Ontario Tribunal Fines Town, Mayor for Discrimination After Refusing Pride Month Proclamation

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

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.

“I find this remark was demeaning and disparaging of the LGBTQ2 community of which Borderland Pride is a member and therefore constituted discrimination under the [Human Rights] Code,” Dawson wrote.

As a result, the mayor was fined $5,000 and the township $10,000.

Dawson also ordered the mayor and the chief administrative officer to undergo human rights training.

“Mayor McQuaker and the CAO must complete the Ontario Human Rights Commission (‘OHRC’) eLearning Module titled ‘Human Rights 101’ and provide proof of completion of same to Borderland Pride within 30 days of the date of this Decision,” Dawson wrote.

In her decision, Dawson noted that the township does not receive many requests for proclamations or flag raisings. It only received four requests between April 2019 and April 2020, two of which were from Borderland Pride.

The decision also said that the council had a discussion about reopening the issue at its May 26, 2020, meeting.

“There was significant confusion among the councillors as to the procedure for reconsidering its May 12 vote. Ultimately, the vote was not reconsidered,” Dawson wrote.

Emo township has about 1,300 residents.