The long road: Sebastien N’Singi, human rights lawyer and anti-racism advocate

Across the world

Sebastien was little more than a baby when his parents fled from his country of birth, Angola, to escape the ongoing war for its liberation from Portuguese colonial rule. He grew up in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, during the 1960 and 70s, then under a dictatorship. His parents saw education as the path to success as they wanted their children to experience the safety and opportunities that they never had.

As a young adult Sebastien vowed to pursue higher education and equip himself with the knowledge required to get a good job to support his parents and six siblings. He had an interest in science, a natural understanding of math, and a desire to help people.

As Congo had a need for doctors, Sebastien decided to study medicine at the University of Kinshasa. There, he noticed the oppression and injustice his country was experiencing under a military dictatorship. At the university, Sebastien joined with other students in protesting the regime.

However, standing up to a dictatorship comes with substantial risk and, at the age of twenty, his parents and family suggested he leave the country to escape retaliation.

Hidden from authorities, Sebastien moved to Portugal to pursue his education, continuing his study at the Faculty of Letters in Lisbon. As a stateless person recognized by United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), he became accustomed to challenges, but he was still disheartened to learn that, despite his good grades, language skills, and his experience studying medicine back home, he was not accepted into Portuguese medical school.

But a dark cloud can sometimes have a silver lining. The Commissioner of the UNHCR took notice of Sebastien, particularly his French, and asked him a fateful question:

“Have you ever considered Canada?”

A new home

As Sebastien learned about Canada, it seemed to offer the freedom and opportunities that he was looking for. He applied to be a permanent resident and soon found himself landing at Mirabel Airport in Montreal in the middle of the winter of 1984. Sebastien was alone, stateless, but hopeful.

“It was scary and exciting, being a young adult alone in a new country” he said. He stayed in Montreal a year, studying at Concordia University in Montreal, before he realized that strong English language skills would be pivotal to his success and so he moved to a predominantly English city, Toronto, to study at the Glendon campus of York University.

It was at York where, after years of figuring out everything alone, he met his first important Canadian mentors.

A growing seed

After graduating from York with a degree in Mathematics for Commerce, Sebastien sought to help his family in Africa. He found a job working at the French School Board in Toronto where he began to see the injustice facing the black community in his new home. Sebastien managed a project funded by the government of Ontario looking to understand why black youth were dropping out of school at high rates. Meeting black students, Sebastien could see that racism was a constant obstacle for many of them. Over the next five years, he worked with parents, mentors, filmmakers, CBC French channels and organizations to highlight and combat the adversity faced by black students in Canada. He was recognized for his advocacy, winning several community awards, including one from the Metropolitan Toronto Police’s Hate Crimes Unit.

A new direction

Curious about law, Sebastien, now married, applied to the University of Ottawa, and relocated with his wife to the nation’s capital in September of 1994. He was still a bit uncertain if this was to be his path, but he was ready to make a leap of faith.

His work supporting the French and black communities in Toronto was well known and when Sanda Rodgers, the Dean of the Common Law Faculty, heard that he was in town, she asked to meet him. She surprised him with an admission scholarship from l’Association des Franco-Ontarians and an apartment in a residence at the university.

He couldn’t believe his blessings! His hard work had paid off – Sebastien N’Singi was going to become a lawyer.

A law school degree was not the end of his struggle for equality, it was a beginning.

Sebastien accepted the first articling student position that he found and had been working at it for six months at the Children’s Aid Society Legal services when he got a phone call. It was Dean Sandra Rodgers. She had arranged for him to interview with Canada’s Department of Justice, that same day at noon. Sebastien could hardly believe it. Working for the Government of Canada as a lawyer had never even once crossed his mind as a possibility.

Sebastien’s tips:

• Look for mentors: “Surround yourself with people who have experience and have your best interest at heart. Learn from them and, when the time is right, be a mentor yourself.”
• Speak truth to power: “Never be silent in the face of injustice or you will be complicit in that injustice. Should you see something wrong, even if it involves people with influence, speak up.”
• Support each other: “You are not alone in your journey. Get engaged in your community, volunteer and, when possible, form and foster networks of like-minded people to make a positive difference.”

When he received a job offer, Sebastien was excited. He felt like he was joining something bigger – somewhere he could make a difference for people struggling in Canada, from black youth to Indigenous people and beyond.

Joining Justice

One advantage Sebastien found in working at the department was that he was able to balance his volunteerism and advocacy with his work. Following his time advising Mario, Sebastien went afield to practice law at Legal Services Units across the government, while continuing to advocate for organizational changes.

What is a Legal Services Unit?

The Department of Justice establishes dedicated legal services units (LSUs) for most federal government departments and agencies. These units provide a range of legal services to the organizations. While the lawyers and staff never stop being part of the overall Department of Justice, they mostly work embedded in the organization they are supporting.

As he selected assignments, Sebastien’s touchstone was working where he could support underrepresented communities. He worked on Aboriginal law at Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND); Indigenous Services Canada and international law at Global Affairs, ESDC litigation to protect the Canada Pension Plan and on exchange with Canada Air Transport Security Authorities (CATSA) legal services for one year. He still remembers his most satisfying assignment:

“I most enjoyed settling Indian Residential Schools claims for compensation across Canada which I did for about seven years,” he said, as it felt part of righting a tragic historical wrong.

While enjoying the opportunities to work on files that he cared about, Sebastien noticed he was not being promoted. This was something he had in common with some of his fellow black colleagues, despite there being a desire from senior management to increase diversity and inclusion in the department. In the end, Sebastien felt that the mechanics and processes around hiring and promoting were lagging in meeting the department’s proclaimed goals.

But he saw the opportunity to make a difference.

Along with colleagues, Sebastien decided to found an official Black Employee Network, where he and his fellow black Justice employees could collaboratively work to identify departmental issues that affect them as well as think of and propose solutions.

The Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Secretariat

In 2021 his advocacy led to him became the co-chair of a different committee – one that would be integral to anti-racism work even beyond the Department of Justice. This committee was exploring how to create a strategy to improve justice for all black people living in Canada. Sebastien’s recommendations and advice in 2021 were crucial to informing what is now Canada’s Black Justice Strategy.

In November of 2021, after interviewing with Richard Sharpe, then Director of the Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Secretariat, Sebastien officially joined the Secretariat, a group Unit that had been created to confront injustice in the workplace. There, Sebastien lends his voice, knowledge, advice, and lived experiences to a group of passionate employees looking to make the Department of Justice an employer of choice for professionals of all backgrounds.

What is the Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Secretariat?

Founded in November 2020 to address issues of systemic racism and discrimination in the Department of Justice, the Secretariat provides advice on the department’s anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion approaches. It delivers on the department’s Employment Equity Plan, coordinates its equity-seeking advisory committees, and raises employee awareness on issues related to diversity and inclusion.

“The Department of Justice is a good employer to work for,” Sebastien said, “but we need changes in many things, including legislation, programs, and policies to combat discrimination. When those changes happen, the Department of Justice may become the employer of choice within the entire public service.”

Throughout his career, Sebastien worked with great supportive people, while also encountering some that he felt turned a blind eye to discrimination. He remains positive, however. After everything he has seen, from Angola to DRC, Portugal and Canada, from university to the Department of Justice, he still believes in the power to make a difference.