Northwestern Ontario town fined $10K for refusing to celebrate Pride Month

An Ontario city and its mayor were fined a total of $15,000 for refusing to celebrate Pride Month.

Based on the decision of the Ontario Human Rights Court on November 20, the city of Emo was ordered to pay $10,000 and Mayor Harold McCuiker was ordered to pay $5,000 to the Borderland Pride organization. This decision was made due to violation of human rights law and discrimination against this organization. Also, the mayor and the executive director of this city were required to undergo a human rights training course.

The beginning of the story

The issue started in 2020, when the Borderland Pride organization petitioned the city to declare June as Pride Month and fly the LGBTQ2S+ flag for a week during the month.

This request was discussed at the city council meeting in May 2020 and was rejected with a result of 3 to 2.

Controversial statements

After the vote, Mayor McCuicker, who had voted against the request, said:
"There is no flag raised for the other side of the story... There is no flag for the straight people."

The Human Rights Court found this comment "humiliating and insulting" towards the LGBTQ2S+ community and declared it an example of discrimination.

Court decision

Harold Bowen and Warren Toles, two other council members who voted against the request, were acquitted on non-discrimination grounds.

The city of Emo, which is located near the border of Manitoba, has a population of about 1,330 people. The full decision of the Court of Human Rights is available online.

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