Canada’s Penticton Art Gallery sued by former curator

The Penticton Art Gallery in British Columbia, Canada, is facing a lawsuit by its longtime curator who was laid off by the nonprofit in August after 19 years serving the organization.

Paul Crawford, the curator, filed the lawsuit in the British Columbia Supreme Court in Penticton last week and alleged that he was subject to “significant” bullying, as well as harassment and a toxic and dysfunctional workplace.

The lawsuit was first reported by the local news publication Castanet and confirmed by court documents found by Urgent Matter.

The Penticton Art Gallery had announced on August 23 that it had “made the difficult decision” to temporarily lay off Crawford until November. Karen Walls, the gallery’s gift shop coordinator, was also placed on leave with no recall date set.

"This decision was not made lightly. Cost saving measures are being taken due to the financial deficit accrued, making these actions unavoidable,” the Penticton Art Gallery said in a statement at the time.

“It is the hope of the board that by pausing the employment of the largest salary, additional time can be afforded to perform an in-depth internal evaluation and the consideration of an operational realignment.”

Crawford has previously publicly announced he would not return to his job when the temporary layoff expires, the Penticton Herald reported. He has disputed that the board expected him to return to the position in November and his lawyers penned a letter expressing that he considered his job effectively terminated.

After he was placed on the purportedly temporary layoff, the Penticton Art Galley allowed him into its headquarters to retrieve his personal items under escort, and he was directed to hand in his keys. His work email was then disabled.

Crawford’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit that his employment agreement did not contain any terms that granted the organization’s board the right to place him on a temporary layoff and that the Penticton Art Gallery failed to provide responsible notice of his termination, breaching his contract.

"It was an implied term of [Crawford's] employment agreement that he was entitled to reasonable notice of termination without cause under the common law," the lawsuit reads.

The former curator claimed that he was subjected to bullying and harassment by members of the board beginning in 2024, well before he was laid off, including exclusion from board meetings and attempts to undermine his role by engaging in administrative duties that would have fallen under his responsibilities.

Crawford also accused board members of failing to investigate and take action on reports of bullying and harassment.

The layoff of Crawford has led to the resignation by members of the board of directors. Last week, the gallery held a public information meeting where remaining board members again claimed that the decision was made over the gallery’s financial hardship.

Members of the gallery reportedly questioned the board why it would lay off the museum administrator tasked with organizing the exhibits and events that would make the gallery money.

In the days after the meeting, the gallery announced that board president Claude Roberto and another longtime board member had resigned, leaving the future of the organization uncertain.