Tribunal to reconsider complaint of former union president

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has agreed to reconsider a discrimination complaint by a former labour leader against the largest federal public service union in the country.

In July, the tribunal had originally dismissed the complaint by Alisha Kang, the former president of the Union of National Employees (UNE), which she had filed against the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), a larger umbrella union of which the UNE is a component. She claimed PSAC discriminated against her based on several grounds, including race, ancestry and gender identity.

In its original decision, the tribunal had found Kang had abandoned her application as she failed to reply to filings. But adjudicator Craig Mazerolle has now agreed to rescind that decision as Kang had only been sent one warning before her complaint was dismissed.

“The applicant has shown that she has not abandoned the Application, and she has a credible explanation for her prior non-compliance with the Tribunal’s orders,” Mazerolle wrote in the decision released on Oct. 7.

In her complaint, Kang sought $20 million in compensation due to “the impact to my activist career and the false report they release to media publically lybching me (sic).”

Kang also hoped to change “rules within the union and removal of authority to selfinvestigate (sic).”

Mazerolle’s decision pointed to some confusion on Kang’s part over whether a lawyer, David Shiller, who has represented the UNE on another matter, could represent her on the human rights complaint.

“I was not aware that I should not list the applicant’s legal counsel on the HRTO application. I am not a lawyer and did not understand that listing counsel incorrectly could affect the Tribunal’s communications or the processing of my case,” Kang wrote.

In response to Kang’s complaint, which listed Shiller as her lawyer, PSAC sought to have him removed from the complaint, arguing he would have a “clear conflict of interest.”

Shiller is no longer representing Kang, according to the new tribunal decision.

In a statement, PSAC said that the union “takes any concerns raised by its members seriously and has established processes under the PSAC Constitution to ensure that members’ rights and responsibilities are addressed appropriately.”

“To protect the privacy of those involved and preserve the integrity of our processes, we will not comment on individual cases or ongoing legal proceedings, including allegations that are currently before the courts.”

Last October, Kang was ousted as president of the UNE when PSAC took the drastic move of placing the smaller union in a trusteeship. This mechanism allowed PSAC to take control of the UNE, removing its elected national executive. Complaints about Kang’s leadership were among the reasons cited by PSAC for the move, according to a letter sent to Kang by PSAC president Sharon DeSousa.

The letter also listed membership complaints over “a lack of support, response and representation by UNE,” as well as “significant staff turnover.”

In the months leading up to the UNE being put in trusteeship, the union struggled to represent members who had filed complaints with the federal labour board against the government. The Ottawa Citizen reported that national labour relations officers started departing the UNE in early 2025, and that by April, there were only two active such officers working at the union, which had previously employed eight.

After she was ousted, Kang filed an application at the Superior Court of Justice in the hope of rolling back PSAC’s decision.

In August, the Ottawa Citizen reported that PSAC had suspended Kang’s union membership.

Kang did not return requests for comment by deadline.

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