'WHITE BASTARDS': Tribunal orders B.C. First Nation Band to pay $30Gs for chief's 'outrageous' comment
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A First Nation band in British Columbia has been ordered by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to pay $30,000 including compensation for pain and suffering to a former band council member after the band’s longtime chief called her a “white bastard” in an email, as reported first by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“I resign. F—ing white bastards run it,” Raymond Morris, chief of the Nee Tahi Buhn Indian Band of Burns Lake, B.C., wrote in a 2014 email to a colleague.
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'WHITE BASTARDS': Tribunal orders B.C. First Nation Band to pay $30Gs for chief's 'outrageous' comment Back to video
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The email addressed female band council member Hayley Nielsen, who has status under the Indian Act but also has a Caucasian father.
Nielson was hurt by the comments and resigned from her council position, filing a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal.
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“Morris’ vulgar comments, specifically the terms ‘white bastard,’ are outrageous,” the tribunal wrote. “These comments are directly based on Ms. Nielsen’s mixed origins. She felt because of her origins she was treated differently, which is also an infringement of the Act.”
The tribunal’s judge appeared to side with Nielson.
“The words used by Raymond Morris are strong and have definitely injured Ms. Nielsen, who had trouble controlling her emotions at the hearing,” Gabriel Gaudreault, the tribunal’s judge wrote of the hearing. “I heard a calm and sensitive woman, testifying with credibility and confidence.”
“When she explains how she felt targeted, humiliated and shocked, I heard a woman who suffered, a woman who was broken,” he wrote.
As part of the tribunal’s decision, in addition to the payment, the band was made to draft anti-harassment policies and ensure councillors underwent sensitivity training.
“First Nations band councils in Canada have to comply with the obligations of the Canadian Human Rights Act,” Gaudreault wrote, adding the work environment must also be free of discrimination.
The band’s deputy chief showed up late to the tribunal’s hearing and did not present any evidence.
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