Latest news with #Nanaimo
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Nanaimo must pay $643K to former CFO fired due to discrimination, B.C. court rules
Former Nanaimo chief financial officer Victor Mema is shown in an undated file photo. (CTV News) A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has upheld a ruling by the province's human rights tribunal ordering the City of Nanaimo to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a former chief financial officer who was fired due to racial discrimination. Victor Mema was terminated by the municipality in May 2018 after an audit found he had racked up $14,000 in personal debt on a city-issued credit card, including a $1,200 charge from a resort in Cancun, Mexico. A senior accountant with the city found Mema's conduct 'constituted a failure by him as a fiduciary,' the city told the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 2023, saying his termination was based solely on that misconduct. Mema, a Black man from Zimbabwe, told the tribunal the city's corporate credit card policy regarding what constituted a personal versus a professional expense was vague and open to interpretation. He said the use of municipal credit cards to cover personal expenses was widespread among city staff. He also alleged the accountant's complaint against him was part of 'a pretext to get rid of all Black Africans employed at the city.' Tribunal chair Emily Ohler found that while the former CFO 'certainly made poor decisions regarding his use of the (credit card), understandably raising concerns, the city's decisions to suspend and terminate his employment were discriminatory.' Following 19 days of hearings, more than a dozen witnesses and hundreds of pages of evidence, the tribunal delivered its decision on Aug. 3, 2023, ordering the city to pay $643,653 to Mema, including $583,413 in lost wages, $50,000 for injury to his dignity, and $10,150 for his expenses. 'I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that – however subconsciously – pernicious stereotypes of a Black man as less honest or trustworthy factored into the misconduct report,' Ohler concluded. The city launched a legal challenge of the ruling, asking the B.C. Supreme Court to quash the tribunal's findings on the basis that the three-member panel focused only on seeking facts that supported a theory of discrimination, instead of facts that would support both discriminatory and non-discriminatory interpretations of the events and then comparing which interpretation was the more likely of the two. The city maintained that Mema's race had no bearing on the complaint that led to his eventual termination, saying its suspicions about the employee were informed by the 'number and value' of his credit card transactions alone. It also accused the tribunal of relying on hearsay evidence and opinion, and inferring that racial discrimination occurred in the absence of direct evidence. But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Thomas rejected the city's petition to review the case and upheld the tribunal's finding that the city discriminated against the former employee. 'In my view, the tribunal's findings were solidly grounded in the facts and flowed rationally and logically from these findings,' Thomas wrote in the court's decision this week. Namely, those facts and findings established a 'distinct underlying thread of racial bias' in the city accountant's misconduct complaint against Mema, he affirmed. In dismissing the city's petition, Thomas concluded the city's position contradicted 'well-established principles of human rights law,' namely that 'discrimination rarely occurs through open and direct expression of bias, prejudice, or hatred against a group of people.' Instead, Thomas wrote, tribunals 'must often infer and tease out discriminatory conduct through circumstantial evidence and viewing the matter holistically through a broader understanding of discrimination and how they insidiously occur in our society.' The judge upheld the tribunal's decision and ordered the city to pay Mema's costs for the court hearing. Mema's designation as a chartered professional accountant was cancelled last year after he was found guilty of 'unprofessional conduct' by a disciplinary tribunal of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta. The Alberta association, which originally certified Mema as a CPA, fined him $30,000 for his use of corporate credit cards to pay for personal expenses while employed by the City of Nanaimo and previously at the District of Sechelt.
