Summarised by Centrist
Emo, a small township in the Canadian province of Ontario, has been fined CAD$10,000 (NZD$12,000) and its officials ordered to complete mandatory human rights training after refusing to proclaim June as Pride Month in 2020.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled that the town’s actions violated the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Borderland Pride, the organisation requesting the proclamation, also received an additional CAD$5,000 (NZD$6070) from Mayor Harold McQuaker, whose remarks during a council meeting were deemed discriminatory.
The council refused to adopt a Pride Month proclamation or fly a Pride flag, citing the lack of a central flagpole.
However, the Tribunal focused on McQuaker’s comment during deliberations: “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin … there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”
Vice-chair Karen Dawson found this remark “demeaning and disparaging,” equating it with discrimination under the Human Rights Code.
This isn’t Borderland Pride’s first win—they secured CAD$35,000 (NZD$42,000) in August from a small claims case over criticism of a drag event they organised.
The group’s director, Douglas Judson, warned of “real consequences” for those who continue to oppose their initiatives, stating, “I’m going to start taking people’s houses and their vehicles … because no one is going to stop behaving this way until there are real consequences.”
