When Douglas Judson asked Emo Township to declare June as Pride months and flying a rainbow flag for a week in 2020, he never imagined that this request would turn into a years-long legal conflict that still has no end in sight.
“It’s usually a non-controversial thing to ask,” said Judson, co-chair of Borderland Pride. “There are often flag raisings, proclamations are made for various dates or for other causes in the community.”
But the city’s refusal to proclaim Pride Month has made this northwestern Ontario community of about 1,300 residents near the Minnesota border a front line in the battle for LGBTQ+ rights.
Every June, rainbow flags are raised in municipalities across the country in recognition of Pride Month and to show support for the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man, Judson said he thought it would be nice if the town he grew up in also offered that recognition.
But things didn’t turn out the way he hoped.
On May 12, 2020, a motion presented to city council to declare Pride Month was defeated by a vote of 3 to 2. Borderland Pride, an organization that operates in northwestern Ontario and northern Minnesota, and Emo Township have been engaged in a legal and human rights battle ever since.
Judson said council members who voted against the group’s request — including Mayor Harold McQuaker — discriminated against the LGBTQ+ community and that Borderland Pride had no choice but to take the matter to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
“In my opinion, the decision boils down to ignorance, bigotry and a complete lack of compassion and understanding towards a vulnerable minority group,” he said.
Four years after Borderland Pride filed its human rights complaint, the court ruled last November that McQuaker had discriminated against the group, but dismissed the complaint against the two other board members who had voted against Pride Month.
A court arbitrator has ordered that Emo Township and McQuaker pay $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, to Borderland Pride for violations of the Human Rights Code. She also ordered the mayor and administrative director of the town to take a “Human Rights 101” course.
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McQuaker and the township are now challenging the court’s decision with an application for judicial review of the decision, filed last month in Thunder Bay Superior Court. Their motion argues that the court’s decision and orders are “incorrect in law” and “unreasonable.”
The human rights tribunal’s decision attracted attention from right-wing activists and media in Canada and the United States, and Judson said it may have influenced the mayor’s decision to take the case to the courts. courts.
“We often see a bit of a karaoke reaction in Canada to the political mood in the United States… many in the queer community are watching with concern,” he said of the rise in anti- LGBTQ+ south of the border.
Judson said the mayor’s latest move would be costly for city taxpayers and ‘dangerous’ for LGBTQ+ people who live there.
“They are looking for a court to tell them that it is acceptable to discriminate in the provision of services to a group protected by the Human Rights Code, if you do not support that group or if your personal beliefs conflict oppose their existence,” he said. . “And that’s extremely problematic.”
Several attempts by the Canadian Press to reach McQuaker for comment were unsuccessful.
Reached by phone, Emo Administrative Director Crystal Gray said the mayor and city had no comment because the matter involved legal proceedings.
When the city announced in December that it was seeking a legal challenge to the human rights court’s ruling, it reiterated its 2022 “Equality Declaration.”
“The township recognizes the dignity and worth of all people, as well as the barriers to discrimination and disadvantage faced by protected human rights groups, including members of the LGBTQ2+ community”, can we read.
Judson said it’s especially important that officials in small towns like Emo take the lead in supporting pride and inclusion initiatives because unlike larger cities, there are far fewer support centers available for people LGBTQ+.
One of the two Emo councilors who voted in favor of the Pride proclamation was Lincoln Dunn, now general manager of the Fort Frances Times, a local publication.
Dunn, who introduced the motion and encouraged his colleagues at the time to adopt it, said the Human Rights Tribunal made the “right decision” in November.
“It’s ridiculous that this has been reported in the media in the way that it has been done, and I fear that it will fuel, you know, more hatred and intolerance towards this community,” he said. he declared. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Dunn said the cost of the city’s legal battle over Pride Month was about $40,000 by the time he left the council two years ago, and he thinks it could well exceed $100,000 now.
“It’s just wasting even more money,” he said. “There is an inability to accept that he (the mayor) made a mistake, it is a failure of leadership and it is costing the taxpayers of Emo for no good reason.”
Although Canada has made remarkable progress on LGBTQ+ rights, there is still much to be done to safeguard what has been achieved, Dunn said.
“I think until we reach a point where people feel comfortable being themselves, without fear of retaliation…without the threat of violence or discrimination, we won’t be there” , he said.
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