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
N.W.T. government ends relationship with B.C. treatment facility
The N.W.T. government is no longer contracting a B.C. facility to provide addictions and PTSD treatment to territorial residents, but past participants credit the program with their continued sobriety and healing. Edgewood Health Network in Nanaimo was "not successful" in securing a renewed contract, spokesperson for the facility Mary Doyle said in an email. In its own response, the N.W.T. Health department said Edgewood did not apply on a request for proposals in August 2025. Department spokesperson Andrew Wind said in an email the government sent 105 residents to the facility in the last year. He said clients of the Nanaimo program with intake dates up to and including March 14 would still be funded for the duration of their treatment and a year after. Neither the department nor Edgewood could confirm how many people were waitlisted when the contract lapsed on March 31. The end of the contract could be discouraging for patients who relapse and want to return to a facility they are familiar with, said Peyton Straker, who attended Edgewood and is active in Nanaimo's recovery community. Straker, who is originally from the N.W.T., celebrated 12 months of sobriety in May. Past participants say program helped, but had flaws Straker said they found the treatment effective — the program they were in lets clients leave the facility for Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and interact with the recovery community through support groups and rallies. It wasn't perfect, though. Straker said there was room for improvement, especially where Indigenous cultural sensitivity was concerned, since smudging and beadwork supplies weren't allowed into the facility when they were there. The facility applied "rigid" visitation policies that recognized nuclear families, but turned away visitors with other ties, they said. Straker said they thrived in the reading and writing components of the program, but saw N.W.T. clients with low-literacy struggle. Straker observed that clients fluent in Dene languages, but who could not read or write in English, were not given accessibility accommodations to understand reading and writing assignments. For those patients, "not having the ability to read or write really interferes with your treatment plan, but nobody tells you that before you arrive," they said. Aftercare options to help people stay sober are also costly, and not subsidized despite being a "key piece of what keeps people clean," said Straker. A privately-operated living space that is a safe, substance-free place to maintain your recovery can cost between $1,600 and $3,500 and is not covered by the government, they said. Staying clean post-treatment is critical, because relapse after treatment carries the highest fatality risk, they said. "The financial strain makes it so that patients aren't actually able to follow the recovery suggestions that are given by the recovery treatment itself," they said. Straker said when they attended Edgewood, the program cost between $40,000 and $50,000 for anywhere from 50 to 120 days of programming, which is paid by the territorial government. The health department budgeted $3 million for facility-based addictions treatment in 2024/25, and contracts six different facilities in Alberta, Ontario and B.C. Other ways to access programs Edgewood told CBC News that N.W.T. residents can still access its treatment programs through "other available funding channels" like Jordan's Principle, employer benefits, or unions. The Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC) is another funding pathway. Edgewood offers a program for first responders seeking treatment for PTSD. Seann May, a firefighter in Yellowknife, said he attended the program last year — nearly 20 years after he responded to a 2005 fire where the building collapsed and killed two firefighters. May turned to alcohol to cope with the feelings brought on by that workplace fatality. May said at the worst points, his wife had packed her bags. In 2019, he was diagnosed with PTSD. May said he put in a claim to the WSCC in 2024, and got into treatment by going through counselling at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre in Yellowknife. He said the contract with Edgewood lapsing is a "big shame," because its counselling for addictions was "phenomenal." He said the sessions he took through Edgewood gave him tools to regulate his emotions, helped him rebuild trust with his children and made him more focused at work. May said once he got in, he "thought the world" of the program. "I wake up happy every day, rather than doing the morning ritual, trying to drink coffee so I can hide my breath," he said. "I feel like I can take my day on."
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Canada's Katzberg captures World Athletics Continental Tour hammer throw victory
Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C. threw a distance of 82.73 on his fourth throw to win the hammer throw Continental Tour stop in Nairobi, Kenya.
Toronto Star
7 days ago
- Toronto Star
It's almost picnic season in Toronto (we hope!). Here are 4 delicious make-ahead recipes that hold up from kitchen to park
Good planning can make or break a picnic. You want easy-to-make meals that can be packed in advance so you're not scrambling the morning of. Ideally, the food won't fall apart after being jostled in a bag or trunk, won't get mushy or dry, and stays delicious whether it's served chilled or has been sitting out for a hot minute. That's why potato salads, wraps, and Nanaimo bars remain picnic classics — they tick all the boxes. Most home cooks can whip up these dishes without a problem, but I've given each one a twist, adding East Asian-inspired flair to help you stand out at your next gathering. Here are four make-ahead, travel-friendly recipes that are worth breaking out the blanket for.
