In an April 2 decision in Olusegun v. Canada, 2025 FC 611, the defendant sought an order striking the plaintiff’s amended statement of claim for failure to disclose any reasonable cause of action. The plaintiff’s previous statement of claim was struck in its entirety in December 2024 with leave to amend.
The plaintiff Isaac Olusegun’s claim alleged discrimination against him by the CRA. He applied to a posting advertised as “Business and Accounting Student Opportunities” and was offered a position that he accepted. He claimed that by self-identifying as Black in the employment equity questionnaire, he was “perceived as an individual who could be exploited rather than valued.”
The pool encompassed different job categories. He alleged that all immigrants and minority individuals were placed in the lower SP4 category and said that he was improperly required to upload a resumé, even though no experience was required for the position. The real purpose of the resume, he alleged, was for CRA to racially profile applicants.
The posting did not ask candidates to identify their preferred job categories or desired positions. The plaintiff alleged that this was “to allocate positions on a discriminatory basis.” Over 80 students were hired, with more desirable positions going to white students, whether they had studied accounting or not, he said.
The plaintiff, after starting his job, “noticed that everyone was an immigrant.” During his four-month employment period, he “noticed that those who held more advantageous positions were consistently of Caucasian descent.”
Many white accounting students were alleged to be placed in the higher AU-AU1 roles. Non-qualified white individuals were allegedly assigned to better positions in SP5. The plaintiff claimed he was “placed in a role that did not align with his requirements and was given a lesser position than he deserved solely because he is a person of colour.”
He further claimed that the selection process for pools “permits managers to filter candidates based on race” mirroring “patterns of exploitation and selective racial targeting observed in student recruitment.” He alleged the government “uses the pool system to gather data on applicants and selectively favour certain races for job placements.”
The plaintiff asked for a declaration that the defendant breached the employment contract, was involved in negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent misrepresentation, violated certain Charter rights, and asked for pecuniary damages of $1 million and punitive damages of $700,000, among other things.
In previously striking the claim, the Federal Court had said that suggestions of misrepresentation relating to promises made in the job advertisement and breach of contract were not properly articulated. However, the amended claim identified statements made that constituted negligent misrepresentations, alleging the application process was not equitable and merit-based.
Justice Jocelyne Gagné found that the facts could support a claim for negligent misrepresentation or breach of contract. It was not plain and obvious that these aspects were doomed to fail. In the case where promises were made for job offerings that were not kept, these claims may be viable causes of action.
The plaintiff also made reference to essential elements that demonstrated a possible breach of s. 15 of the Charter. Despite being somewhat vague, the court found that the plaintiff alleged material facts about the situation of people of colour and provided examples. He alleged that Caucasian employees “are systematically being offered roles equivalent to an SP-05 classification, whereas Black employees were kept at an SP-04 level.”
The motion to strike was granted in part because the claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and a violation of s. 6 of the Charter were doomed to fail and sought “a systemic remedy requiring specific performance of the Crown, contrary to statute.”
The defendant was also given time to file a statement of defence.
The plaintiff appeared on his own behalf.
Counsel for the defendant were Taylor Andreas and Alex Dalcourt of the federal Department of Justice.
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