The Immigrant and Multicultural Society of Prince George's board of directors is letting go of its founding executive director, did not renew the contracts of two other employees and is facing a membership controversy heading into its annual general meeting this Saturday.
The board, led by president Moustafa Mohamed, is attempting to force Baljit Sethi, the founder of IMSS, into retirement from her longtime position as executive director because it claims she is no longer effective in the role.
"We are currently negotiating with Baljit to accept the fact that it is time to retire for her," said Mohamed.
"So probably people are unaware of some difficulty with that regard. Baljit is the one who started that organization 40 years ago and, as such, we don't have really a contract between Baljit and the board. So realizing a few things and also realizing that we don't like to go into some sort that will look like old age discrimination of sorts, the board was consulting with lawyers so everything was done according to the lawyers' advice."
Sethi said she has always done the best she could for IMSS, a society she started when she saw the need for guidance for Prince George and area immigrants new to Canada.
"Retirement can be your own choice or the company's choice," said Sethi, who is on medical leave and said she was informed she will be retired immediately after her leave ends.
"Maybe they have different ideas. I have operated the society for 40 years and I brought it from zero to this level, and I am proud of that. And I don't think I have failed in any way and I always did what was best for the society."
Sethi recalls how she started IMSS in one room, with one phone and one wooden chair because she was determined to provide services to new immigrants.
She didn't have any funding so she went without any income for the first six months, proving to the government that what she was doing was valuable as she continued to move the society forward.
Sethi declined to speak further on the record in regards to the situation at IMSS but said she will attend the IMSS annual general meeting on Saturday.
Two other IMSS employees, the local language assessor and a settlement coordinator, did not have their contracts renewed last fall after the IMSS board concluded an investigation. The decision resulted in at least seven other employees quitting in support of the workers.
Joan Haack, one of the former employees, said a mediator determined she and the other worker received full severance according to Employment Standards because they had been fired with no just cause.
It was also deemed she should be paid outstanding fees dating back to April.
But Mohamed said that he did not agree with that decision, saying "the public should be happy that we took that action."
Heading into Saturday's AGM, multiple people have contacted The Citizen, reporting they are unable to gain membership into the IMSS.
Fearing a takeover, the board president admits to blocking society membership to certain people who are in some way related to the former employees. That goes against their own society's constitution as stated on their website that says anyone who has legal status in Canada is welcome to join the society for a $10 annual membership fee.
"The main thing that is a concern that the board is seeing is the following: all of a sudden we found some people interested to become a member and we are aware that the recent action that we had to take with some employees at IMSS so basically some of these new member applications they all related to those employees somehow," said Mohamed.
"So because this is a very unusual situation for the organization we had to take some unusual measures to protect the organization. So this is a main concern, especially we came to know last summer that some employees that we took some action against were threatening to change the membership and change the board in order to maintain their job and what they were doing - and what they were wrong doing they were doing at the IMSS.
"So basically the board had to take that measure because of that unusual circumstance that we are in."
Mohamed said he wondered why people were suddenly interested in becoming members when the membership numbers have always held steady between 40 to 50 members since it started 40 years ago. Currently there are 51 members of the society.
"I hope you understand our position as board of IMSS," said Mohamed.
"We wanted to protect our organization and I would invite those people to apply again in a few years from now after things settle down and we manage the IMSS and get it back on track."
The IMSS board currently consists of nine members, two members are on medical leave, a third member is communicating via email, and one member is a UNBC professor currently on sabbatical who will also be communicating through email.
The meeting will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the office located at 1270 Second Ave.
