"Hero" Dr. Hakam Bhullar Says The Apology Was Long Overdue And Wishes To Remove One More Tainted CVBC Official Dr. Avtar Ubhi!

Now that the College of Veterinarians of B.C. (CVBC) has apologized to Dr. Hakam Bhullar and his family for 'professional and personal distress' caused by the 2009 revoking of his licence and now it's the BC government's turn to officially apologize to Dr. Bhullar and the rest of the abused Indo-Canadian Veterinarians. Under the BC Liberals – both the Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark administrations have stood by and supported the racist CVBC through more than a decade of systematic  abuse. They need to own up to the Indo-Canadian veterinarians and APOLOGIZE. ​"Justice is served," Bhullar told the LINK, acknowledging that there still work needs to be done. "After 13 years, at least the college has officially apologized. I'm happy, I accept the apology but the College has to be sincere and remove all tainted individuals like Dr. Avtar Ubhi, who is on the College's Investigations Committee (IC)." Bhullar said the IC is a very powerful committee and that the members on this committee need to be clean and Dr. Ubhi referred to Dr. Bhullar an "evil" and a "mastermind", alleging that Dr. Ubhi was part of the same "gang" who put him and all the abused Indo-Canadian veterinarians through hell.

By R. Paul Dhillon – DESIBUZZCanada / DESIBUZZbc Founder-Editor

VANCOUVER – Indo-Canadian Veterinarians have faced the most extreme form of racism and prejudice at the hands of College of Veterinarians of BC (CVBC), formerly known as British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association (BCVMA), the very same organizations that governs them, making it akin to a slave owner providing justice and fairness to slaves.

While the provincial Liberal government from the days of Gordon Campbell and recently under Premier Christy Clark has stood by and supported the “racist” CVBC, despite mountains of evidence against the racist culprits heading the power structure of the CVBC, but the Indo-Canadian veterinarians under the heroic leadership of Dr. Hakam Bhullar has fought them at every turn, spending millions from their own pocket to seek justice.

And following a huge Human Rights Tribunal victory, which found that the BC veterinarians regulator CVBC had systematically discriminated against the Indo-Canadian veterinarians – the tide began to turn which ended this week with recognition and admission that in fact the College had done great wrongs and put people like Dr. Bhullar and his family through hell – for which it categorically apologized.

CVBC also dropped its quest for a judicial review of a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruling that found among a litany of abused that, “Race-based stereotypes played a role in BCVMA’s dealings with the Complainants, including negative generalized views about the credibility and ethics of Indo-Canadians in relation to their veterinary practices. Persons of influence in the BCVMA held such views, and the BCVMA knew this or ought reasonably to have known this, but largely ignored and condoned the expression of such views. A poisoned relationship developed between the BCVMA and the Complainants, which the BCVMA blamed entirely on those individuals claiming they were “playing the race card”.

The College issued an apology to the 13 men acknowledging "its past mistakes in the standards, inspection and discipline arenas."

The following apology relating to the findings in the Human Rights Tribunal Decision was posted on the CVBC website this week:

"In the spirit of moving forward and acknowledging the findings of discrimination made by the Human Rights Tribunal in Brar and others v. BC Veterinary Medical Association and others, the College accepts the findings of discrimination against Indo-Canadian veterinarians and apologizes to all of the complainants for the loss of dignity, pain and suffering caused by the College’s conduct, including Dr. Hakam Bhullar and his family who suffered professional and personal distress by the College’s removal of his license in December 2009. The College acknowledges its past mistakes in the standards, inspection and discipline arenas. The College is now working to improve its processes and foster positive, constructive and forward-looking relationships with the complainants and all registrants.

"Justice is served," Bhullar told the LINK, acknowledging that there still work needs to be done. "After 13 years, at least the college has officially apologized. I'm happy, I accept the apology but the College has to be sincere and remove all tainted individuals like Dr. Avtar Ubhi, who is on the College's Investigations Committee (IC)."

Bhullar said the IC is a very powerful committee and that the members on this committee need to be clean and Dr. Ubhi referred to Dr. Bhullar an "evil" and a "mastermind", alleging that Dr. Ubhi was part of the same "gang" who put him and all the abused Indo-Canadian veterinarians through hell.

