B.C.'s Human Rights Tribunal has accepted a teacher's amended complaint that the Delta School District discriminated against her based on race.
The discrimination allegedly began in 2009 after Dr. Amritpal Andrea Dulay asked the vice-principal at North Delta Secondary to stop calling Indo-Canadian boys "pieces of s--t."
The incident led to a meeting with union reps regarding her harassment claim.
Since 2009, Dulay alleges the district discriminated against her by giving jobs she applied for to white teachers with fewer qualifications, experience and seniority. Similarly, a department head position she applied for instead remained with the existing employee who also had fewer qualifications, experience and seniority.
Despite her eligibility, Dulay also claims the district withheld a district-funded educational leave.
She alleges the district wrongfully disciplined her several times on the basis of race and subjected her to differential disciplinary treatment.
She said she was told to seek employment elsewhere, threatened on the phone to 'leave the district' or it would become difficult for her, and yelled at and insulted during a union meeting.
The district applied to dismiss the complaint against the administrator and principal. The tribunal agreed.
However, the district said some of the amended complaint brings up new allegations of "overt racism," which it was unaware of earlier.
"The school district says had it been aware of these allegations, it would 'have had pause to consider its willingness to assume liability' in its application to dismiss the complaint against the individual respondents," tribunal member Grace Chen said in her Jan. 27 decision.
In September 2021, Dulay also filed a retaliation complaint against the district. The tribunal has not yet accepted it for filing.
