The former owner of White Tornado Cleaning services, who stands accused of harassing and discriminating against two of her former employees, admits she used derogatory language in texts and a voicemail to the complainants.

Rhonda Sallows said in an interview Monday that she did use the word “squaw” in a voicemail to sisters Bobbi-Jean and Suzannah Simon.

She also called the women “FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)” and “pill-poppers” in text messages.

“I called them a squaw to come and get their pay. I apologized and I’m sorry. I believe my actions out of anger were not called for,” Sallows said in an interview.

Sallows is the respondent in a human rights case currently under adjudication.

The Simon sisters, who are Gwich’in from Inuvik, N.W.T., allege Sallows harassed them and called them derogatory names relating to their sex and First Nations ancestry while they were trying to collect their paycheques in July 2015.

The sisters had been working for White Tornado as crew cleaning up after construction at F.H. Collins Secondary School.

The Yukon Human Rights Board of Adjudication heard testimony from the sisters on Jan. 27.

Sallows, the board heard, was out of the territory and declined to participate in the hearing.

In a Jan. 23 email to the human rights commission provided to the Star, Sallows wrote that she is in Saskatchewan for work and “can’t and won’t be attending” the hearing.

On Monday, Sallows, who said she no longer owns White Tornado, said the board knew she would be out of town and could have “rebooked” the hearing.

“We did everything we could right from the investigation stage... to ensure that (Sallows) participated in the process,” said Colleen Harrington, counsel for the commission, said Tuesday.

Prior to the hearing, Sallows submitted a form to the commission in which she alleged the sisters called her a “crackhead,” “white trash,” “the ugliest woman in the world” and a “dog.” She also alleged the sisters gave her the finger.

Because Sallows did not appear at the hearing, and could not therefore give evidence nor be cross-examined, the board will have to decide how much weight to give Sallows’ form, said Harrington.

Sallows said she complained about the sisters to the RCMP.

The RCMP would not confirm nor deny Sallows’ complaint.

“It is not our practice to identify people who may or may not be involved in police investigations,” said an RCMP spokesperson, Const. Julia Fox.

At the hearing, the sisters denied calling Sallows names and said the police did not speak to them about Sallows.

Sallows said she is 50 years old and a member of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation. Growing up in Whitehorse, she said, she heard the word “squaw” all the time.

“It was used here all through my upbringing. I didn’t find it derogatory,” she said.

From the legal perspective, Sallows’ identity as a First Nations woman does not preclude her from discriminating against other First Nations women.

“Within the human rights system, it’s not the intent of the action that has weight, rather the result,” said Emma Hanes, a spokesperson with the commission.

“Rather than focusing on the intention behind a potentially discriminatory act, the priority is placed on the kind of impact it has on the person, group or community that is targeted.”

The commission notes that actions may be considered harassing whether or not they were intended to harass.

The Yukon Human Rights Act defines harassment as “a course of vexatious conduct... that one knows or ought reasonably to know is unwelcome.”

Harassment is a kind of discrimination that “targets an individual or a group because of their sex, race, disability, sexual orientation or any of the other protected characteristics in the Yukon Human Rights Act,” reads a fact sheet on harassment published by the commission.

As the owner of White Tornado, Sallows said, she took pride in hiring First Nations people and low-income earners.

“I like to put them to work and let them make money for their pockets and give them a chance and make them feel like they’re somebody and they’re important,” she said.