Ex-official speaks out about alleged racism at Indian Oil and Gas Canada

If Yvette Zentner could turn back time, the career public servant would give her younger self one piece of advice: "Don't apply at IOGC."

That's a reference to Indian Oil and Gas Canada, an Alberta-based federal agency that oversees fossil fuel development on First Nations lands. It's been roiled in recent years by reports of "staggering" racism and a toxic work environment.

But Zentner, a member of the Siksika Nation east of Calgary, did apply at IOCG and spent 27 years with the agency. She's suing her former employer as one of two lead plaintiffs in a proposed class-action lawsuit, first filed in 2021.

The lawsuit's claims of systemic discrimination are unproven and being tested through a process known as certification. The federal government rejects the case and wants it dismissed entirely on jurisdictional grounds.

"As far as IOGC goes, it wasn't a good experience for me," Zentner said in an interview from her home in Okotoks, Alta.

After retiring in May, Zenter is sharing her story of unrealized ambitions and crushed hopes publicly — a story lawyers put forward as emblematic of Indigenous staffers' experience at IOGC.

"I thought this was going to be a really good job opportunity for me," she recalled.

"But I soon found out that wasn't going to be that easy. I encountered racism, systemic racism, the first day that I was there."

She describes being arbitrarily denied training, suffering persistent harassment by a superior — her court affidavit says they were found guilty of doing so by outside investigators in 2015 — and eventually giving up hope altogether.

"I was just pigeonholed there for almost 18 years," she said.

"I think opportunities would have come easily if I wasn't Indigenous, and possibly if I wasn't a woman."

She is joined in the case by others who say they also entered the bureaucracy eager for change only to find the environment discriminatory and harmful.

"There were so many times where I drove home crying, where I just wanted to quit," said Zentner.

"But I couldn't and I didn't, so I stuck it out. And the day I was entitled to my full pension, I got out of there."

Cross examination re-traumatizing, fellow plaintiff says

Justice Department lawyers recently cross-examined Zentner and co-lead plaintiff Letitia Wells, a former IOGC contractor.

"It re-traumatized me," said Wells, who is Blackfoot from the Blood Tribe, also known as Kainai Nation, of the experience.

Wells is a day school survivor and a survivor of physical, sexual and domestic abuse, as well as a descendant of multiple generations of residential school survivors, her court affidavit says.

She alleges she was subjected to sexual harassment by a top executive. In cross-examination, she had to re-read her allegations and relive the alleged incidents.

"After I read these sexual allegations, I couldn't believe how I was impacted by them, because again, I'm up against a powerful institution that's trying to discredit me," Wells told CBC Indigenous.

The government argues the employees can't sue because their internal grievance rights replace their right to take legal action.

Wells calls the government's bid to dismiss the case on that technicality "shameless."

"The mechanisms within Indian Oil and Gas Canada failed. The grievance processes that they have only service authority," she said. 

Both plaintiffs say the organization is rife with division and fear of retaliation, pointing to a report produced by third-party consultants in December 2021 and since filed in court. The report branded the workplace "a minefield" of racist remarks and widely perceived toxicity.

The firm reported that when a consultant asked an IOGC employee if he knew any Indigenous people, he replied, "Only the ones I step over in the street."

Earlier this year, IOGC hired the former long-serving chief of Onion Lake Cree Nation, Wallace Fox, as chief executive officer. Fox has faced allegations of domestic violence, which included a guilty plea in 2016 for assault against a former common-law partner.

Zentner feels that history is something Indigenous Services Canada should have taken in consideration during the hiring process.

CBC News contacted Fox for an interview but was referred to Indigenous Services Canada media relations, which responded to questions in writing.

"The CEO and executive director hiring process adhered to the Public Service Employment Act," wrote spokesperson Eric Head.

He said IOGC adheres to workplace harassment and violence prevention policy and regulations but declined to comment further for privacy reasons.

Speaking generally, he said the agency takes all allegations seriously and is committed to ensuring the health, safety and well-being of all employees, outlining seven steps IOGC has taken to address the alleged problems.

"IOGC continues to take the necessary steps to help ensure that the workplace is safe, respectful, and free of harassment and discrimination," he wrote.