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Uber expands across B.C., challenging local taxi and ride-hailing companies in some cities
Communities across B.C. will now have access to the ride-hailing app Uber starting Wednesday, as the company expands outside Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna. While this may be promising news for some, taxi and other ride-hailing companies operating in those smaller communities are making the pitch as to why passengers should stick with them. For example, Uride, which operates in Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Penticton, Prince George, Vernon, Comox and Courtenay, started in Thunder Bay, Ont., after CEO Cody Ruberto started giving rides to folks to prevent impaired driving. It works similarly to Uber and Lyft, where customers can order a ride on an app on their phone. "It's kind of Canada's homegrown rideshare company," Ruberto told CBC's The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn. Ruberto said they get a lot of uptake in the communities in which Uride operates, and they try to focus on driver satisfaction, which, in turn, usually translates to happy customers. "If we have enough drivers in a city to meet demand and a little bit extra, there's times where we pause hiring and add more drivers as demand increases," he said. "It's critical for us to make it a great job for drivers and great service for drivers." WATCH | Uber goes provincewide: Uber is going province-wide in B.C. 16 hours ago Duration 2:05 After coming to Vancouver in 2020, Uber is finally going province-wide on Wednesday, moving into smaller regional communities like Nanaimo. While some are eager to see a new way of getting around, others, as Claire Palmer reports, are worried about the impact it may have on existing cab companies and rideshare services. He's hopeful British Columbians will apply the push to support local at the grocery store to make similar decisions when it comes to choosing a ride-hailing company. "It's sort of like the David versus Goliath, right, a $150 billion U.S. company versus the homegrown Canadian [ride-hailing] service." Mohan Kang, the president of the B.C. Taxi Association agrees. "Uber money flies over the border," he said. "The taxis, we all live in those communities. We pay taxes; we do everything a Canadian would be expected to do." Kang, who has been involved with the taxi industry for about 50 years, said taxi drivers and companies across B.C. are worried about the introduction of Uber after what they saw in Vancouver. Taxis have lost about half their business to companies like Uber and Lyft, Kang estimated. When Uber arrived in Vancouver, many drivers left taxi companies to join Uber or Lyft. "It's going to hurt small taxi companies right up to shutting them down," Kang said. He said there was never "a level playing field" in Vancouver, where taxis and ride-hailing companies had different rules and regulations around things like fleet size. Kang believes there are enough taxis in B.C. communities to serve their respective populations. "They serve the community well." The app soft-launched in Vancouver in 2012, and only a few months later, the company withdrew from the city. After a lot of drama around ride-hailing legislation and taxis fighting against ride-hailing, the company returned to Vancouver in January of 2020. Uber expanded to Victoria, Chilliwack and Kelowna in 2023. Uber's pitch In its news release, the company said driving with Uber can be a flexible way to make a living — for those with safe driving records. The company emphasized the ability to work when and where you want. Uber said it is offering a $500 incentive for eligible drivers who take 10 trips in their respective communities in the first four weeks of operating. Uber Canada general manager Michael van Hemmen said it's also a benefit to riders, as well. "[B.C.] is an expensive place to live," he said. "Owning a car is expensive … instead of owning two cars and you can have a family and get away with one car and use transit and Uber for your other rides, you're saving money." The company has partnered with community organizations, including MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), that are helping promote the service. "Keeping roads safe is a responsibility we all share — and in British Columbia, that starts with giving people better options to get home," MADD CEO Steve Sullivan said in a news release. "Whether in a big city or a smaller community, every safe ride is a step toward preventing impaired driving and protecting lives." Van Hemmen said Uber will be particularly beneficial in communities that don't have other reliable transportation options, like the SkyTrain in Vancouver.
