The Canadian town of Emo has been ordered to pay damages after failing to fly a Pride flag in 2020.
In 2020, Borderland Pride requested that the town declare June as Pride Month and fly a Pride flag for one week. After the town of about 1,300 refused, a legal battle ensued. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has since ruled that Emo violated the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Borderland Pride will not be awarded $15,000. Of that award, $10,000 will come from the township, and $5,000 will come from Emo Mayor Harold McQuaker.
McQuaker was quoted in the lawsuit as having previously said, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin…there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”
The ruling found McQuaker’s comment “dismissive of Borderland Pride’s flag request and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the importance to Borderland Pride and other members of the LGBTQ2 community of the Pride flag.”
“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 Code,” Human Rights Tribunal vice-chair Karen Dawson wrote.
McQuaker and the Chief Administrative Officer of Emo were also ordered to complete an online learning module called “Human Rights 101” within 30 days.
The online course features an animated video telling viewers that the Human Rights Code is “not meant to punish.”
“Under the Code, it doesn’t matter if you didn’t intend or mean to discriminate. To understand if discrimination happened, it’s the impact on the person that matters,” the video says. “The only time intent may be considered is in cases where people face reprisal for upholding human rights under the Code.”
