Northern Ontario Mayor’s Bank Account Garnished by Pride Group Over Unpaid Fine

A file photo of the Progress Pride flag. Luke Walker/Getty Images for LTA

A Pride organization has garnished the bank account of a Northwestern Ontario mayor following his refusal to pay a $5,000 fine imposed for voting against a motion to recognize Pride month in his community.

Borderland Pride, an LGBT group serving the Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after its request to have June 2020 declared Pride month in the township of Emo was defeated in a 3-2 vote.

The tribunal sided with Borderland Pride. In its Nov. 20 decision, the tribunal said the town violated the Ontario Human Rights Code with its “discriminatory” decision, and fined the town $10,000 and Mayor Harold McQuaker $5,000. The town was also cited for failing to raise a Pride flag, even though the town doesn’t have an official flag pole.

In addition to the fines, tribunal vice-chair Karen Dawson also ordered McQuacker and Emo’s chief administrative officer to complete human rights training within 30 days of her decision and provide proof of completion to Borderland Pride.

The Epoch Times contacted McQuacker and the town’s CAO for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.

McQuaker told The Toronto Sun that he refused to pay the $5,000 penalty, describing it as “extortion” and said he would not take the training either.

Borderland Pride responded by using legal means to take the money from McQuaker’s account.

“Sure, sex is great, but have you ever garnished your mayor’s bank account after he publicly refused to comply with a Tribunal’s order to pay damages?” reads a Dec. 6 post from Borderland Pride on Facebook.

“That is how you enforce a court order for the payment of money,” the group added in a comment on the post. “The Tribunal’s judgment is not optional.”

Tribunal Decision

The discrimination ruling was based on a remark made by McQuaker after the council’s vote on the request to designate June as Pride month, according to the tribunal decision.

“There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin ... there’s no flags being flown for the straight people,” he said during the May 12 council meeting, shortly after the Borderland Pride vote.

The tribunal found the remark discriminatory, saying it was “at least a factor” in the mayor’s dissenting vote, which it said consequently made the vote against designating June as Pride month discriminatory.

“If municipal councillors vote against a resolution for a discriminatory reason, and their votes determine the outcome, then the outcome itself is discriminatory,” Dawson wrote.

McQuaker said he believed his comment was factual, not discriminatory.

“I don’t hate anybody. We just don’t have a flagpole at our town hall,” he told the Sun.

McQuaker told the Sun neither he nor the town would be issuing any more media statements until Dec. 11, after the town council’s next meeting. He said council would decide at its Dec. 10 meeting if the town will pay the $10,000 fine.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for the fines levied against the mayor and the town. The Epoch Times was unable to verify the owner of the account. More than $1,300 had been raised by the afternoon of Dec. 9.

Emo is 380 kilometres west of Thunder Bay near the Ontario-Minnesota border. The Township of Emo is home to approximately 1,300 people.