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N.B. mill worker who was fired for equating Zionists to Nazis ordered reinstated with unpaid suspension
A New Brunswick paper mill worker fired for equating Zionists to Nazis has seen his dismissal replaced with four months of unpaid leave.
Ethan Chamberlain was terminated from his shipper position at Lake Utopia Paper, a division of J.D. Irving Ltd., this past May for violating the company’s Safe and Respectful Workplace Policy by harassing Igor Marichev, a long-haul truck driver with Sunbury Transport, an Irving affiliate. Chamberlain’s union, UNIFOR, Local 523, grieved the shipper’s firing.
According to a recent arbitrator’s decision, Chamberlain raised the subject of Nazism and Zionism with Marichev on April 28, 2025, during an exchange about the Middle East, when the trucker stopped at the mill to pick up a load of paper.
“He admitted, during his interview (with an investigator hired by the mill), that he did compare the Zionist to Nazis,” according to a summary of Lake Utopia Paper’s submissions contained in a recent arbitrator’s decision.
“He maintained that they were doing the same thing in Palestine, as the Nazis had tried as well, to push the Jews out of Germany.”
But Chamberlain “was clear in his evidence that he never compared Zionism to Nazism,” the union argued. “His comments are nuanced. He said he saw a difference, and that was why he asked (Marichev) about the subject because he was concerned for the Jewish people.”
Chamberlain was “simply not credible,” according to the mill.
“He has an obvious motivation to alter his narrative. He understood that he faced potential discipline, he had reason to change the story to keep his job.”
Marichev, who was born in the Soviet Union, emigrated with his family to Israel when he was 11 years old. He lived there for 29 years and spent three years in the Israeli military before emigrating to Canada.
“His mother is Jewish and his father is Christian. He himself does not practice any religion but believes there is only one God,” said the decision.
Marichev testified that Chamberlain “suggested to him that Israel was committing genocide” in its attacks on Gaza that began after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage. In response, the Israeli military launched a campaign against Hamas that the terror group’s health ministry in Gaza says has killed more than 70,000 people. Israel disputes those figures, which include both fighters and civilians.
Chamberlain testified “that other people were of (the view that this constituted genocide), not just him.”
But, according to the mill, “the clear implication is that he was suggesting to (Marichev) that it was true, and he was looking for the (trucker) to defend himself,” said the decision.
“He was also putting some blame on (Marichev) for standing by his home country, submits the employer.”
After Marichev stated that he did not agree with Chamberlain’s characterization, the latter asked the trucker if he was a Zionist, said the arbitration decision, dated Dec. 19, 2025.
At that point, Marichev testified, the conversation, “became testier and more aggressive,” with Chamberlain stating “that Zionism was the same as, or like, Nazism.”
Marichev texted Chamberlain the next day, saying, “He is indeed a Zionist and supports Israel.”
Chamberlain, 34, had been employed at the mill for four years when he was dismissed.
Marichev testified “that he has known” Chamberlain “for a few years,” said the decision. “They would encounter each other when he picked up products from the mill for delivery. He described their relationship as cordial. He says that he often kidded (Chamberlain) about his love life.”
On the day of the incident, Marichev entered the shipping booth around 1:30 p.m. to find Chamberlain seated at a desk, eating his lunch.
The two men were separated by a plexiglass divider. “They were the only people in the room throughout the relevant period of the events in issue.”
There are no surveillance cameras in that area, said the decision.
“The evidence is that they started a lively conversation as they usually did. The content and cadence of the exchange is now debated by the two men.”
Lake Utopia Paper argued Chamberlain’s “conduct constituted both harassment and discrimination,” said the decision.
“The employer submits that it has regularly made its stance on this type of conduct very clear, including against using speech in the workplace that others may find offensive. The violations in question involved multiple instances of unwelcome speech. Collectively, these events are contrary to the standards set by the employer and amount to just cause for” Chamberlain’s discharge.
