BC Human Rights Tribunal: Racial Profiling OK (If We Say So)

British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal Annual Report 2008 – 2009 – The Chair approved seven new special programs this year.

The British Columbia Nurses’ Union received five year special program approval to restrict hiring for the position of Education Diversity Officer to candidates who are members of a visible minority…

The Legal Services Society (“LSS”) received five year special program approval to limit hiring and/or provide preference to people of Aboriginal ancestry for lawyer and staff positions…

School District No. 28 (Quesnel) received five year special program approval to restrict hiring of teaching positions assigned to the Aboriginal Education Department to persons of Aboriginal ancestry…

Thompson Rivers University received five year special program approval for three programs that allow it to restrict hiring to a person of Aboriginal descent…

Vancouver Community College received five year special program approval to recruit persons of Aboriginal Ancestry for its new Culinary Arts – Aboriginal Speciality training program…

No Statute Of Limitations On Bigotry

British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal Annual Report 2008 – 2009 – [page 8] The Code requires that a complaint must be filed within six months of an act of discrimination, or the last instance of a “continuing contravention” of the Code.  The Tribunal may accept late-filed complaints if it is in the public interest to do so and no substantial prejudice will result to anyone…

[Page 9] A complainant filed a complaint five years after he was fired and told it was due to restructuring. In unrelated civil proceedings, he learned that one respondent said he was fired because of his disability.  It was in the public interest to accept the late complaint because the complainant did not discover the discrimination until the later civil proceedings. The respondents were not prejudiced by the delay.

Human Rights Is Big Bucks #11

Southeast Texas Record – A CVS pharmacist alleges his employer discriminated against him because of his disability, then terminated him for complaining about the discrimination. He is suing the pharmacy chain for $3.5 million…

Mumfrey testified that the defendants committed defamation by issuing written disciplinary reprimands and classifying him as ineligible for re-hire.

CVS Pharmacy denies the allegations and argues that Mumfrey “does not have and never has suffered a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.”

Gotta Convince These Bigots That They’re Bigots

CTV – Commission president Gaetan Cousineau says he firmly believes racial profiling exists in the province, but that the population may need some convincing.

Trying to Offload A Crummy Apartment Can Get You A Free Bigot Label

UPI - The federal suit filed Friday by the center, a local non-profit group dedicated to fair housing, comes after The Connor Group posted a Craiglist advertisement for “a great bachelor pad for any single man looking to hook up.”

The center said in the suit the April 2009 posting “appeared to state a preference for a single male, discriminating on the basis of sex and familial status.”

Put On The Coffee, It’s Going To Be A Long Year

Financial Post – Employees with disabilities do not enjoy preferred status. An employer has the right to establish reasonable standards of performance, relative to the disability, and require those standards to be met. If problems persist, they legally can terminate provided it is not tainted by discrimination.

I recommend the following steps as defence against allegations of discrimination…

Jim, Meet Mary. Jim, You’re Fired.

Economist – IF YOU are a youngish man who sits on a European corporate board, you should worry: the chances are that your chairman wants to give your seat to a woman. In January the lower house of France’s parliament approved a new law which would force companies to lift the proportion of women on their boards to 40% by 2016. The law would oblige France’s 40 biggest listed firms to put women into 169 seats currently occupied by men. Spain has also introduced a quota at 40%, to be reached by 2015. Italy and the Netherlands are contemplating similar measures. This week Britain’s government threatened to make companies report formally on their recruitment of female directors.

Task Force Wants To Save World, Prof Just Wants A Mac

Globe and Mail – Beneath the surface, Ryerson is a hotbed of racism and discrimination, where “racialized” (non-white) students are subtly oppressed by a Eurocentric curriculum that refuses to acknowledge “other ways of knowing.” A vast new bureaucracy and mandatory diversity education for all are urgently needed to foster an inclusive, racism-free environment.

So says the Taskforce on Anti-Racism at Ryerson. “Systemic racism” is pervasive, it concludes, and anyone who doesn’t see the problem is in denial…

Mr. Al-Solaylee is a brown-skinned Muslim who is openly gay. He thinks the entire exercise is a frivolous diversion. “There are things that I need from the university, but this isn’t one of them,” he says. “I need computers that don’t crash all the time. I want students who don’t have to hold bake sales to raise money for their graduate projects. There should be money for these things, not equity officers.”

When Human Rights Collide #15

Take a wild guess:

Does freedom of religion trump the right not to be discriminated against due to sexual orientation?

This question is at the core of a complaint before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. It involves a Christian couple, two gay lovers, and the use of a home-based bed-and-breakfast.

Warriors. Come Out To Pla-eee-ay!

West Kelowna News – A former employee of the Westside Warriors hockey club has filed a complaint of sexual harassment with the B.C. Human Rights Commission.

Marie Carrothers lodged the complaint against the hockey club, its parent company Vision Sports Group LLP and Brent Fournier, a volunteer with the hockey club.

Carrothers claims she was sexually harassed by Fournier on two separate occasions in 2008 and 2009.

The allegations came to light two days after she was fired by the Warriors on January 19, 2009.

Bummer. Pain And Suffering Only Worth 6 Grand

Guelph Mercury – Matt Wozenilek can’t wait to try out the wheelchair-accessible door at his neighbourhood 7-Eleven store after taking the company to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and winning…

He filed an application with the tribunal Jan. 7, 2009 and later amended it, asking for $25,000 for pain and suffering, a public letter of regret from 7-Eleven and the installation of automatic doors at all 7-Eleven stores in Canada…

The tribunal decided the company did not have to write a public letter of regret but it would have to pay $6,000 to Wozenilek.

“I asked for $25,000 to get their attention,” Wozenilek said Wednesday. “I’m happy with the $6,000. It will cover my expenses.”

Drumming Up Business

Canada.com – A deluge of racial-profiling stories — including accounts of harassment, abusive treatment and unjustified arrests — poured into Quebec’s Human Rights Commission last fall after researchers consulted local community groups on the contentious issue…

The commission’s research team consulted 100 community groups and heard from 50 community leaders, experts and other individuals from Sept. 15-Nov. 30, 2009.