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A small Ontario town and its mayor have been fined and the mayor and chief administrative officer ordered to take human rights training after the council voted against proclaiming Pride Month in 2020.
Borderland Pride, an LGBT organization in northwestern Ontario, filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal after its request to have June 2020 proclaimed Pride Month in the township of Emo was voted down.
At its May 12, 2020, council meeting, the resolution to proclaim Pride Month was voted down 3–2. After the vote, Mayor Harold McQuaker said, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin … there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”
In a Nov. 20 decision, the tribunal found the remarks discriminatory and “at least a factor” in the mayor’s nay vote, making the vote itself discriminatory.
“If municipal councillors vote against a resolution for a discriminatory reason, and their votes determine the outcome, then the outcome itself is discriminatory,” tribunal vice chair Karen Dawson wrote.
She said the mayor’s comment was dismissive of Borderland’s request.
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