Shoan vows court challenge of second dismissal from CRTC

Raj Shoan, the CRTC’s regional commissioner for Ontario who was fired again just four days after a return to his post, said he will be heading back to court to challenge the second order-in-council removing him from the regulatory body. In a statement issued Friday, Shoan said he was informed late Thursday that his governor-in-council (GIC) appointment, which he regained after 10 months following an April 28 Federal Court decision, would again be terminated as of midnight Friday. Justice Cecily Strickland’s decision — stemming from Shoan’s appeal of the first order-in-council from June 2016 that dismissed him three years into a five-year term at the CRTC — said Shoan had not been granted procedural fairness in the lead up to the first cabinet decision and sent it back to the GIC for reconsideration. “I am aware that the GIC’s decision on redetermination may well be the same but, based on the record before me, I am unable to determine that this is inevitable,” Strickland wrote, citing as reasons for her decision the setting aside of a workplace harassment investigation as well as a lack of dialogue from Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s office. There was no correspondence between Shoan’s March 14, 2016 reply to Joly’s Feb. 26, 2016 letter warning him his termination was being considered, and the June order removing him that addressed the substance of his response to her concerns. According to the new order-in-council obtained from the Privy Council Office — the federal department responsible for government appointments — the harassment complaint was not considered in the GIC’s new decision, in light of judge Russel Zinn’s September decision to set it aside. Instead, the GIC keyed in on what it called Shoan’s “inappropriate contact with CRTC stakeholders and his lack of recognition of and disregard for the impact of that contact on the reputation and integrity of the CRTC (the inappropriate contact ground)” as “fundamentally incompatible with his position.” The order also said that outside of that inappropriate contact, it concluded that Shoan’s “responses related to his refusal to respect internal CRTC processes and practices for meeting its obligations under the Access to Information Act and his negative public statements about the CRTC are fundamentally incompatible with his position” at the commission. In her letter last year, Joly highlighted two tweets published by Shoan about the legal proceedings he had launched against the commission. In her decision, Strickland highlighted the meetings, which took place during the summer of 2015, with representatives from companies that had business before the CRTC as “a basis for dismissal with cause,” but said they, as well as Shoan’s response of seeking counsel before providing documents relating to an ATIP request, “cannot be viewed in isolation” given the inclusion of the harassment report in the GIC’s initial consideration. According to the decision, Shoan argued that the meetings were introductory or with branches of the companies unrelated to the CRTC’s ongoing proceedings. “I am deeply concerned about the manner in which I have been removed and that I have been further denied procedural fairness,” Shoan said. “Despite the serious impact on my ability to engage in my duties as a Commissioner, I was deprived of any opportunity to discuss the alleged basis for my removal.” Shoan had returned to work Monday and in his statement he said he spent the past week “re-engaging with role as a Commissioner in order to ensure a positive contribution to the work of the CRTC during the remainder of term for the benefit of all Canadians.” He added that it “is truly unfortunate that this goal was not shared” and that he would be “challenging this dismissal in the Federal Court and initiating other actions to ensure accountability and justice.” Shoan had cited similar motives to improve the commission in past clashes with the institution, including two cases in the Federal Court of Appeal to limit the ability of Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais to name commissioners to panels that make decisions. The court dismissed one case last fall and Shoan dropped the second. Blais informed the commission’s staff of the latest development on Thursday, according to an internal memo obtained by The Wire Report. “This has been a challenging period in the CRTC’s history. I am fully aware that events that have been playing out before the courts and in the media have created uncertainty and affected employees,” the memo said. “I have always admired your ability to rise above the noise in the public environment as you continue to carry out the important work we are doing on behalf of Canadians.” The memo went on: “Further to this announcement, I would like to remind you of my commitment, which is shared by the senior management team, to the values upheld by the public service and the CRTC.” Questions to the CRTC were referred to the department of Canadian Heritage. “Mr. Shoan was appointed on July 3rd, 2013, as a Commissioner of the CRTC for a five-year term ending July 2, 2018. The Governor in Council has concluded that Raj Shoan’s actions are fundamentally incompatible with his position and that he no longer enjoys the confidence of the Governor in Council to be a Commissioner of the CRTC,” Pierre-Olivier Herbert, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, said in an email. “The Privacy Act ensures that personal information of individuals held by federal government organizations is protected. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to comment further.” In March, the federal government closed the application process for four CRTC positions, including Shoan’s former role as regional commissioner for Ontario. In a weekend statement marking his legal victory, Shoan noted he was “only the second person of colour and one of the youngest appointees in the history of the CRTC.” Joly has been asked to address the issue of diversity at the CRTC via multiple avenues, including her consultations on Canadian content in a digital world, and by advocacy groups reacting to Shoan’s 2016 dismissal and the corresponding allegations of racism that were made in court documents. — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Shoan vows court challenge of second dismissal from CRTC

Broadcast | May 5, 2017

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Shoan vows court challenge of second dismissal from CRTC

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