Layers of Abuse: Gender Discrimination at Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services
What follows is an outline of my twelve-year battle against gender discrimination at Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services (HRFES) and the repercussions it had on my health.
The general public is oblivious to the realities of gender-based violence in male-dominated workplaces, which is why I find it important to lay out the details of what I experienced.
The summary of my story is directly below, but if you want to know more, each section of my story is detailed on pages in the drop-down menu above.
Summary
Women in male-dominated jobs should not have to fight as hard or as long as I have for gender equality. Without support or resources, I have spent a tremendous amount of effort, time and money over the years fighting for my basic needs in the workplace: respect and fair treatment.
When I spoke out about harassment in my station back in 2005, I was ostracized, maliciously gossiped about, and labelled crazy, violent, and hysterical; they called me a liar, an alcoholic, and a troublemaker — all labels that are typically used against women who speak out. These are disparaging rumours most often used to humiliate, isolate and disempower.
The HRFES top brass added to the gossip mill rather than following up on my complaints like a responsible employer would.
The HRFES station officers and upper management undermined my character (saying that I was too sensitive, too weak, and emotionally unstable) and questioned my mental health. I was personally ridiculed and discounted.
Even some other women in the station began avoiding me and attacking my credibility, adding to my alienation.
When I formally complained, the HRFES management and HR consultant minimized and denied all harassment claims that I and other women put forth, concluding that “a personality conflict” was the cause of my issues and that my harassment was “more imagined than real.”
This employer hid, distorted, and dismissed all the gender issues I brought forth, and stalled or didn’t follow up on my claims as I made them. The burden of proof was always on me. They failed to look at the broader issue of systemic discrimination and placed the blame on me instead of properly investigating the bad behaviour and misogyny that triggered my complaints.
Almost always, the HRFES chose not to believe me. Most men I filed complaints against were protected and promoted.
Being harassed in the workplace leads to not trusting your employer or co-workers, and this is not acceptable in such a dangerous line of work. I feared for my safety and wondered if they would have my back on the job, during a fire.
When they did investigate my complaints, HRFES conducted superficial interviews and did little to investigate issues that involved other women. Their notes lacked detail and they ignored imposed deadlines during the investigation process.
The HRFES downplayed and dismissed my psychological distress; in fact, they added to it by formally reprimanding me about missing work.
In 2007, I filed a human rights complaint against my employer, the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). I waited five years before the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC) dismissed my case, conducting virtually no investigation into my complaint.
It’s bad enough that the majority of employers and industries, in my experience, turn a blind eye to gender discrimination in the workplace. Even more deeply troubling to me is that this same attitude often arises within agencies and organizations that claim to be advocating for my rights as a woman. Organizations like human rights commissions and others that should be progressive are not doing their job or do not seem to know how to do their job.
I subsequently filed for a judicial review against the NSHRC in April of 2012 for an inadequate and cursory inquiry into my claims. I won, and in 2014, the Supreme Court of NS ordered that my gender discrimination complaint be re-examined, which, once again, took a number of years.
In 2016, I finally had those claims properly addressed and my case was referred to a public hearing Board of Inquiry (BOI) for October 2017.
I have since reached a settlement agreement with Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Services (HRFES), Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (NSHRC). Included in this settlement, among other judgements, is a public apology, which is a step in the right direction but should have happened years ago while I and other women were suffering as a result of speaking out.
There were many opportunities to acknowledge my experiences and address my complaints in the last ten years. Instead of trying to change the obvious systemic gender discrimination that exists within the fire service and redress the abuses that women have endured, the HRFES chose instead to fight against me.
Gender-based violence is not going to stop because of this apology.
Employers have to be forced to change. They don’t do the right thing on their own. Hopefully my struggle, this settlement, and this public apology will put other employers on notice.
The HRM, HRFES and NSHRC can talk about how much progress they have made in recent years, and how much they are going to do to change the culture and make the workplace safer for women. But they are going to have to prove that they’re actually doing it. They are going to have act. They are going to have to walk their talk. I am watching, and now the public is too.
If you want to know more, each section of my story is detailed on the pages linked below, in chronological order.
The Beginning: Disrespect and Tampering
Smear Campaign and Mismanaged Workplace Complaint Investigation
The Chief’s Retaliation and the Incompetency of Human Resources
Institutional Misogyny, Conflicts of Interest, and Malicious Gossip
Firefighter Combat Challenge: Systemic Discrimination Continues
Employment Denial and Structural Gender Bias
Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission Blunders
Disappointing The Boy's Club 