Female security guards at the Royal Canadian Mint operation in Ottawa faced constant sexual harassment and racial taunts while superiors either stood by or joined in, according to several former employees who spoke to CBC News.
The former staffers┬аsaid white protective services officers used the N-word against Black colleagues,┬аcalled them slaves and┬аcompared one┬аwoman┬аto a chimpanzee, while┬аanother former female employee said she was sexually harassed frequently.
They said the┬аsexism, harassment and racism drove them to quit their jobs and┬аabandon their dreams of entering law enforcement.
CBC News interviewed five employees who described a toxic, destructive workplace┬аatmosphere that was enabled by management.
Four spoke on the condition they not be named. A fifth filed a human rights complaint and is speaking publicly.┬а
“The damage is done,” said Joelle Hainzelin, who worked as a Mint protective services officer from 2011 until 2019.┬а
“I am not the same person I was a few years ago.”
Racist persecution and panic attacks
Hainzelin┬аfiled a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission last year after she raised her concerns with the┬аMint’s president, which triggered an external investigation.
She said the stress, harassment and persecution┬аcaused┬аher to lose┬аmore than 60 lbs during┬аher eight years at the Crown corporation.
Hainzelin, who quit the Mint in July 2019, said more than a year passed before she could┬аdrive by her old workplace without suffering┬аa panic attack.
“I trained myself just to drive by and then diminish that physical reaction every single time,” Hainzelin said.
“I did that on my own because I don’t want it to win.”
Hainzelin said she was the only officer┬аof colour when she started working at the Mint’s┬аsecurity department in 2011.
She said some of her male colleagues jokingly told her not to steal anything from their homes, asked her┬аwhether she┬аhad┬аattended school in a mud hut and whether she had gang tattoos, and wrote her notes on coconuts. She said team┬аleaders and supervisors participated in this harassment.
Hainzelin said that, as a new employee, she was very reluctant to push back.
“You don’t rat on people,” Hainzelin said. “So you shut up.”
The “tipping point” came, she said, during a workplace┬аconversation about Jane Goodall’s research with chimpanzees.
“I had one officer point at me and he said, ‘Chimpanzee? We work with one,'” Hainzelin said.
WATCH: Former Mint employee says she faced┬аracism on the job:
Several former security guards at the Royal Canadian Mint have told CBC News they faced a toxic work environment that included racism and sexual harassment. They said the atmosphere was so nasty, they feared reprisals if they filed grievances. 2:00
The next day, Hainzelin said, she wrote an email to her colleagues asking them to stop.
She said it┬аwas unintentionally forwarded to a manager, who тАФ instead of┬аapologizing┬атАФ told her she should have┬аraised the issue privately with him.
She said she was later called into a meeting with human resources, a┬аmanager and a member of her union, and was┬аurged to divulge the name of the person who made the insult.
Hainzelin said she was shunned by her colleagues after the meeting.
“I have never felt more alone in my life than that time,” she┬аsaid.
Unsolicited harassment and touching
Another employee, who spoke to CBC News on the condition they not be named, described the workplace as a boys’ club tolerant of sexual harassment, racial discrimination and bullying.
The employee said Black members were called the N-word and their features were mocked.
“It would be expected, especially at a Crown corporation, that the respect and integrity of their employees would be of the utmost importance and that there would be zero tolerance for this type of behaviour,” the employee said.
“But, unfortunately, it is only the tip of the iceberg at this ‘fortress.'”
A third┬аformer employee said she heard white protective services┬аofficers call Black officers “slaves”┬аand say they were┬аlazy and slow.
The former employee said she was subjected to┬аunsolicited touching and advances by staff members, including┬аsupervisors.
She said one supervisor told her that if he wasn’t her boss, he would┬а“flirt”┬аwith her.
She said that when┬аshe started at the Mint, a male team leader groped her while he was showing her the grounds. She said he told her he was trying to prove there weren’t any cameras in the area, and to┬аnot to take it the wrong way.┬а
She said he also squeezed her thigh on one occasion, then┬аclaimed┬аthat he was just trying to show her┬аthat a┬аdesk could be raised and lowered.
