Quebec aerospace worker alleges discrimination due to U.S. rule

U.S. government bans workers from certain countries from working on defence contracts

A Venezuelan-born aerospace worker has launched a human rights complaint, alleging he was turned down for a job in Quebec due to security rules set out by the United States.

Jaime Vargas, 52, and a father of four, said he was on an internship when the Americans added Venezuela to its list of countries whose citizens are banned from working on U.S. military contracts, as set out by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

There are now more than 20 countries on the list, including China, Cuba, Haiti and Vietnam.

Vargas graduated from the Ecole des métiers de l’aérospatiale de Montréal last year and started an internship program at Bell Helicopter Textron on Aug. 14, 2006. Vargas received positive reviews from colleagues and superiors during the four weeks he was there, according to a statement by the not-for-profit Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR), which is filing the human rights complaint on his behalf. The statement also said that, on one occasion, Vargas and another intern of Arabic background were not shown a computer program due to ITAR.

Fo Niemi, executive director of CRARR, said one of his objectives in filing this complaint is to investigate the extent to which individuals are affected by ITAR.

“Every company in the aerospace industry in Canada is affected,” said Niemi.

About 30 people have contacted the centre with similar experiences, but have decided not to make their complaints public, he said.

“We hear about students not being able to get internships so they can finish their programs. We even hear of students in the classroom who are sometimes told, ‘We can’t show you this specific computer program because of where you were born.’ At one company, we’re told that even cleaners are being forbidden to work in certain areas, which leads to their hours being reduced, because of where they were born.”

Michael Legault, director of business development at Bell Helicopter Textron, said the company didn’t discriminate against Vargas in not offering him a job after his internship.

“In the case of this particular person, he was not offered a job because he didn’t have the right skills. In fact, in that class, he was not the only one not offered a job. It had nothing to do with where he came from. It had nothing to do with ITAR,” said Legault, adding that the internship was merely for a couple of weeks.

Legault said Bell Helicopter Textron recently tried to get ITAR exemptions for 25 employees, but was turned down.

“But nothing happened to them because they never had access to ITAR technology and data,” said Legault.

He said the fact these 25 employees simply continued working on other projects indicates the company accommodates affected individuals “all the time.”

Meanwhile, another case involving the impact of ITAR is still before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, with hearings scheduled for May. That case centres around a group of six employees working at General Motors Defence in London, Ont., who were sent home in August 2002. At the time, GM Defence, now owned by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, had a contract to produce light armoured vehicles for the U.S. Army.

These six individuals alleged that “the company didn’t allow Canadian employees with dual citizenship to work on certain defence equipment contracts,” said Jeff Poirier, spokesperson for the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which is now representing the six employees. He said the commission has received other similar complaints but these didn’t go forward.

Neither General Dynamics Land Systems Canada nor its lawyer agreed to comment on the case. Poirier said the company’s contention is that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to decide on this matter, as it involves a federal law.

“In our view, whether you can change the rules or not is not for us to say. Our position is whether the company could have done something to mitigate the impact,” said Poirier.

ITAR also has an impact on Canadian Department of National Defence employees with dual citizenship. The federal government has been involved in high-level negotiations and, as of last month, was reporting “significant progress” being made on the issue. The deal, however, will only apply to federal employees, prompting the opposition to accuse the government of abandoning dual nationals in the private sector.

To read the full story, login below.

Not a subscriber?

Start your subscription today!