Bureaucrat targeted in vile anonymous messages
A federal adjudicator has found that a Jewish bureaucrat was discriminated against by co-workers in the Ottawa headquarters of Passport Canada. Valery LaBranche, who converted to Judaism in 1997, was seconded to the passport agency from Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Oct. 2005 to head up a project on security among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Her informal arrangement with her boss that she could leave early for the Jewish sabbath on Fridays and take time off for Jewish holidays apparently sparked ugly incidents. Among messages sent to LaBranche’s superiors, one called her a “Mossad agent” and another read “the Jew sucks your blood.” She took her case to the Public Service Labour Relations Board, whose adjudicator ruled that LaBranche’s managers did little or nothing to protect her from traumatizing treatment.