A national academic group has banned a man from attending its annual meeting for three years after a probe found he showed 鈥渦nconscious bias鈥� against a black scholar who faced false allegations of stealing a laptop.
The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences hired a human-rights investigator after Shelby McPhee told the story of his treatment during the June 2 meeting at the University of British Columbia.
According to a report released Wednesday by the federation, a white man attending the congress questioned McPhee鈥檚 right to be on campus, took photographs of the 26-year-old student and 鈥渋mplicitly accused him, without justification鈥� of stealing his laptop.
鈥淚 think a three-year suspension gives the individual time to consider his actions. After careful consideration, redemption should be available to everybody,鈥� McPhee, a graduate student in political science at Nova Scotia鈥檚 Acadia University, said in an interview Thursday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a step in the right direction.鈥�
The human-rights lawyer who investigated the incident found the respondent, who is not named, discriminated against McPhee on the basis of race. The actions also breached the federation鈥檚 code of conduct on harassment, including 鈥渟talking, following, harassing photography or recording,鈥� the report added.
In a statement, the federation said the investigator found that the respondent 鈥渟ubjected the scholar to heightened suspicion and scrutiny and, in doing so, acted from 鈥榰nconscious bias against him as a black man.鈥� 鈥�
McPhee said a woman who was also involved in the incident wasn鈥檛 a conference delegate and therefore wasn鈥檛 subject to any potential sanctions from the federation.
In addition to the suspension, the federation says it is requiring the respondent to show he has taken steps to increase his awareness of white privilege and its consequences before he鈥檚 allowed back at the congress.
McPhee鈥檚 statements about the incident were initially published by the Black Canadian Studies Association, which noted in an open letter that the RCMP arrived on the UBC campus and found the accusations against McPhee to be false.
The federation says it has revised a theme for the 2020 annual meeting, with the new title being 鈥淏ridging Divides: Confronting Colonialism and Anti-Black racism.鈥�
McPhee says this recommendation is important to him.
鈥淭o put anti-black racism to the forefront means we can have some tough conversations that we鈥檝e been trying to avoid having in sa国际传媒,鈥� he said.
Racial profiling has emerged as a continuing issue for members of Nova Scotia鈥檚 black communities.
In February, Speaker Geoff Regan apologized on behalf of the House of Commons after an apparent case of racial profiling at a Black History Month event aimed at encouraging more black voices in politics. The Federation of Black Canadians said several young participants from Nova Scotia were referred to as 鈥渄ark-skinned people鈥� and asked to leave a parliamentary cafeteria.
