Quebec's Human Rights Commission is coming under fire for being very white, and very French.
The government commission aiming to protect the rights of minorities in Quebec has just two visible minorities on its senior leadership team. One of them is its President Tamara Thermitus, but she has been on sick leave since last fall, and it's unclear when or if she'll return to her post.
The Commission's Vice President Philippe-Andre Tessier says that the members of the board's decision-making body come from a variety of backgrounds, and that its workforce is more diverse than most organizations in Quebec.
A report by CBC this morning claimed that just "2 or 3" Anglophones are among the commission's hundred-plus workforce. Tessier strongly disputed that figure's accuracy, but says that regardless, English-speakers are able to be served in their native language at the commission, and that most of its employees are bilingual.
B'nai B'rith's National Legal Counsel Stephen Slimovitch says that this is just another case of the government and civil service in Quebec failing to accurately represent its entire population. "It's a problem which pervades the Quebec government in general," he said, adding, "the face is particularly white, and French."