COMPLAINTS OF BANK'S CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK IN EMPLOYMENT BEING DISCRIMINATORY FOR BLACK CANADIANS

Montreal, August 23, 2011 --- A major Canadian bank and an external recruiting agency are cited in two complaints of race-based discrimination against a Black Canadian woman, for having required her to submit a certificate of good conduct from the police as a condition of approval of her hiring, despite the knowledge that she could not obtain such a document while facing criminal charges.

The case, which is both before the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, will likely be among the first in Canada in which criminal background check is deemed to have a disproportionate adverse impact on Black Canadians and Aboriginal peoples, given these two groups' high rate of criminalization.

In the US, civil rights lawsuits are filed by many cities by African and Hispanic Americans who consider this background check to be a form of indirect discrimination.

The case also raises the issue of the woman's right to the presumption of innocence, since at the time of applying, her trial had not even taken place and that no court verdict was delivered. She was charged as a result of an altercation with public transit officials. Civil rights legislation in Canada prohibit discrimination based on criminal record for which a pardon has not been granted, but not pending criminal charges.

More information to come.