Discrimination complaint against B.C. theatre over casting will proceed: Human Rights Tribunal

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has opted to hear a complaint from a woman who was not cast in a play because she is black.

Tribunal documents show that Tenyjah McKenna emailed director Judy Treloar in 2017, expressing her interest in auditioning for a role in the play Les Belles Soeurs.

The play, which ran at the Langham Court Theatre in Victoria from Nov. 15 to Dec. 2, 2017, is about four sisters and their neighbours living in Montreal in the 1960s.

When Treloar asked McKenna her age, she replied saying that she was a 35-year old black woman.

“As much as I do not like saying this, the fifteen women in this play are Quebecois women and the play is set in Montreal in 1965. A black woman would not be a neighbour or a sister in this play,” Treloar emailed back.

She said she would still love to hear McKenna read.

McKenna told Treloar that not only was she a black woman from Montreal, but that in the 1960s, her family had lived and worked in the exact Montreal borough in which the play was set. She sent Treloar a link to a McGill university study documenting the black demographic in Montreal and Canada, which she said was ‘steadily increasing’ in the 1950s and 60s.

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“I appreciated the opportunity to appear as Tituba in Langham’s production in the fall, but I continue to hope that theatre in Victoria has come farther than only offering black people roles as slaves and maids,” she told Treloar.

Treloar said she “humbly apologized,” and wanted McKenna to know that she is a “trans‐gender, non‐racial, non‐Quebecois, whatever director”.

Staff at the Victoria Theatre Guild and Dramatic School, which owns the theatre, also emailed McKenna to apologize. During a meeting, McKenna asked that the theatre replace Treloar as the director of the play.

That did not appear to happen; a synopsis of the play posted on the Langham Court Theatre website lists Treloar as director.

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McKenna filed a complaint against the Victoria Theatre Guild, also naming Treloar. Both parties applied to have the complaint dismissed.

The theatre appointed two ombudspersons and amended its discrimination policy, along with implementing diversity training for employees and production personnel. It also offered McKenna a monetary settlement of $1,500.

However, Tribunal member Beverly Froese said there was a “lack of evidence regarding steps the Victoria Theatre took to address the underlying rationale for Ms. Treloar’s comment to Ms. McKenna that she would not be suitable for a role in the play solely because of the colour of her skin.”

Froese said Treloar’s submitted materials still reflected the belief that having an all-white cast enact the play would be historically accurate. She also said the settlement offer of $1,500 was not ‘reasonable’.

A spokesperson from the theatre told Global News the theatre is considering the decision and couldn’t comment, as the matter is before the tribunal.

Global News has reached out to McKenna for comment.