Two Canadian firefighters face allegations of racism after a paramedic claims they refused to treat a critically injured indigenous woman.
The accusations come amid an internal investigation into complaints of a pattern of racist behavior involving members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, the Winnipeg Free Press reports. Department officials were made aware of the concerns over the summer, but they did nothing to address them, according to leaked emails from at least one whistleblower.
A paramedic told department leadership of inappropriate and racist behavior by members for the first time in an Aug. 31 email to Fire-Paramedic Chief John Lane, according to the Free Press. A follow-up complaint was sent less than a month later, and that email pointed to racist comments on social media that had been written by members.
"I brought forward a number of examples of racist posts made by different members of the WFPS and names of those who liked it, shared it and condoned these posts," the paramedic wrote. "I mentioned how one in particular was from a white supremacist website."
According to the paramedic, officials did not discipline the members cited in the complaints, and in fact, those individuals were promoted. Lane, however, did send out two department memos—one in June and another last month—about the concerns.
This month, the paramedic contacted Lane a third time about continued racist behavior among members. The latest incident involved the care of an indigenous woman who had been stabbed in the throat.
Calling the actions by the accused firefighters "racially motivated," the paramedic claims he was left alone with the patient and given no support in her care.
According to the paramedic's email to Lane obtained by the Free Press, one of the individuals mentioned in his complaint is on the executive board of the Winnipeg firefighters union. The other firefighter identified by the paramedic also had been mentioned in a previous complaint.
"It is my belief that I was purposefully left alone with a critical patient and no assistance was provided to me due to (the) recent racial complaints I have brought forward to the WFPS," the paramedic wrote regarding the October incident.
The department told the Free Press that an investigation into the allegations began in September and that it takes the accusations seriously. But officials would not comment about any findings of the investigation, which is still ongoing.
"We can advise that an external investigator has been engaged to assist in the review of this most recent incident," a spokeswoman wrote in a statement to the Free Press.
