, just know that the road is really long and really tough and there will be benefits for the whole, but you will pay a personal price.”
Co-sponsored by Confederation College and HRLSC, the meeting was held to spark discussions and action to support people facing discrimination in the Thunder Bay area.
“Sometimes what we are able to do is help people resolve their cases early on,” said Kathy Laird, executive director of HRLSC, noting their services are free. “If a young person is turned down because they are a single mom or on welfare or because they are First Nation for an apartment, sometimes we can just make a call and tell a person that’s not legal in Ontario and they’ll get the apartment.”
Laird said the hope is that not everyone has to go through the long process Couchie had to go through.
The HRLSC received 25,276 calls from April 2011 to March 2012, with 101 of the 219 hearing applications made by the HRLSC during that time being settled before, at or during the hearing.
The HRLSC’s Thunder Bay office can be reached at 807-345-2694 or the main office toll free at 1-866-612-8627.