Now that the College of Veterinarians of B.C. (CVBC) has apologized to Dr. Hakam Bhullar and his family for 'professional and personal distress' caused by the 2009 revoking of his licence and now it's the BC government's turn to officially apologize to Dr. Bhullar and the rest of the abused Indo-Canadian Veterinarians. Under the BC Liberals – both the Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark administrations have stood by and supported the racist CVBC through more than a decade of systematic  abuse. They need to own up to the Indo-Canadian veterinarians and APOLOGIZE. ​

Bhullar also wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to his legal team of Clea Parfitt and Aleem Bharmal, who did a fantastic job of layout of the abuse Bhullar and his fellow Indo-Canadian veterinarians suffered. "They worked day and night and their hard work and our undying spirit paid and we got this justice. We are so proud 

of both Clea and Aleem," Bhullar said.

Indo-Canadian Veterinarians have faced the most extreme form of racism and prejudice at the hands of College of Veterinarians of BC (CVBC), formerly known as British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association (BCVMA), the very same organizations that is in place to govern them, making it akin to a slave owner providing justice and fairness to slaves. While the provincial Liberal government from the days of Gordon Campbell and now Premier Christy Clark has stood by and supported the “racist” CVBC, despite mountains of evidence against the racist culprits heading the power structure of the CVBC. But in the face of great personal and financial hardships, including depression and hellish nightmares, Dr. Hakam Bhullar and his Indo-Canadian Vets for Justice have finally won a huge vindication, a moral, spiritual and historical victory at the BC Human Rights Tribunal, which has ruled that the BCVMA-CVBC targeted the foreign trained doctors and ran a campaign to discredit them while standing by the “racist” and prejudice members of their governing board.

DESIBUZZCanada / DESIBUZZbc Founder-Editor R. Paul Dhillon has been leading the local press in reporting the story about the abused Indo-Canadian vets.

 

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BIG HUMAN RIGHTS VICTORY!

Dr. Hakam Bhullar And Vets-For-Justice Group Vindicated By Human Rights Tribunal Ruling That BC Veterinary Organization Systematically Discriminated Against Indo-Canadian Vets

BC Liberals Continue To Support “Racist” College of Veterinarians of BC, Which Perpetrated “Extreme Form Of Discrimination” Targeting Minority Veterinarians

PHOTO: Courtesy Vancouver Sun

Indo-Canadian Veterinarians have faced the most extreme form of racism and prejudice at the hands of College of Veterinarians of BC (CVBC), formerly known as British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association (BCVMA), the very same organizations that is in place to govern them, making it akin to a slave owner providing justice and fairness to slaves. While the provincial Liberal government from the days of Gordon Campbell and now Premier Christy Clark has stood by and supported the “racist” CVBC, despite mountains of evidence against the racist culprits heading the power structure of the CVBC. But in the face of great personal and financial hardships, including depression and hellish nightmares, Dr. Hakam Bhullar and his Indo-Canadian Vets for Justice have finally won a huge vindication, a moral, spiritual and historical victory at the BC Human Rights Tribunal, which has ruled that the BCVMA-CVBC targeted the foreign trained doctors and ran a campaign to discredit them while standing by the “racist” and prejudice members of their governing board. DESIBUZZCanada / DESIBUZZbc Founder-Editor R. Paul Dhillon has been leading the local press in reporting the story about the abused Indo-Canadian vets.

By R. Paul Dhillon

VANCOUVER – Indo-Canadian Veterinarians have faced the most extreme form of racism and prejudice at the hands of College of Veterinarians of BC (CVBC), formerly known as British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association (BCVMA), the very same organizations that is in place to govern them, making it akin to a slave owner providing justice and fairness to slaves.

While the provincial Liberal government from the days of Gordon Campbell and now Premier Christy Clark has stood by and supported the “racist” CVBC, despite mountains of evidence against the racist culprits heading the power structure of the CVBC.

But in the face of great personal and financial hardships, including depression and hellish nightmares, Dr. Hakam Bhullar and his Indo-Canadian Vets for Justice have finally won a huge vindication, a moral, spiritual and historical victory at the BC Human Rights Tribunal, which has ruled that the BCVMA-CVBC targeted the foreign trained doctors and ran a campaign to discredit them while standing by the “racist” and prejudice members of their governing board.

“I note that none of those who engaged in making raced-based comments or relaying such comments were sanctioned for doing so. The BCVMA’s Code of Ethics is clear that members should not engage in race-based negative commentary about their colleagues. Despite this clear provision, the BCVMA allowed such commentary to continue, thus suggesting that it believed such commentary or could reasonably be perceived as condoning such commentary, Tribunal Judge Judy Parrack wrote in her decision.

“I accept that the BCVMA took no steps to directly investigate the allegations after hearing these rumours by pursing its own disciplinary complaint. I find that it strains credulity to assume that such rumours had no adverse impact on its views of Dr. Bhullar and the other Complainants. Further, it was clear that the BCVMA relied on unsubstantiated rumour to create a list of those facilities that would be subject to unscheduled inspections, which were predominately those of the Complainant group, discussed below,” Parrack further ruled.

“I agree that Dr. Bhullar would have perceived the BCVMA as targeting him throughout this investigation and that it expended significant resources in doing so.”

DESIBUZZCanada / DESIBUZZbc Founder-Editor R. Paul Dhillon has been leading the local press in reporting the story about the abused Indo-Canadian vets, who faced such harsh form of racism and discrimination from the White power players of the BCVMA-CVBC.

“Go back to Pakistan”, “Asshole”, “Sociopath”, “

Gone are the days when we could go there with a torch and burn it down, a quicker way”, are some of the racist and abusive comments made by the upper echelon of the CVBC, the BC government appointed Association that is supposed to be fair and balanced towards all of its members.

The human rights decision came after the longest hearing in the history of BC Human Rights, lasting 380 days and costing the Indo-Vets more than $1.5 million and the CVBC more than $7 million, is on its way, taking nearly three years alone for the decision after the last submissions were made by both sides in May 2012.

The case pitted Drs. Arminder Brar, Hakam Bhullar, Bhupinder Johar, Paramjeet Sidhu, Omparkashrkash Parbhakar, Dalbir Benipal, Tejpal S. Bhatia, Jogpreet S. Jagpal, Manjinder Hans, Prvitar Bajwa, Rameez Sharma, Naresh Kumar Joshi and Sarjit S. Grewal  (Complainants) against the British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association and their former administrator Valerie Osborne.

The Tribunal ruled that “Race-based stereotypes played a role in BCVMA’s dealings with the Complainants, including negative generalized views about the credibility and ethics of Indo-Canadians in relation to their veterinary practices. Persons of influence in the BCVMA held such views, and the BCVMA knew this or ought reasonably to have known this, but largely ignored and condoned the expression of such views. A poisoned relationship developed between the BCVMA and the Complainants, which the BCVMA blamed entirely on those individuals claiming they were “playing the race card”.

Here are some key findings of the tribunal:

* I find that there was no credible evidence that Dr. Bhullar had control over the visas of the Indo-Canadian veterinarians that worked for him. These veterinarians came to Canada as fully educated veterinarians and on the points system. Although English was their second language, they were able to obtain their CQs and, if they chose, were licensed in other provinces or in various states;

*I find that Dr. Bhullar did not take advantage of his business partners. I find the allegations made by Dr. H, which were unsubstantiated as Dr. Hans did not testify, to be based solely on his experience, which is unknown to me. It is true that Dr. Bhullar went into business with many Indo-Canadian veterinarians and sold his interest to his business partner for a profit. There is nothing inappropriate about this and in fact many would see this as an appropriate business model. In my view, making a profit does not equate with inappropriate business practices. If this were the case many institutions would be subject to the claim of inappropriate business activities;

* In the circumstances, it would have been most appropriate for Dr. Ashburner to have stepped down or he should have been asked to step down from the CRC, both as the Chair and a member of the committee, while the Ashburner Recording was investigated. This would have served to address many of the Complainants’ concerns regarding his continued involvement in the processing of their disciplinary complaints, given their perception that Dr. Ashburner might be disposed to find against them based on some preconceived idea of the nature of their practice. I am not persuaded by the evidence that, had Dr. Ashburner been asked to step down pending an investigation, this would have required others in the BCVMA to step down as Dr. Bhullar, and other Complainants, had made allegations against them as well. I find that this was pure speculation on the part of Council;

*In summary, I find that Dr. Ashburner made inappropriate comments, some of which promoted stereotypes based on race, or comments that could reasonably be considered as such. The real issue, however, is the lack of action on the part of the BCVMA, which preferred to assume that Dr. Bhullar would have altered the Ashburner Recording and the Transcript(s) of it instead of conducting a proper investigation into its veracity and Dr. Ashburner’s conduct.

