| Summary: | 10 ^ the ' „ • CONCORDIAN FEATURES September 30,1994 Mary's story - our story Racism's dehumanization affects us all Matt Powell Features Writer On March 21, 1986, the Canadian Prime Minister declared "The Second Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination." That same day, Mary Pitawanakwat was fired from her position as a social development officer at the federal Secretary of State office in Regina, Saskatchewan for being an Aboriginal. She had served on the position for seven years acting as the government's liaison to the Aboriginal community. On August 17, 1994, Pitawanakwat won the largest court settlement the Canadian federal government has ever paid in ah employee discrimination complaint. But what took place between 1986 and 1994 is an amazing story of personal courage and human rights. Mary fought for nine years to get her job back and to get full compensation of her time lost. It was a long, hard fight for her; it took a couple of years before a tri-bunal would even hear her case. And once her case was heard, it took many years for her to get what she was entitled to. Pitawanakwat was hired in October of 1979, at the Secretary of State office in Regina. She had previously had valuable and respected experience in communi-ty work. She was given the responsibility to head the Native Citizens* Program in Saskatchewan. Twenty months later, when she was given her first work performance rating, she was deemed "fully satisfactory." Pitawanakwat filed a complaint in 1984 accusing her department of racial discrimination and sexu-al harassment. She claimed that for years she had to endure racial slurs and jokes, as well as sexual harassment. She claimed that the regional director even referred to an all-Native community board as "savages." When Mary charged her office with sexual harassment, a co-worker claimed that he was only testing the "smaller personal space" of native peoples. After this complaint was filed, her department loaded her with the heaviest social development work-load in Saskatchewan. More and more paperwork was assigned. More and more reports were demanded. She was even instructed by her supervisor to act as an informer against one of her native client groups. When no one would listen to her objections, she filed a formal complaint. Her supervisor withdrew his instruc-tions in a written reply. However, in 1986, two years after she filed her formal com-plaint of discrimination and harassment, she was dismissed for "incompetence." Madeleine Parent, member of the National Action Committee on the Status of Mary Pitawanakwat and Tom Ludwig savor a bittersweet victory. Women, raised a question: "If Mary was incompetent, was not the supervisor discriminating against Native peoples by putting their social development requests in the hands of an incompetent officer? Or was it that Mary was a well-qualified, hard working officer who stuck to her principles rather than betray her clients and her people, and was the supervi-sor, in fact, discriminating against her?" A small team was then made up to defend Pitawanakwat. Parent was a main support for Pitawanakwat. Peter Engeimann was the lawyer provided by the Human Rights Commission. Dr. John Chong served as specialist in occupational stress. Tom Ludwig was also a support committee member. Dr. Harvey Stalwick, Concordia's Professor Director of Social Work, and member of The Committee to Combat Workplace Discrimination and Social Administration Research Unit at the University of Regina, did research and documentation for the case. Stalwick worked on the case for nine years, doing much docu-mentation. Much of what he did was what he called "Participatory Research." This is where the peo-ple actively take part in the research through a series of inter-views done on video tape. Stalwick had wondered how it would be possible to accurately capture the voice of the Native people. He found video to be an effective medium because it allowed the people to get the most involved in the research, and it was an easily understood form of communication. He helped to produce a video entitled "Mary's Story - A Dialogue on Racism" along with other Regina Social Work faculty. It is a 36 minute tape of "low key, intensely moving interviews." It deals with Mary's personal story, My imminent death does not scare me; the treatment that our system reserves for women, children, aboriginal, racialized minorities, fran-cophones, the poor, gays and lesbians and powerless peo-ple of all persuasions trou-bles me deeply. Mary Pitawanakwat what actually constitutes racism and discrimination, the different forms it takes and the effects it can have on people. During one of the interviews, Mary's ten-year- old daughter said, "The world seems so dangerous, so horrible." Stalwick presented the un-edited version of this tape, all seven hours of it, to the Human Rights Commission. Stalwick even wrote two letters to the Prime Minister of Canada. He wrote the first on May 12, 1994, urging the government to grant Mary Pitawanakwat full compensation for her eight years of lost work. He received a reply, but no results. He wrote another letter August 12, stating "We continue to be hope-ful that a domestic remedy can be achieved without recourse to for-mal, interactional attention to Canada's neglect." The next step was, in fact, international inter-vention, and Mary and her team were willing and ready to take it to the United Nations. Five days after this letter was written, on August 17, Mary Pitawanakwat was granted full compensation for her eight years of lost work and she was allowed to return to her job in Regina. She was awarded $200,000, tax-free. However, this is only one vic-tory in an array of social problems in Canada for the Natives. They make up about 12 percent of the total population in Canada. However, over 75 percent of the people in federal prison are Indian. 95 percent of women in the federal penitentiary are Native or Metis (person with mixed blood). And about 70 percent of the population on social welfare is Native or Metis. The school sys-tem in Canada now contains 30 percent Native people, while it is estimated that by the turn of the century, that number will have climbed to as high as 45 percent. Mary Pitawanakwat has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is only expected to live another year. She thinks that her cancer is a direct result of the emotional stress she was put under for nine years. Dr. John Chong, who examined her, said ". we're actu-ally dealing with a situation of an unhealthy workplace environ-ment, which causes an array of acute intermediary and long-term consequences on one's health." Stalwick, who has become very close to Mary over the years, called this a "bitter sweet victory," because of her illness. In an address in Ottawa, after receiving the Woman Of Courage Award, she stated, "You know, my imminent death does not scare me; the treatment that our system reserves for women, children, aboriginal, racialised minorities, francophones, the poor, gays and lesbians and powerless people of all persuasions troubles me deeply." The Human Rights Commission of Canada has 2,000 similar cases on a waiting list. It took nine years to settle this one case, taking an enormous physical and mental toll on Mary. Many of these 2,000 cases will never even make it to a tribunal, and if they do make it there, many people get discouraged and simply give up. Mary's story is, in fact, our story. It is a story of us, how we treat our brothers and sisters. It is a story that should affect all of us as citizens and human beings. It is a story of human beings caring about each other. Dr. Stalwick gave reasons why everyone should care about human rights issues, such as this case. *To be a full citizen means to be concerned about other peo-ple's rights. As a Christian, part of what we were put on earth to do is work out justice and love. As a social worker, you have a code of ethics that compels you to notice injustice." Cases like these speak of the need of dedicated citizens to keep a watchful eye on govern-ment, or the social legislative mechanism, to make sure that it works. Ayn Rand, in "For the New Intellectual," said "I owe nothing to my brother." This is the type of attitude so common in today's society, as Stalwick points out, "look out for number one." However, you take care of your-self by taking care of others; peo-ple think that they are born into this world without being connect-ed to anything else. "People are scared," he said, "I don't know what they're scared of. This case has added so much to my person-al life and career." "To give up," Stalwick states, "is to die in a spiritual and emo-tional way. Once the will is there to be helpful, there will be a way found for talents to be used." The will is conviction.
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