Ontario town forced by Human Rights Tribunal to pay LGBTQ group $10,000 after not honoring Pride month, mayor must give $5,000 of his own money

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal is forcing the township of Emo and its mayor to compensate an LGBTQ activist group because elected officials refused to honor “Pride Month” in 2020. Borderland Pride asked Emo to proclaim June 2020 as Pride Month and fly a rainbow Pride flag for a week but the mayor and council turned down the request, CBC News reported Friday.

The tribunal, whose rulings are legally binding, has determined that the township must pay Borderland Pride $10,000 and Emo Mayor Harold McQuaker has to provide the group with $5,000 from his personal finances.

Doug Judson, who is a lawyer and a director of the Borderland Pride board said the decision is a real triumph for his organization. "We didn't pursue this because of the money. We pursued this because we were treated in a discriminatory fashion by a municipal government, and municipalities have obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code not to discriminate in the provision of a service," Judson told the CBC.

"The tribunal's decision affirms that. That is the important thing we were seeking here was validation that as 2SLGBTQA plus people, we're entitled to treatment without discrimination when we try to seek services from our local government."

To further humiliate the mayor and the chief administrative officer of the township, the tribunal ordered both to enroll and complete a Human Rights 101 indoctrination course from the Ontario Human Rights Commission within the next month.

Judson said the tribunal’s decision sends a message to people in rural Ontario that they refuse to celebrate Pride month at their own risk. "I hope that it emboldens and strengthens people in communities like Emo and other places like that across Ontario to know that they have entitlements from their government," Judson told the CBC.