WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER16,2019| THEGLOBEANDMAILO A
The former chief executive officer
of the advocacy group Dying with
Dignity Canada has filed a wrong-
ful dismissal suit against the char-
ity, alleging its board subjected
her to years of systemic discrimi-
nation before summarily firing
her this past summer.
Shanaaz Gokool, who led the
right-to-die organization for three
years, said in a statement of claim
filed Tuesday that her ill treat-
ment included a starting compen-
sation package that was worth on-
ly two-thirds as much as that of
her white predecessor, despite the
fact that Ms. Gokool served as
both CEO and chief operating offi-
cer at the time.
The board of Dying with Digni-
ty Canada (DWDC) later hired a
chief operating officer and a direc-
tor of major gifts, both of whom
are white, and initially paid them
more than Ms. Gokool – their
boss.
“Despite her strong track re-
cord of success, DWDC’s Board
continuously denied Ms. Gokool
the credibility and respect en-
joyed by her (white) predeces-
sor,” the lawsuit says.
“Instead, it subjected her to a
pattern of disrespectful and often
humiliating behaviour designed
to undermine, appropriate or sec-
ond-guess her work. Over time, it
became clear that DWDC’s Board
was simply incapable of provid-
ing a woman of colour the respect
or compensation that she objec-
tively deserved.”
Ms. Gokool, 50, is originally
from Trinidad and Tobago. She
came to Canada as a toddler.
DWDC’s board called Ms. Go-
kool’s allegations – which have
not been tested in court – “factual-
ly incorrect and misleading.”
“The board of directors of Dy-
ing with Dignity Canada (DWDC)
is disappointed by Ms. Gokool’s
decision to proceed with this un-
founded legal action and further,
her choice to litigate this matter
through the media,” board chair
James Cowan, a retired senator
from Nova Scotia, said in a state-
ment to The Globe and Mail.
“To be clear, the board of direc-
tors rejects the allegations put for-
ward by Ms. Gokool in the stron-
gest possible terms.”
Ms. Gokool’s lawsuit describes
Dying with Dignity Canada as be-
ing on the brink of insolvency
when she took the helm in Febru-
ary, 2016, one year after the Su-
preme Court of Canada struck
down the Criminal Code prohib-
ition on physician-assisted dying.
DWDC has since emerged as a
major player in the shaping and
implementation of Canada’s
medical-assistance-in-dying sys-
tem, which has helped at least
6,749 grievously ill patients to die
as of last fall.According to her $1.75-million
lawsuit, Ms. Gokool’s accomplish-
ments included refashioning
DWDC as a national human-rights
organization; winning back the
charitable status that had been
lost under her predecessor; in-
creasing regular donor funding to
a projected $350,000 a month in
2019, up from $33,000 a month in
2015; and securing a $7.75-million
bequest from the estate of a major
donor with whom Ms. Gokool had
developed a strong relationship.
In an interview, Ms. Gokool said
she agonized about suing an orga-
nization whose mandate she
wholeheartedly supports and
whose staff she described as tal-
ented and hardworking.
“I’m terrified,” she said of her
decision to file the lawsuit. “I’m
risking my reputation. I’m risking
possible future employment op-
portunities. Some people are go-
ing to say I’m a trouble-maker –
mind you, they said that about
Dying with Dignity Canada. I’d
like to think that I’m a change-
maker.”
Surviving childhood racism al-
so motivated Ms. Gokool to speakout. Growing up as one of the few
children of colour in her predom-
inantly white neighbourhood in
Dartmouth, she said she was
teased and harassed about her
name, her skin colour and even
the curries she brought for lunch.
“I went to bed every night pray-
ing that I would wake up white so I
could be treated like everyone
else,” Ms. Gokool told The Globe.
Ms. Gokool was first hired as
DWDC’s chief operating officer in
June, 2014, at a starting salary of
$67,000. In February of 2016, she
accepted a one-year, $78,000 con-
tract as CEO, reluctantly agreeing
to step into the role after DWDC
was unable to find a new leader
from outside its ranks, the lawsuit
says.
The total compensation pack-
age for Ms. Gokool’s predecessor
was more than $130,000 a year, in-
cluding rent on a Toronto apart-
ment, according to the claim.
The board raised Ms. Gokool’s
salary to $88,000 in January, 2017,
and $98,000 a year later, and paid
her a $10,000 bonus in June, 2018.
The lawsuit alleges that both
raises were “prompted by the fact
that DWDC was seeking to recruit
a new COO at a rate of pay poten-
tially higher than it was paying to
Ms. Gokool.”
In November, 2018, DWDC
hired a new COO at an annual sal-
ary that was $12,000 higher than
Ms. Gokool’s, according to the
suit.
When Ms. Gokool objected to
the pay disparity, the board told
her it would have to conduct a for-
mal performance review before it
could increase her salary, a proc-
ess that dragged on until Ms. Go-
kool signed a new contract with a
base salary of $165,000 a year on
April 29.
Over the course of her contract
dispute, Ms. Gokool urged the
board to fix what she alleged was
an underlying culture of systemic
discrimination at DWDC. In May,
the board agreed to a mediation
process led by an outside lawyer,
but then, without warning, it fired
Ms. Gokool on July 23, according
to the lawsuit.Charity’sex-CEOfilessuitoverdismissal
ShanaazGokoolsays
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KELLYGRANT
HEALTHREPORTER
FormerDyingwith
DignityCanadaCEO
ShanaazGokool,seenin
TorontoonFriday,ledthe
right-to-dieorganization
forthreeyearsbefore
shewasfiredinJuly.
Shesayssheagonized
overfilingalawsuit
againstanorganization
whosemandateshestill
supportsandwhosestaff
sheconsiderstobe
hardworking and
talented.TIJANAMARTIN/
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