Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 02/99) - The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal spent much of this week learning about the history of women's work and systematic discrimination in the workplace.

The tribunal was in Yellowknife to open a hearing involving the Public Service Alliance of Canada versus the government of the Northwest Territories over the 10-year-old pay-equity dispute.

As his first witness -- in what is expected to be at least a year-long hearing -- alliance counsel Andrew Raven called Pat Armstrong, director of the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton University who is a recognized expert in the fields of women's employment and pay-equity issues.

In response to Raven's questioning, Armstrong spoke in detail about the way employment-discrimination against women has developed, how it has been addressed and the difficulty of creating a fair job-classification system.

"The discrimination is systematic and pervasive but often unintended," she said. "It's not just a few employers who are involved because it's often unconscious, and we have to take systematic measures."

Armstrong said that even she sometimes falls victim to subconscious cultural stereotyping -- and can be surprised at the sight of a woman taxi driver or when she discovers that the author of a book she's reading is female.

The territorial pay-equity dispute involves not only pay that the union claims is owed to workers in female-dominated positions but also employment categories that are necessary for concluding collective agreements.

Defending the state

But government lawyer Joy Noonan questioned Armstrong's involvement and the alliance's ability to pursue its case under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

"Our concerns with Dr. Armstrong's testimony were really about its relevance to the case," she said.

"This case concerns women's issues in the North and we wonder about its relevance to the federal human rights act as opposed to a provincial pay-equity act."

The government itself has disputed the tribunal's decision to conduct only the hearing's opening and closing in Yellowknife with the bulk of proceedings to take place in Ottawa, arguing that as it's a territorial issue it should stay North -- off the national stage.

Noonan and Shaleen Woodward, the GNWT's manager for equal pay, both said they looked forward to cross-examining Armstrong when the hearing resumes in Yellowknife for a further two weeks in late August.

But Noonan stressed that while the government is still waiting to understand the nature of the alliance's case against it, she finds it nonetheless fascinating to be part of a hearing dealing with such ground-breaking matters.

"Absolutely," she said, "these issues are of critical importance."