A South Asian police officer from Brampton has filed a human rights complaint against the Peel Police Services Board and the force’s former chief for alleged racial discrimination and reprisal after testifying in a similar case filed 10 years ago.
Insp. Raj Biring says he experienced “offensive racial slurs, derogatory statements and a workplace culture undermining and relegating South Asian police officers” in his human rights complaint obtained by CBC Toronto.
It wasn’t the first time the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has heard from Biring about alleged systemic racism within Peel police.
Eight years ago, he testified in support of a colleague in his successful HRTO case, which also focused on racial discrimination within the police service.
Biring, who has worked for Peel police for more than 34 years, says systemic discrimination against South Asian officers continues within the force. His complaint also alleges that he faced reprisal and retaliation from the police chief at the time after testifying in support of his colleague — including a hostile work environment, and being denied career advancement.
The claim alleges negative impacts on Biring’s mental and physical health. He’s seeking $500,000 in damages and what the claim says is his rightful promotion to superintendent.
“He has been recognized and decorated for this work. But that’s on a surface level,” Biring’s lawyer, Stephanie DiGiuseppe says. “The undercurrent of what he has experienced has been the reprisal, the overt hostility.”
Peel police deny the allegations brought forward by Biring.
Retaliation for speaking out, claim says
Biring began his career with Peel Regional Police in 1990, and was promoted to his current rank of inspector in 2014. He has served in a number of bureaus, including criminal investigation and homicide.
DiGiuseppe says Biring worked to remove systemic barriers faced by people from diverse backgrounds within the police service, including by contributing to the force’s diversity outreach efforts, authoring a 2012 equal opportunity report and by joining the force’s diversity support group.
In February 2016, he testified before the HRTO in support of another Peel police officer, Staff Sgt. Baljiwan Sandhu.
The decision, from adjudicator Bruce Best, found that Sandhu was discriminated against on the basis of race in being denied a promotion. Best says Sandhu’s race was “indirectly” a factor in not being recommended for promotion since his work in portfolios primarily addressing South Asian issues was “not highly regarded within the service.”
In Biring’s testimony, he spoke about the undervaluing of diversity and South Asian policing within the service, and detailed the use of racial slurs by others within the service, according to the decision.
Biring’s claim says since testifying at the hearing, he has experienced retaliation for speaking out. His legal team says Biring applied for the position of superintendent eight times and was denied each time, most recently in July of 2023.
The claim also states he’s been denied professional development opportunities as recently as April of this year.
“He has simply not advanced through the service as would be expected, we say, as a direct result of his public efforts to address equality problems in the service and the hostility that those efforts have met,” DiGiuseppe says.
Police deny allegations
The claim has not yet been heard by the HRTO.
Responses to the complaint have not yet been filed with the tribunal, but a spokesperson for Peel police says the service denies the allegations outlined in Biring’s claim.
“Peel Regional Police is committed to providing a respectful workplace to all its members,” spokesperson Richard Chin says in the email.
“As this matter is before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, we will be responding to the claim through the appropriate channels.”
Robert Serpe, the executive director of the Peel Police Services Board, says in an email it would be “inappropriate to comment” since the matter is before the tribunal.
Biring is a member of the Peel police’s seniors officer’s association. President Tony Vantura says the union has no comment at this time.
‘Roadblocks to advancement’
Biring’s claim also singles out former police chief Jennifer Evans, noting she “was responsible for the supervision, training, direction and control of police officers” until her retirement in 2019.
The claim alleges Evans was looking for a way to reprimand Biring and did so when she made the decision to “seize control” over prosecution against Biring when he faced two misconduct charges under the Police Services Act, both of which he was eventually cleared of.
The allegations against Biring came from a civilian police recruit who complained to the chief’s office about Biring’s conduct during an interview in 2016.
Biring was found not guilty of one of the charges but was convicted of the other, which he appealed. The Ontario Civilian Police Commission denied his appeal in 2021, but the following year, he was cleared of that charge when his abuse of process motion was granted and the charge was stayed.
DiGuiseppe says Biring fighting the misconduct charges was “incredibly damaging personally and professionally” and that even though her client was cleared, “he still continues to experience roadblocks to advancement.”
CBC Toronto attempted to contact Evans in multiple ways, including through three of her previous lawyers, police organizations and through phone numbers sources say were associated with the former chief.
CBC tried to find updated contact information for Evans through online phone listings and property searches, but was unsuccessful.
Chin, Peel police’s spokesperson, denied all the allegations laid out in Biring’s claim, including specific allegations related to Evans that were sent to the police service by CBC.
Bigger issue, expert says
Biring’s complaint sheds light on a larger, systemic issue in police culture, according to Tandeep Sidhu, a sociology PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo who researches issues in policing, including the use of force and racism.
He says racialized officers often receive pushback within their own police service because of the idea that they’re only being promoted because of their race — something he says is part of “broader symptom of the vengeance directed towards diversity, equity and inclusion within society.”
Sidhu says racialized officers often don’t speak out because they know there is a penalty associated with doing so.
“They’re going to be ostracized from the group … [for] basically violating that element of police culture, a culture that tries to insulate itself from criticism,” he added.
Sidhu says for real change to take place, police services must work with researchers who will look critically at their force to help identify issues.
DiGuiseppe says Biring hopes the complaint will bring change within the police service and is asking the HRTO to order an independent investigation into how Peel police deal with complaints of reprisal by racialized officers.
“His motivations are not to hurt the service, they are to improve the service and improve the experience of South Asian officers,” Diguiseppe says.