By Canadian Press

Anti-racism group says two Black Montreal firefighters faced years of racial abuse

Oct 31, 2023 | 10:03 AM

MONTREAL — Two Black Montreal firefighters say they have for years been subject to racist abuse from their colleagues and that their managers didn’t do anything about it.

A Montreal anti-racism group told reporters today it filed a complaint with Quebec’s human rights commission on behalf of the two firefighters.

The Red Coalition says one of the firefighters, on his first day at work, was called the N-word by a colleague and that he faced more insults after he told his team he didn’t eat pork because he was Muslim.

Alain Babineau with the Red Coalition says that in the most recent alleged racist incident, a supervisor told one of the firefighters that a colleague’s use of the N-word was an example of freedom of speech. 

The coalition is asking the human rights commission to investigate the allegations and to order the Montreal Fire Department to pay each of the men $40,000 in damages.

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The City of Montreal didn’t immediately return a request for comment. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023. 

The Canadian Press