By Canadian Press

Federal Court says it lacks jurisdiction to hear CSIS employee’s discrimination claim

Jun 7, 2022 | 11:31 AM

OTTAWA — A federal judge has tossed out a Canadian Security Intelligence Service employee’s discrimination lawsuit against the spy service, saying Sameer Ebadi should have followed the internal grievance procedure available to him.

In his decision, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown says the court therefore lacks jurisdiction to hear the claim filed by Ebadi, who uses a pseudonym due to the sensitive nature of his work.

Ebadi, a practising Muslim who fled to Canada from a repressive Middle Eastern country, has worked as a CSIS analyst since 2000 in the Prairie region. 

His statement of claim, filed in January 2020, says he was passed over for promotion despite an excellent work record, and that he suffered bullying, discrimination, emotional and physical abuse, and religious persecution from fellow employees. 

Ebadi had argued that CSIS has a history of protecting harassers from responsibility for their racially or religiously motivated behaviour. 

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He said internal CSIS processes could not be trusted to provide him with a fair hearing and to protect him against reprisals for bringing forward concerns.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2022.

The Canadian Press