Male officers would often look through photos of female employees and potential new hires, voicing opinions┬аon whether they were “f***able”┬аand criticizing┬аtheir body weight, she said.
Management ‘choose to look the other way,’ says ex-staffer
“After leaving the Mint, my self-esteem [and] my self-confidence were extremely affected,” the employee said.
“How can one feel dignified to wear the uniform while being disrespected by your own teammates/colleagues?”
Another former employee said management knows what female officers have been through and┬а“choose to look the other way.”
“The Royal Canadian Mint and its treatment of its employees has scarred myself and others in ways that will take a long time to overcome,” she said.
One former employee┬аsaid┬аmale officers described┬аwomen as┬аweak┬аand said they do not belong┬аin the department.
She said she was told she couldn’t go to a posting at a satellite job site or attend┬аan out-of-town event┬аbecause it was cheaper for the Mint to pay for two male officers to share a room, rather than┬аbooking a┬аsingle┬аroom for a woman.
Mint promises to act on external investigation
Hainzelin said none of the Black officers┬аwho joined the security department while┬аshe was there were given opportunities to work outside of the Mint because they were always told they didn’t have enough experience.┬а
“There is a systemic issue,” she said.
At the end of 2018, Hainzelin said she experienced two incidents of sexual harassment at a workplace Christmas party while a sexual harassment investigation was underway┬аinvolving another officer, who eventually left the Mint.┬а
Hainzelin said she had to remove the hand of a team leader from her thigh┬аand┬аrebuff another officer who┬аpropositioned her.
On her last day of work in July 2019, she said, she told a manager that┬аhe┬аwould have┬аto confront the problem of┬аsexual harassment in the workplace. She said his response was: “‘That’s why I hired a bunch of lesbians.'”
Hainzelin┬аwrote an email describing her experiences to┬аMint┬аpresident Marie Lemay last year before she filed a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint.
“I will take a bit of time to reflect on what I have read,” Lemay said in her June 2020 reply to Hainzelin.┬а“But rest assured, it will influence the way forward as we look at concrete measures to create an inclusive work environment.”
In a statement to CBC News, the Mint confirmed Lemay┬аpersonally responded to Hainzelin’s email and┬аhired an┬аindependent consultant to conduct a workplace assessment, which included input from current and former employees.
“The alleged incidents could not be further opposed to our values and culture and describe behaviour that we do not tolerate in any form,” Lemay┬аsaid in the statement.
All five employees CBC spoke to said they were interviewed for the investigation in late 2020 and early 2021.
The Mint is still awaiting the report from the┬аexternal reviewer.┬аLemay┬аsaid she plans┬аto implement its recommendations.
In 2018, said Lemay,┬аthe Mint┬аintroduced unconscious bias and harassment prevention training for all employees, along with a┬аsystem┬аthat allows┬аemployees to report workplace concerns anonymously.
Lemay said┬аthe┬аMint┬аinitiated a diversity and inclusion action plan in June. She said┬а90 per cent of employees recently surveyed┬аindicated they would feel comfortable reporting a concern.
In 2019, the Mint hired┬аArleen Huggins of┬аthe law firm┬аKoskie Minsky LLP┬аto conduct a corporation-wide external investigation into a┬аcomplaint of┬аharassment and discrimination unrelated to the one┬аHainzelin┬аmade in her email to Lemay.
Huggins concluded at the┬аtime that┬аindividual allegations of discrimination and/or harassment were “unsupportable,” according to her┬аreport, which was obtained by CBC News through an access to information request.
Union says it wasn’t aware
All the employees who spoke to CBC News said they didn’t file union grievances because they feared workplace┬аretribution.┬а
The president of the union representing the Mint’s protective services officers said he was not aware of any incidents apart from┬аthe 2018 sexual harassment investigation.
Clint Crabtree, president and business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union 279, said members should feel safe at work and should report any form of discrimination.
“For us to be able to support them, they need to be able to let us know,” Crabtree said.
“The Mint, if that is happening, needs to make sure that it’s not happening тАж They need to address it immediately.”
Crabtree said he’s reached out to the Mint’s union representative to follow up.
“If people don’t feel safe coming to their employer or their union, that’s a big problem.”
