THUNDER BAY -- The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has dismissed an application from an Ojibwe language teacher who alleged he had been discriminated against by the Lakehead District Public School Board.
David Thompson, who is Ojibwe, was replaced in his full-time position by a person who is Indigenous, but not Ojibwe.
Thompson was originally hired full-time for the 2015-16 school year, but when the board reduced the number of native-language courses being taught in 2016-17, it assigned him to a part-time position with four courses and gave the other teacher six courses.
Thompson resigned and filed an application claiming discrimination with respect to employment because of race, ancestry, place of origin and ethnic origin, contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Code.
He alleged that there is a systemic hiring and employment barrier within the school board that doesn't allow Ojibwe people to work and teach in their own language, culture and history.
In its decision, the tribunal said it was dismissing the application on the basis that it does not have a reasonable prospect of success.
At a hearing in August, the Lakehead board told the adjudicator in the case that the person who got the full-time position had seniority over Thompson and had taught Ojibwe since 2010, whereas Thompson had only worked for the board for a year.
It said that under the collective agreement, teachers with the most seniority have priority to teach available courses over more junior teachers.
The board denied that Thompson's race, ancestry, place of origin and ethnic origin were a factor in its decision.
Thompson countered that the courses the other teacher took to become qualified to teach Ojibwe were not in fact Ojibwe courses but were Oji-cree language courses.
He maintained that the language should be taught by an Ojibwe person who was raised in the Ojibwe culture.
The adjudicator noted that Thompson "could not point to any evidence that would make a link between his employment opportunities and the grounds of race, ancestry, place of origin and ethnic origin as claimed."
She added that he did not dispute that the other teacher had seniority and had taught Ojibwe for six years, and "only took the position that seniority was not a good enough reason to hire the other teacher unless in his view, and the view of the Ojibwe community, that person had the appropriate qualifications to teach Ojibwe."
The adjudicator also said that even if the board was wrong not to employ him full-time, unfair treatment does not, in itself, constitute a violation of the Human Rights Code.
Thompson's assertion that his race, ancestry, place of origin and ethnic origin were factors "is nothing more than a bald assertion," she said.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the Lakehead District Public School Board said it "respects and has complied with the Human Rights process."
Thompson, who currently works at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, has not commented on the decision as yet.