During their exchange, Chamberlain also noted “that Jews killed Jesus,” and suggested “that Israel had advanced knowledge of 9/11” because Israelis were on hand to take video of the Twin Towers collapsing, according to the mill.
At one point in their conversation, Marichev testified, Chamberlain became “quite agitated … and was raising his voice,” said the decision. “He testified that (Chamberlain) said to him, ‘If you don’t want to f–king hear other people’s opinions shut your mouth and f–k off from here.’”
He testified that Chamberlain “said that to him more than once,” according to the decision.
“Indeed, when (Marichev) asked if he could have his truck loaded, (Chamberlain’s) response was that he was training someone to do it,” said the decision. “He wouldn’t do it because he wanted (Marichev) to feel what the Palestinians were feeling.”
Chamberlain “knew or ought to have known that those comments were unwelcome to an Israeli Jewish person,” the mill argued. “The comments were antisemitic, or at least in regard to Zionism and Nazism comparisons.”
Chamberlain skewed “the conversation towards these topics,” the mill argued, noting he “is entitled to have his personal views but is not entitled to bring them into the workplace.”
The union argued “that this whole antisemitic thing is a red herring,” said the decision.
It noted “there is no reference at all to antisemitism” in Chamberlain’s termination letter.
Marichev “is clear that his complaint is not about antisemitism, it is about what comments hurt him,” said the union. “These were the profane comments directed at him, not the conversation about Israel or Judaism. It was being sworn at by” Chamberlain.
But the arbitrator, Guy G. Couturier, said it is reasonable to conclude that Marichev considered Chamberlain’s comments “unwelcome and offensive, and in some respect antisemitic, and justifiably viewed as ‘harassment.'”
Marichev “had no prior animosity towards” Chamberlain, said the decision. “In fact, they had an amicable relationship up to this point. This confrontation seemed to come out of the blue.”
Lake Utopia Paper submitted “that antisemitism has been increasing particularly after October 7, 2023,” said the decision. “There is evidence according to Statistics Canada that antisemitism has spiked, argues the employer. That is the context in which Jewish people are being targeted across the country. There is an assumed association with the state of Israel.”
The mill never put Chamberlain on notice that “his aggressive foul language,” was unacceptable, the union argued.
The mill “jumped a step or two in the progressive discipline scheme,” said the union.
“The employer bypassed the corrective phase of the process and went directly to the punitive level of progressive discipline.”
The arbitrator determined “that neither participant has a clear and consistent recollection of the events of April 28, 2025,” noting Chamberlain provided four “distinct descriptions (of the exchange) none of which are identical, or like the other, in all respects.”
Couturier, the lawyer who decided the case, was satisfied that Chamberlain’s language when he swore at Marichev “meets the definition of harassment,” and that his “comments relating to the supposed loading of the trailer are as well offensive, irrespective of the precise words used.”
That violation “is not as minor or trivial as the union suggests, it is egregious and must be sanctioned accordingly. Nor is the violation as extreme as the employer proposes.”
Terminating Chamberlain “was, in this case, an excessive response by the employer,” Couturier said.
Chamberlain “appeared remorseful and contrite as a witness,” said the arbitrator. “He testified that the loss of his job with the employer had been difficult, as he now works two jobs to make ends meet and has suffered a reduction in his visitation rights with his children.”
Chamberlain “has suggested and has offered to take sensitivity training if available. He appears to acknowledge his irresponsible and thoughtless comments and behaviour in this matter,” Couturier said.
Discipline for Chamberlain’s “offensive remarks, should range between the 5–10-day suspension, suggested by the union, and the dismissal recommended by the employer,” said the arbitrator.
“The comments were a severe violation of the (mill’s) workplace harassment … policy and must reflect that fact. A lengthy suspension is fair, just and reasonable.”
He ordered Chamberlain to be reinstated at the mill “following and subject to a four-month suspension without wages or benefits and the successful completion of any reasonable sensitivity training course provided by the employer.”
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