CALGARY: A Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal will investigate complaints from a Calgary man that he was the victim of racial discrimination while working at CP Rail.
Parminder Saroya, 28, found out this week his was one of three cases referred to appointed tribunals after the March meeting of the commission. Saroya worked at CP Rails Alyth Yards in Calgary for five years before he was fired in August 1987 two years after he first complained to the commission that he was being harassed because of his Sikh religion and appearance, “They didn’t want to see me down there,” Saroya recalled Saturday, noting he was the only East Indian working in the company’s car department at the time. “They would harass me every moment whatever I would do.
Saroya said he was repeatedly called names and subjected to accusations by certain foremen in the department. He won four grievances against his employer’s two involving allegations he drank on the job before being fired after being accused of sleeping on the job. A grievance filed over his dismissal failed, he said. Saroya now runs his own business. He buys, renovates and then resells real estate properties.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 31, 1989
