Tag Archives: Human Rights Tribunal

News

Excerpt:

Saskatchewan’s top court has said marriage commissioners cannot use religion to say no to nuptials for same-sex couples.

The Court of Appeal had been asked by the government to rule on a proposed provincial law that would have allowed commissioners to cite religious grounds in refusing to marry gays or lesbians.

The appeal panel’s unanimous decision released on Monday said the law would be unconstitutional and amount to discrimination.

And more from the judge:

“Accordingly, putting gays and lesbians in a situation where a marriage commissioner can refuse to provide his or her services solely because of their sexual orientation would clearly be a retrograde step – a step that would perpetuate disadvantage and involve stereotypes about the worthiness of same-sex unions,” the justice wrote.

Judge Richards rejected suggestions that the number of gay marriages would be small and those affected could simply seek out someone else to perform the ceremony. That would overlook the impact a refusal would have on gay or lesbian couples, he noted.

“As can be easily understood, such effects can be expected to be very significant and genuinely offensive. It is not difficult for most people to imagine the personal hurt involved in a situation where an individual is told by a governmental officer, ‘I won’t help you because you are black (or Asian or First Nations) but someone else will,’ or ‘I won’t help you because you are Jewish (or Muslim or Buddhist) but someone else will,’ ” Judge Richards wrote.

As you might expect, the Human Rights Commission was involved:

The proposed law was crafted after a conflict arose when commissioner Orville Nichols, a devout Baptist, refused to marry a gay couple in 2005.

The two men laid a discrimination complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. The case went before the human rights tribunal, which ruled in 2008 that Mr. Nichols discriminated against the couple. It found that as a public servant he was obligated to marry them once they approached him.

Mr. Nichols, who has been a marriage commissioner for almost 30 years, was fined $2,500.

He asked the Court of Queen’s Bench to reverse the decision, but it upheld the tribunal’s ruling. A further appeal is still before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.

Comments to this post will be strictly filtered in accordance with Barack Obama’s laws restricting free speech on these issues.

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News

Human Rights Tribunal finds Catholic school board guilty of discrimination

01/04/2011 Wintery Knight 2 Comments

From Life Site News. (H/T Mary)

Excerpt:

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a Catholic school board to compensate three members of a prominent UFO cult after finding the board guilty of religious discrimination.

Daniel, Michel, and Sylvie Chabot, members of the Raelian cult, were hired in November 2006 by the Conseil Scolaire Catholique Franco-Nord to offer ‘emotional pedagogy’ training sessions for teachers. They delivered such sessions through what they call the Academy of Pleasurology and Emotional Intelligence (APEI).

The Catholic board chose to end the contract in January 2007 after discovering their membership in the cult, which claims that humans were planted on Earth by benevolent extraterrestrials.

On December 15th, Tribunal vice president Michelle Flaherty ruled that the board had discriminated against the three siblings on the basis of their beliefs. The parties had agreed to mediation, but asked the Tribunal to determine if the human rights code was violated. The decision does not reveal how much the board must pay in penalty.

Here’s a quick bio of the Tribunal vice president:

Michelle Flaherty has extensive experience in administrative, labour, human rights and employment law and has represented both employers and employees. From 1999 until 2000, Ms. Flaherty articled as a Law Clerk to Madame Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé of the Supreme Court of Canada. She also taught for a number of years at the University of Ottawa in the areas of equality, human rights and labour law. Her community involvement includes volunteering for several organizations in the Ottawa area. Ms. Flaherty is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa.

i thought that the Catholic employer should have been more careful. But then it struck me – even asking if the person is an orthodox Catholic could be considered discrimination and land you in a Human Rights Tribunal. After all, campus clubs have been banned in Canada for requiring that executive members sign a statement of faith. So I guess the practice of religion is now illegal in Canada.

I found an interesting article assessing Canada’s three famous feminist Supreme Court justices, who are notorious for judicial activism to favor a left-wing agenda. Think of them as 3 clones of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg.