Tribunal hearing scheduled for case involving City of Nanaimo and former CFO

A human rights complaint involving the City of Nanaimo and its former chief financial officer will head to a public hearing later this year.

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has scheduled a public hearing in October for a complaint launched by Victor Mema against the City of Nanaimo.

Mema is accusing the municipality of discriminating against his ancestry, race, place of origin and colour according to tribunal documents.

The hearing is set to take place between Oct. 21-25 at an undetermined location according to the tribunal’s website.

Mema told the News Bulletin he could not comment on the situation while the city could not be reached for comment.

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The former chief financial officer was hired by the city in September 2015 and fired in May 2018 following a two-month suspension. The city, at the time, never disclosed the reason for his suspension, but announced shortly afterward that it was conducting an independent investigation regarding allegations of “significant concern.” It was later revealed that Mema used a city purchase card to book 11 separate flights for personal use between July 2016 and September 2017.

It’s not the first time Mema has filed a human rights complaint against his former employer. In 2016, Mema accused the District of Sechelt of discriminating against him because of his ethnicity and skin colour. Mema had been employed as chief financial officer with the district between 2013-2015. The tribunal dismissed that complaint a year later.