Ten years ago, Ali Tahmourpour, an Iranian-born Canadian, was accepted into the RCMP's training program for cadets. He flunked out after 12 weeks and has been fighting the decision ever since. He believes he was a victim of discrimination based on his background and religion (he is Muslim) and deserves another chance. The RCMP maintains he was dismissed because of poor performance.
Last year, in a high-profile decision, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal declared victory for the would-be Mountie. It ordered the RCMP to give him another shot and to pay him at least half a million dollars - an amount that was meant to cover several years of back pay, plus promotions. The force was also ordered to develop a cultural-sensitivity program.
Rights groups hailed the decision, which drew sympathetic coverage across the country. "People come to Canada to escape oppression, and you hope not to have to deal with that oppression again," Mr. Tahmourpour was quoted as saying. "I just hope that after this, the RCMP can again become a national icon that we can be proud of."
Almost no one covered what happened next. The RCMP appealed to the Federal Court, and last month a judge threw the whole thing out for lack of evidence. He found that the entire case against the Mounties rested on Mr. Tahmourpour's feelings and perceptions. "A finding of discrimination must require more than just a complainant's own perception that he has been identified as different," he wrote. He ordered the human-rights tribunal to start all over again.
The Mounties are by no means blameless on such matters, and have made their fair share of settlements. But some visible-minority Mounties want it known that they have no sympathy at all for the complainant in this case.
"As a high-ranking member of the RCMP and a visible minority, I was relieved by the recent decision," says one of them, who doesn't want his name used because members of the force aren't supposed to comment. "In my two decades with the RCMP, I have seen a number of visible minorities advance through the ranks and in some cases minorities have even set precedents for early promotions. I have never felt I was treated any differently because of the colour of my skin. Remedies through the human-rights commission should be reserved for true victims of discrimination and not those who are plagued with performance issues."
In the meantime, our courts and tribunals have spent more than a decade chewing over one man's 12 weeks in boot camp - with no resolution in sight. Mr. Tahmourpour says he will appeal the latest decision. If he wins, he can sign up for boot camp again. If he loses, the case will go back for another tribunal hearing.
This is not the first time Mr. Tahmourpour has been a human-rights litigant. In the mid-1990s, he lodged a complaint about discrimination he had allegedly suffered in his job as a student customs inspector. The rights commission declined to hear it, so he appealed twice in Federal Court, and was twice rejected.
After he washed out of the RCMP, he complained to the human-rights commission. Again, he was rejected, for lack of evidence, and again he appealed to the Federal Court. On the second appeal, he found a sympathetic judge who agreed with him, and ordered the tribunal to hear the case. Mr. Tahmourpour is now batting 2 for 8. He is so distressed that he hasn't held a steady job since the Mounties failed him 10 years ago.
We all believe in fairness, equality and due process. But what we have in this country is due process run amok. Mr. Tahmourpour's lawyer, Paul Champ, says it's not unusual for human-rights cases to drag on for a decade. That can't be fair to anyone, least of all to taxpayers who are footing most of the bills. It's impossible to tell how much money Mr. Tahmourpour's unfortunate experience has cost the system. The cost to its credibility is even higher.