Racial discrimination complaint boost
News that a racial discrimination complaint against the Bank of Bermuda has been referred to a Board of Inquiry by the Human Rights Commission has met with a positive response from the Opposition United Bermuda Party.
"Justice will prevail and it's good to see that this is not just being swept under the carpet," said UBP MP Alan Marshall, whose shadow portfolio included the Human Rights Commission when the saga began almost two years ago.
But concerns remain that the public will never know the truth behind allegations that former Human Affairs Minister Terry Lister improperly interfered with the case, causing it to be unfairly dismissed in the first case.
The Hardell Group took its case to the Supreme Court when its complaint against the bank was dismissed, even though the Human Rights Commission had written to him saying his case had some merit and was being referred to a Board of Inquiry.
The court ordered that the complaint be heard by the Commission, but the parties were unable to agree on whether it should start at the beginning or at the Board of Inquiry stage, and went back to court for a decision.
Last week the Human Rights Commission wrote to Hardell and the bank saying that the case would after all be heard by a Board of Inquiry.
Mr. Marshall, who called last year for a complete investigation into why the process was derailed in the first place, repeated the call yesterday.
"I was very concerned from the beginning as to how it got off track and I'm still very concerned," Mr. Marshall said.
"And I would have thought the public ought to be concerned because the Human Rights Commission is one which by its very nature should be apolitical and therefore protecting our individual citizens rights under the rule of law. And therefore one hopes that the Board of Inquiry will not only put the complainant's case back on track but should also investigate how it got off track in the first place because the people of Bermuda ought to know that."
He said the news that the complaint would be heard by the Board of Inquiry was a step in the right direction.
"I have always maintained that there were two issues to this case - one was getting the investigation back on track so the man (Harold Darrell) would have his complaint fully investigated and either be dismissed because there was no case or some other type of conclusion. And, two, how it got off track in the first place when one considers the history - which is that the case was seen to have merit by the Commission in the beginning.
"And I still maintain that today... Now this particular resolution is purely one of getting the complaint back through the process then it's better to have half the cake than none at all. But I still feel very concerned that there may have been political interference in the first place and that in and of itself needs to be addressed to ensure this never happens again."
Former Human Rights Commission executive officer is considering legal action against the Government.
Sen Darrell served just six months as the Commission's executive officer. He claimed in a Supreme Court affidavit that the Mr. Lister's actions amounted to discrimination and placed him in a `toxic, poisoned work environment with the Minister'.