'It has mentally and emotionally destroyed me': Former Vancouver Canucks coaching staffer files human rights complaint
Two months after being fired, a former member of the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff has filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal against the hockey team over alleged discrimination.
In a 20-page document posted to Twitter Sunday night, Rachel Doerrie outlines why she believes she was terminated based on her mental illness and physical disability on Sept. 27.
“The past 2 months has been very hard for me,” the 26-year-old wrote in her post. “It has mentally and emotionally destroyed me. I feel broken. I am done hiding.”
Doerrie explains in her complaint that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2018, the same year she learned she had a heart condition known as vasovagal syncope and a leaky heart valve.
She says she informed the Vancouver Canucks of her disabilities when the team offered her a job as an analyst with the coaching staff. Doerrie accepted the position with the understanding that she would be provided a safe and healthy work environment, according to her complaint.
“It was important to Ms. Doerrie that this issue be addressed at the outset of any employment relationship, as Ms. Doerrie was considering employment opportunities with multiple NHL teams and she did not wish to commence a new job with a team that would not be respectful, considerate, or accommodating of her health conditions,” the complaint reads.
According to Doerrie, her trouble with the team began when she was offered a promotion to analyst/assistant video coach.
"The working environment actually with the coaching staff was fantastic. They are really supportive, they are very open minded,” Doerrie said in an interview with CTV News.
But she says the promotion seemed to upset Emilie Castonguay, the team’s assistant general manager.
Doerrie alleges she was told by Castonguay that she was not mentally fit for the job, in response to Doerrie’s reposting of an article about her own promotion, which her friend and reporter Patrick Johnston wrote for the Province.
In the wake of the article being published on Sept. 19, Doerrie claims Castonguay began ignoring her and triggering mental health episodes, concluding that Castonguay stoked the flames that led to her eventual firing eight days later by speaking poorly about her social media behaviour with senior staff and the human resources department.
Castonguay denied the allegations in a statement to CTV News.
“I take a lot of pride in my work with the Vancouver Canucks, being a good leader, a person of high moral character, and always respecting and putting my co-workers first,” Castonguay wrote in a statement to CTV News.
“These allegations by Ms. Doerrie are absolutely not true and her allegations of what I said to her are false and inaccurate. At no time was Ms. Doerrie treated differently due to gender, a mental disability or a physical condition.“
Castonguay also says she isn’t commenting on the issue any further, as it is a legal matter.
Employment lawyer Lindsay Waddell, who is not involved with any of the parties in this complaint, says if it is substantiated the tribunal could award money for lost wages, and more.
"Things the tribunal can do that are a little bit different are that it can award – and it commonly does – what are called damages for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect,” she said. “That is a lump sum designed to compensate the individual for the impact it had on them."
Canucks Sports & Entertainment also released a statement responding to the human rights complaint.
“We strongly disagree with the allegations brought forth by Ms. Doerrie. Our organization provided Ms. Doerrie with all the necessary resources, support and opportunities to succeed in her role. We acted in good faith and abided by our contractual obligations, both during and after Ms. Doerrie’s employment with the organization.”
The BC Human Rights Tribunal will now evaluate the complaint to see if it meets the tribunal’s criteria.
Typically, if a complaint is deemed to meet the criteria, the complainant and the respondents could agree to mediation, choose to settle, or proceed to a hearing.
Doerrie said she is not interested in mediation and would like to have a hearing before the tribunal .
“This is not about revenge, it’s not about money,” she said. “It’s about trying to change something that is long overdue and frankly, nothing is going to change unless people speak up.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.