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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Insights

Reflections and news direct from Rubin Thomlinson.
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Unintentional but offensive — A Black person’s perspective

February 17, 2021
| By Dana J. Campbell-Stevens

One of the most off-putting questions I have ever been asked is, “Do you consider yourself to be Black?” To say that I was flabbergasted would be an understatement. The irony is that the question was asked in the midst of the individual communicating to me how much they detest racism and microaggressions. In response, I inquired why they would ask such a question. They proceeded to say, “I don’t consider you to be Black. I consider you to be Brown.” My struggle in the moment was that I knew that the individual meant no harm.

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Celebrate Black History Month like it is every day

February 16, 2021
| By Tola Olupona

Growing up in a predominantly white town, I was the only Black girl in my school. To add to that, my family and I were the only Black family in the town. To be completely frank with you, I barely saw any Black people other than myself and my family. I recall Black History Month never really being celebrated or even acknowledged in the schools I attended, and I did not see it in our history books. Lucky for me, I was exposed to the richness of Black culture and history at such a young age through books, television, and movies.

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Does “reverse discrimination” exist? According to these cases, probably not.

February 9, 2021
| By Melody Jahanzadeh

Attitudes towards equality have evolved rapidly over the past few years, as have the standards by which we measure discrimination. As a result of these shifts, a question has emerged regarding whether the concept of “reverse discrimination” exists – that is, can individuals who have not been historically disadvantaged experience discrimination? This in turn begs the broader question – does discrimination occur anytime there is any difference in treatment?

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Question de langue dans les enquêtes virtuelles | Language issues in virtual investigations

February 2, 2021
| By Sophie Martel

Depuis la mi-mars 2020, la majorité de nos enquêtes en milieu de travail et au sein des institutions postsecondaires se font de façon virtuelle. Donnant suite aux consignes de la santé publique concernant la distanciation sociale, nous rencontrons rarement les parties et témoins d’une enquête en personne, plutôt nous les rencontrons par vidéoconférence. Cette méthode de communication a certaines retombées du point de vue de la langue. Notamment, toute difficulté de compréhension est accrue par voie virtuelle. Il y a toutefois moyen d’atténuer ces difficultés. De plus, les contraintes géographiques disparaissent avec les enquêtes virtuelles.

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Workplace investigation reports: Why plain language is best

January 26, 2021
| By Liliane Gingras

As a reviewer of workplace investigation reports, I try to encourage the use of plain language. By this, I mean that I try to make sure that a report can be easily understood by the people who read it. I admit that this is not always easy. I am a lawyer, after all, which means that I was trained to make everything sound more complicated than it really is.

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Improving the workplace in 2021—Be proactive, not reactive

January 19, 2021
| By Dana J. Campbell-Stevens

We can all agree that 2020 was a year for the history books. So much happened that, at the beginning of the year, no one could have predicted or imagined. In fact, had someone made a movie about the events of 2020 before they happened, it might have been raved as a critically acclaimed fictional horror and the author praised for their “other worldly” imagination. That might be a bit of an overstatement, but I think it captures the general feeling.

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Making a list and checking it twice? Selecting an investigator in federally-regulated workplaces

January 4, 2021
| By Fiona Lee

On January 1, 2021, new regulations will come into force that will amend the Canada Labour Code (Code) and change how harassment and violence investigations are to be conducted in federally-regulated workplaces. Among the changes are the provisions surrounding the selection of a workplace investigator. Under the new regulations, an employer can appoint an investigator from a list of investigators that the employer has jointly developed with its health and safety representative, workplace committee, or policy committee.

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Coping with triggers as a workplace investigator

January 12, 2021
| By Tola Olupona

I can remember this event like it was yesterday. It was at the beginning of my career as a workplace investigator, and I was assigned to conduct an investigation of discrimination on the grounds of race. On this particular day, I recall sitting there, listening to the Respondent tell their side of the story. Suddenly, a familiar but deeply uncomfortable feeling crept up. It was at that moment I knew that I was “triggered.” Unbeknownst to me on that day, that “familiar” feeling was me reliving a past trauma I have experienced.

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