The city’s request was turned down by Justice Michael Thomas in June, leaving Victor Mema with the money allotted by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 2023.
The City of Nanaimo has filed a notice of appeal about a B.C. Supreme Court decision denying a review of a case involving its former chief financial officer, who was awarded over $643,000 after complaining about racial discrimination.
The city’s request was turned down by Justice Michael Thomas in June, leaving Victor Mema with the money allotted by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 2023.
Mema, a Black man from Zimbabwe, served as Nanaimo’s chief financial officer from 2016-18, before being fired in the wake of a misconduct report filed by another staff member.
The report looked at Mema’s use of a corporate credit card for personal use, which led to charges being compiled but eventually repaid.
It was alleged that by late 2017, he had charged over $14,000 in personal expenses with the card, including $1,300 for a Mexican vacation.
The tribunal said that the report had a “distinct underlying thread of bias,” which made Nanaimo council’s acceptance of the report discriminatory.
The tribunal further ruled that the allegation of misconduct against Mema created a false impression that he was “engaged in nefarious and improper financial malfeasance,” Thomas said in his decision.
The decision said that the implications that something had gone wrong could be linked to “negative stereotypes of Black men,” and that there was an “inescapable whiff of race-based bias” in the report’s concern over Mema’s request that he or someone he hired have access to the city’s bank account.
The tribunal awarded Mema $583,413 in compensation for lost wages, $50,000 for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect and $10,150 for expenses related to the B.C. Human Rights Code.
Thomas rejected the city’s contention that the tribunal’s ruling relied on hearsay and opinion. He said that human-rights tribunals are often called on to “infer and tease out discriminatory conduct through circumstantial evidence.”
The city said it would not comment on the appeal because the matter is before the courts.
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