Raj Shoan sues government, former CRTC chairman over firing

Former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan has filed a lawsuit against the federal government and a number of individuals at the CRTC involved in the process that ultimately led to him being fired twice from his position at the regulator. Shoan is asking for millions of dollars in damages from the government in a lawsuit filed last week in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The suit names the Attorney General -- which represents the CRTC, former Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and the federal cabinet -- in asking for $2.5 million in damages. He’s also suing a number of individuals who have since left the CRTC, including former CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais for $1 million. Shoan is also asking for $400,000 from an individual involved in the harassment claim that led to his initial firing, $1 million from Diane Laurin, who conducted the investigation into that claim, and $500,000 from former CRTC secretary general John Traversy. The statement of claim covers much of the same ground as his previous cases fighting against his termination as Ontario commissioner. The claim has yet to be tested in court and the government has yet to file its defence. Shoan was initially fired by the government in 2016, three years into his five-year term. Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s office cited a number of reasons for the termination, including a lack of “collegiality” between Shoan and his CRTC co-workers stemming from an accusation of harassment against him, according to an order-in-council from June 2016. Shoan then launched a number of court challenges. The investigation, finding and related consequences stemming from the harassment claim were set aside by Federal Court justice Russel Zinn. In April 2017, a Federal Court judge found that Shoan was denied procedural fairness and sent the decision to fire him back to the government for reconsideration. Only four days after being reinstated, Shoan was fired again. The harassment complaint didn’t factor into the second decision, according to that order-in-council. Instead, it cited Shoan’s “inappropriate contact with CRTC stakeholders and his lack of recognition of and disregard for the impact of that contact on the reputation and integrity of the CRTC (the inappropriate contact ground)” as well as Shoan’s “responses related to his refusal to respect internal CRTC processes and practices for meeting its obligations under the Access to Information Act and his negative public statements about the CRTC.” Shoan applied for a judicial review of his second firing. When that request was denied, he filed another appeal in June. In the statement of claim filed Oct. 31, Shoan said during his time at the CRTC, he was treated differently than the other commissioners, including being denied media training, being given a “travel and conference budget that was substantially less than every other Commissioner,” and being the only commissioner prohibited from international travel. The Wire Report has reached out to the federal government for comment, which has yet to respond.

Raj Shoan sues government, former CRTC chairman over firing

Brief | November 9, 2018

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Raj Shoan sues government, former CRTC chairman over firing

Brief | November 9, 2018

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