This time in Saskatoon. Absolutely shameful. Read it and call Saskatoon's MPs, your MP, and the PM's office. Do something. Blogs and strong language around the water cooler do nothing. Right now every politician in Canada is worried about their jobs. Get on the horn and let them know you can hit where it hurts: votes.
I'm sick of seeing news reports in the US where no one can get through to their representatives because too many other people are already on the line. In Canada, we just frown and head for the closest Tim Horton's. It's time to steal the American playbook and jam some phone lines.
We're told that a recession is killing us and that business owners are hurting, but we're prepared to let a business owner lose $7000 for this (boldface mine):
A Saskatchewan Human Rights tribunal has ordered a Saskatoon restaurant owner to pay $7,000 to a man who claimed he was kicked out of the restaurant because he's aboriginal.
The complainant, Leslie Tataquason, admitted no racial epithets were used during the brief exchange with Northwoods Inn and Suites owner John Pontes more than two years ago. In an interview Sunday, Pontes said he would have kicked Tataquason out "if he was blond-haired and blue-eyed" and it had nothing to do with race.
Tataquason was kicked out because he was visiting his wife while she was working as a waitress there, all sides agreed. Pontes said Tataquason was distracting her while she worked, and Tataquason said he wasn't.
No racial epithets were used, and all sides agreed the guy was hanging around his wife's work. Turns out he was there over an hour. The boss understandably tells the hubby to take a hike, and now he's out 7 grand. Why?
Tataquason said he was "deeply hurt" by the remarks. It caused him to "trigger" memories of residential schools he has tried to bury since childhood. Tataquason testified that he "spiraled into depression," leaving him unable to work. The remark is also responsible for his return to drug use, his marriage breakup, his homelessness and his committing petty crimes, Tataquason testified.
According to the ruling, the onus was on Pontes to prove he did not discriminate by denying service to someone in a restaurant.
Pontes was found to have inflicted an injury to Tataquason's dignity and was ordered to pay $7,000. The maximum for such an offence is $10,000.
Just another day in Canada.
Update: It gets better. More from CanWest:
Leslie Tataquason of Saskatoon was forced to leave the restaurant of the Howard Johnson Inn "at least in part" because of his race, Gingell said in her closing statement...
Restaurant owner John Pontes asked Tataquason to leave in a way that one could "infer" was stereotypical, Gingell said.
She said Pontes did not make any overtly racist remarks, but it was Pontes' responsibility to clarify that he wasn't being discriminatory.
Note to bouncers, ushers, police, bartenders, stadium staff, and business owners everywhere: when telling someone to leave an establishment, gather witnesses, break out the camcorder, and announce in a clear voice that you aren't being a bigot.
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