The Complainants argued that the BCVMA’s policies and processes served to discriminated against Indo-Canadian veterinarians in that the English Language Standard applied to only foreign-trained veterinarians, they were subject to unscheduled inspections more frequently than others, matters published on the website involved mainly Indo-Canadian veterinarians, and those disciplinary complaints referred to Inquiry, over a period of years, involved only Indo-Canadian veterinarians. The Complainants argued that this evidence illustrated that systemic discrimination was at play.

And this systemic discrimination was borne out at the trial through mountains of evidence presented that showed a litany of abuses and outright racism directed at Indo-Canadian veterinarians

“This has been the most difficult and most damaging to me personally and professionally part of my life. Only I know the hell I have lived through and continue to live through,” Dr. Bhullar, still emotional with his voice trembling, told The LINK.

“ I’m not even concerned about the financial damage and that has been severe – you know spending our own money when they have the government’s millions – but I have battled depression, anger, hostility that this kind of extreme form of racism can happen in a country like Canada, a country I love and adore and it is my home but oh the hell that it has become for me over the last 10 years due to the actions of these people who held power at the BCVMA

“In the West people talk about extreme Racism as if it only happens in third world countries but we have seen it in the US against minorities but this kind of extreme systemic racism in Canada is unheard of because we are a country that is beyond this kind of hate and targeting based on skin colour and professional status and economic competition. So this is devastating for that reason because it is done by a professional disciplinary and administration body of my life-long passion which has been my love for animals and that is why I chose to become a veterinary cause I wanted to help these God’s living beings because they are as precious as us humans.

“I feel elated but also feel a lot of resentment and anger that no one listened to our concerns – we went to everyone – the politicians and community leaders and many people did back us – I want to Thank journalists like R. Paul Dhillon of the LINK newspaper who has carried our battle to the forefront of our community and the mainstream through his reporting.

“But I’m most disappointed with our Liberal government as they have continued to look the other way in the face such abuse and targeting of us in such an orchestrated manner by BCVMA (now the name is changed) and it has happened all the way from Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark now as the abuse continues and they continue to target us in the same way but with new people who seem to be controlled by the same old people who were forced to leave or left.

“I want the whole system of how they investigate to change and there should be a third-party group of civilians or professionals from other fields who should look at any disciplinary action being launched and there should be a fair process – it is not right in a civil society to be doing this just to put hard working foreign trained Veterinarians out of business and livelihood – I’m one of them  and proud to say that my veterinarian brothers from India and other parts of the world provide excellent service cause they care for their profession and want to show Canadians and pet owners that they can be of great service at affordable prices – that is part of the free economic service.

“My parting words are that the people who did this to us should face much more harsher penalties than they will under the current regime and that they should be made to answer why they did this to us and their licenses should be taken away as punishment,” Bhullar concluded.

Judge also outlined Anti-Discrimination Policy that Complainants want in place:

* The Complainants seek an order that the BCVMA develop an anti-discrimination policy addressing prevention of discrimination or harassment in the delivery of regulatory services, confirming the BCVMA is committed to equal treatment of all registrants and that registrants have a right to be free from discrimination and harassment on the grounds set out in the Code, and addressing racism and discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived disability.

*As a public institution, the BCVMA is subject to the Code’s provisions and it would be prudent for them to have an anti-discrimination policy. I order it to develop, if it has not already done so, an anti-discrimination policy and to post it on its website. The BCVMA is to publish the policy, on its website, within six months from the date of this Decision.

Anti-Discrimination Training

* The Complainants seek an order that the BCVMA retain an external specialist acceptable to the Complainants to institute a training program for all staff, contactors and Council and committee members, to provide sensitivity and anti-discrimination training, including anti-racism and disability awareness components, addressing the requirements of the Code and the policy set out above. The Complainants seek an order that this training be conducted within three months of this Decision and be repeated once per year thereafter.

*The Complainants also seek an order that all staff and contractors of the BCVMA receive intensive training in cross-cultural communication and conflict management and resolution, such as the multi-day courses offered at the BC Justice Institute.

* I order that the BCVMA provide a one-day training program for its staff, contractors, volunteers and various committee members, including Council, within six months from the date of the release of this Decision, which will have specific components targeting race-based discrimination and those issues arising with respect to persons with disabilities, including the process for accommodating such disabilities. This will ensure that remedial purposes of the Code are achieved with respect to the discrimination that I have found and discussed in this Decision.