Peel police discriminated against a South Asian-Canadian officer on the basis of his race when he was denied the opportunity for promotion into the senior ranks, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.

Friday’s decision also said that the Peel police force “generally” devalued police work in Peel’s huge South Asian community because it is “associated with the South Asian population.”

Staff Sgt. Baljiwan (BJ) Sandhu, a decorated officer with 28 years of service on the Peel police force, had sought a promotion to inspector in 2013.

“The applicant’s race, ancestry, place of origin, and/or ethnic origin were factors in his failure to be recommended for promotion in February 2013, and as such I find that the applicant has been subject to discrimination because of race,” in violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code, tribunal adjudicator Bruce Best said in the decision.

The tribunal decision refers to many of Sandhu’s commendations and awards for helping solve a wide variety of cases, from homicides to drug trafficking, along with a 2011 newspaper article calling him one of the three most influential South Asian Canadians working in law enforcement, a short list that also included current federal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

But when Sandhu tried to break into the force’s senior ranks, out of 33 applicants he was one of two who were denied the opportunity to compete for promotion. According to the tribunal decision, the other applicant who was denied, a sergeant, had minimal experience, unlike Sandhu.

The tribunal’s decision, based on evidence presented during hearings over the past two years, states that the two senior officers who denied Sandhu the promotion “devalued the experience he had in diversity and in South Asian intelligence,” and that “the South Asian portfolios were generally devalued in the service” because “they were associated with the South Asian population.” Such policing, the decision found, “was not considered real police work” by the force.

“He’s over the moon,” said Barry Swadron, one of Sandhu’s lawyers. Swadron said Sandhu will not be commenting directly.

“Rather than reward him by promotion to the senior ranks, his supervisors decided that his contribution was not ‘real policing’— a slap in the face of the mosaic which is Peel Region,” Swadron said.

“BJ Sandhu is one of the most selfless persons I have ever met,” he added. “In the face of discriminatory adversity, he persevered and became the backbone of diversity for the Peel Regional Police service.”

Sandhu now has 35 days from the release of the decision to serve Peel police with his request for remedies.

During testimony in 2015, Sandhu described the treatment he said he was subjected to from the day he joined the force. In his first week, a group of young officers were told by a supervisor that communications for the force was currently done by “Peel police officers,” Sandhu testified. Then the supervisor said, “‘Pretty soon you will see that women and Pakis will be managing those duties.’ As if he hadn’t even seen me in that room.”

Later the same week, when Sandhu walked into a gym, one of the officers yelled out, “‘Hey, no one called a cab.’ The whole room, more than 100 officers sitting on bleachers, were sitting there laughing at me,” Sandhu testified, adding that it was “humiliating” and “embarrassing.”

He described how senior officers and peers routinely called him “Gunga Din,” “Gandhi” and other terms meant to embarrass him, and supervisors, other than on one occasion, would blow off Sandhu’s requests to have the behaviour addressed. It continued, with racist cartoons of him and pictures being sent to him or pinned up on his supervisor’s office wall, Sandhu said. He filed a complaint with the rights tribunal in early 2014.

Lawyers representing Peel police at the human rights hearing tried unsuccessfully to prevent Sandhu from presenting evidence on his historic treatment, arguing it was not relevant to his failed promotion effort in 2013, which was the subject of the hearings. Best ruled it was relevant, agreeing with Sandhu’s lawyer, Kelley Bryan, who argued that the historic evidence helped establish “an embedded discriminatory attitude” that was allegedly prevalent throughout the force.

Sgt. Josh Colley, a Peel police spokesperson, said Chief Jennifer Evans will be providing a response.

In a statement, Peel Police board chair Amrik Singh Ahluwalia called the decision “troubling.” He said the board earlier this month hired an independent firm to conduct a sweeping equity audit to ensure the police force transforms its practices.

“The Peel Police Board believes our police service must better reflect the entire community it serves,” said Ahluwalia.

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Ahluwalia said the audit ordered by the board is to ensure that Peel police becomes a place “where young women and men of every background, colour and social status are treated fairly and have an equal opportunity to be hired and promoted, based on skill and performance.”

On Friday, Swadron said the decision is of particular public interest because of Peel’s demographics. “It’s such a large force with such a large population of South Asians. I don’t know of any similar parallel ruling in Canada.”

Best decided against one part of Sandhu’s complaint, ruling that he was not the subject of reprisal for filing a grievance over his failed attempt at a promotion.