Peel Region says employees have faced harassment, discrimination during pandemic

Peel Region is calling on the public to stop harassing their employees.

The region’s chief administrative officer says as the COVID-19 emergency has progressed, employees have experienced increased incidents of harassment and discrimination including racial slurs.

Janice Baker says the employees subjected to the harassment have been “working long hours for over a year, despite exhaustion and anxiety.”

Everyone wants our communities to go back to normal, but please, don’t take out these frustrations out on @RegionofPeel employees. The increasing harassment, discrimination & racial slurs our employees are facing is very concerning. See my statement here: https://t.co/nhQy0ZlxMY

— Janice Baker (@BakerJaniceM) March 15, 2021

“Everyone wants our communities to go back to normal, but please, do not take out these frustrations on Peel’s employees who are working to keep our community safe,” says Baker.

“At the very heart of their work is their unrelenting drive to keep the residents of Peel healthy and safe. They too, have lost friends and family members, are juggling children at home and parents who need care, have loved ones out of work, and want this pandemic to end”

She is asking anyone who disagrees with the region’s policies to complete a customer feedback card on the Peel Region website.

Peel Region mayors, Bonnie Crombie and Patrick Brown, pressed for a move to the Red Zone last week, calling on Peel’s top doctor to put forth a request to get them out of “Grey-Lockdown.”

Brampton city council unanimously endorsed a motion to be moved into Red-Control “as soon as possible.”

The Ford government ultimately decided not to move Toronto and Peel Region to the red zone, announcing they are loosening capacity limits for weddings, funerals, and church services.