A Métis man who describes himself as “white presenting” has filed a discrimination-related-to-employment complaint against the Métis Provincial Council of British Columbia, claiming the respondents deemed him to be “not sufficiently attuned” to the culture.
Tribunal member Steven Adamson noted is his reasons for decision, posted by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal on December 4, that Daniel Fontaine describes himself as “white presenting” because of the colour of his eyes and skin, and that he wore business suits at work when attending formal meetings.
He filed his complaint on Feb. 12, 2023 alleging discrimination in employment based on Indigenous identity and colour.
Adamson made no findings as to the merit of Fontaine’s complaint against the Métis Provincial Council of British Columbia – doing business as the Métis Nation British Columbia – but determined it to be a “continuing contravention” of the Human Rights Code and explained this to be “a succession or repetition of separate acts of discrimination of the same character’ that could be considered separate contraventions of the Code, and ‘not merely one act of discrimination which may have continuing effects or consequences.’”
The Tribunal heard Fontaine began working with MNBC in an “executive capacity in the spring of 2020 and his job was terminated nearly two years later, on March 9, 2022.
“Mr. Fontaine became a registered citizen of the province’s Métis Nation in the summer of 2020. It appears that he did not grow up in a Métis community or learn about Métis culture until recently,” Adamson noted.
Fontaine claims MNBC’s board members flagged his Indigenous identity as problematic during his employment and alleges the board “repeatedly criticized his performance as not being sufficiently attuned to Métis culture because he had not grown up in same way as other Métis,” Adamson noted in his reasons for decision. “Mr. Fontaine alleges that being thought of as less competent in doing his job because of his background and history was deeply hurtful.”
Fontaine claims that in November 2020, at an MNBC retreat, board members “restated their previously communicated position that because of his personal heritage and upbringing he did not understand Métis culture,” Adamson noted.
“He alleges Board members described him as one of the ‘late comers’ to the culture. Mr. Fontaine alleges Board members also made comments about his nontraditional dress openly and in front of others as part of their impugning of his Indigenous identity.”
Then in early 2021, he further claims, the board’s chair criticized him for not attending a smudging ceremony at the official opening of the MNBC’s refurbished headquarters in Surrey.
“Mr. Fontaine alleges that despite telling the Board chair that he was highly allergic to smoke, the chair advised not attending would not be well received as smudging was a very much a part of ‘what being Métis was all about.’”
That same summer, he alleges, a Métis person questioned why he was hosting a Métis television program and “attacked him in a hostile fashion for not being Métis enough.”
Fontaine told the Tribunal he brought this to the board’s attention but nothing was done to address his concerns. He further alleges that on Jan. 4, 2022, while attending a meeting, board members “drew participants’ attention to him wearing a suit and joked about him not having enough ‘Métis drag in his closet,’” Adamson noted. “In other instances, he alleges Board members described his physical appearance as ‘not Métis’ or worse, ‘colonial’ because of his eyes and skin colour.
“Mr. Fontaine alleges that he constantly had to defend his ‘Métisness’ and that comments in the workplace left him feeling ashamed and humiliated,” Adamson added. “Mr. Fontaine alleges he was subjected to a clear and distinct pattern of systemic mistreatment by MNBC where his experience of growing up was expressly cited as a reason for why he was less qualified to perform his job. He alleges this ultimately culminated in his termination on March 9, 2022, in favour of hiring someone who was more proactively and openly engaging in traditional Métis cultural practices.”
Fontaine claims the allegated discrimination was ongoing during his employment at the MNBC and claims “that they mostly operated at the micro-aggressions level.
“As a white presenting Métis citizen who self-identified later in life, he alleges the MNBC made him feel ‘second class’ and not truly Métis enough,” Adamson noted. “Mr. Fontaine argues all his allegations were about him not being Métis enough and the discrimination occurred in an unbroken fashion throughout his employment. He alleges that his termination was the MNBC’s way of resolving the majority of its Board having an issue with him not being Métis enough.”
Again, Adamson made no finding as to the merit of Fontaine’s complaint but accepted it for filing as a continuing contravention of the Code.