Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a patient to pay $9,500 in moral and punitive damages in connection with the discrimination of a healthcare worker due to their ethnicity.
According to the facts laid out in the judgment, the complainant, who is of Arab origin, worked as a nursing assistant in a Montreal-area hospital. During an exchange with a patient, the worker was aggressively asked to leave, told to go home and insulted due to their ethnicity.
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An administrator at the hospital had to intervene, but the patient refused to apologize and asked to be served by other employees who were not Arab. That request was refused.
When the patient was contacted by an investigator from the tribunal for his version of the facts, he reiterated his remarks and threatened to physically attack the complainant.
During the hearing, the patient tried to justify his actions by saying it was because he was under the effect of morphine. However, the judge concluded that anger or intoxication cannot serve as a valid excuse for making discriminatory statements.
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The complainant testified that he found it difficult to work in the weeks following the event. He says he was affected to the point of having sleep problems and not to go out of the hospital alone.
The judgment found that a society cannot welcome immigrants and religious minorities, and at the same time allow them to be reproached for their ethnicity or their religious beliefs, refused a job or denied access to certain jobs.
The tribunal awarded the complainant $7,500 in moral damages and $2,000 in punitive damages due to the patient’s attitude and the fact that the latter still considered his remarks justified.
— With files from Global News’ Kalina Laframboise
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