Supreme Court won’t hear spy service analyst’s appeal over discrimination case

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear the case of a Canadian Security Intelligence Service employee who filed a discrimination lawsuit against the spy agency.

It is the latest legal setback for Sameer Ebadi, who uses a pseudonym due to the sensitive nature of his intelligence work.

In June 2022, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown said the court lacked jurisdiction to address Ebadi’s January 2020 statement of claim alleging abuse and religious persecution.

In tossing out the lawsuit, Brown said Ebadi should have followed the internal grievance procedures available to him.

The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the ruling last March, prompting Ebadi to seek a hearing in the Supreme Court.

Ebadi is a practising Muslim who fled to Canada from a repressive Middle Eastern country and began working as a CSIS analyst in the Prairie region over two decades ago.

His claim said he was passed over for promotion despite an excellent work record, and that he suffered bullying, emotional and physical abuse, discrimination and religious persecution from fellow employees.

Among other things, the claim alleged colleagues would quickly open his office door when he was at prayer, smashing it into his body or head. “They would then feign surprise that Sameer was at prayer, but would laugh outside the door afterwards.”

Ebadi, who is on long-term medical leave, argued that CSIS had a history of protecting harassers from responsibility for their racially or religiously motivated behaviour.

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

Central to the case is a section of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act that says the right of an employee to grieve a dispute arising from their employment comes in lieu of “any right of action that the employee may have in relation to any act or omission giving rise to the dispute.”

In a submission asking the Supreme Court to hear his appeal, Ebadi stressed the need for the top court to weigh whether the provision in question absolutely bars employees from civil actions against fellow workers for intentional harms linked to the workplace.

“The emerging case law stretches the requirement to pursue grievances for workplace incidents well beyond disputes about workplace harassment, extending all the way to allegations of physical assault and battery (as in Sameer’s case) and, it appears, even for sexual assaults,” the submission said.

“Canadian courts need clarity and direction on this significant issue of obvious national importance.”

Federal lawyers argued the case raised no issue of public importance, saying in a written submission of their own there was “no uncertainty in the law” requiring the court’s intervention.

Rather, the federal lawyers said, Ebadi was inviting the Supreme Court to overturn nearly three decades of jurisprudence by advocating for a narrow interpretation of the law that would undermine Parliament’s intent to establish a “comprehensive and exclusive scheme” for resolving labour disputes in the federal workforce.

Last December, David Vigneault, CSIS director at the time, apologized to staff for his response to rape and harassment allegations in the agency’s British Columbia office.

In a town hall, Vigneault told staff about planned anti-harassment measures, including the creation of an ombudsperson’s office to handle workplace problems without fear or reprisal.

He also said the agency would release annual public reports on harassment and wrongdoing in the agency.

The moves came after The Canadian Press reported on turmoil in the agency’s British Columbia surveillance unit.

Two CSIS officers who said they were sexually assaulted lodged anonymous lawsuits in B.C. Supreme Court. One case was dismissed on grounds the officer had not exhausted the internal CSIS complaints process.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

— With files from Darryl Greer in Vancouver

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press