Asserting that the majority of employment agencies now practice racial and religious discrimination on behalf of employers who are forbidden by law to bar members of any racial, ethnic or religious groups from Jobs, the Toronto and District Labor Committee for Human Rights. endorsed by the Jewish community took steps today to try to curb these discriminatory practices.
A request was filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which was asked to bring representatives of employment agencies together and persuade them to cooperate actively to support the anti-bias law.
According to the Labor Committee, a recent telephone survey has shown that 14 out of 15 employment agencies in this city were not only willing but eager to help a prospective employer to discriminate against various “undesirable” job applicants. Among such “undesirables” were Jews, Negroes, Orientals, Italians, Catholics, Europeans in general, French Canadians, Germans and “immigrants” in general.
“Only one agency refused the request” to discriminate, the Labor Committee stated. “The placement agency,” the report added, “has become the enthusiastic instrument of racial discrimination.” One of the endorsing organizations making up the Labor Committee for Human Rights is the Canadian Jewish Congress.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
