Group joins appeal of decision to fine mayor opposed to proclaiming Pride Month

The Canadian Constitution Foundation will be taking part in a judicial review of an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision to fine a northern Ontario town and mayor $15,000 for refusing to declare Pride Month.

In November 2024, the tribunal fined Mayor Harold McQuaker and the municipality of Emo, Ont., a total of $15,000 after an adjudicator ruled a comment by the mayor before a vote against the proclamation “proved that the vote was motivated by discrimination.”

“The CCF will argue the tribunal failed to consider Mayor McQuaker’s Charter-protected right to freedom of expression,” the group said in a news release Wednesday.

“(The decision) failed to apply the legal framework for balancing expression and the right to equality, established by the Supreme Court of Canada in Ward v. Quebec.”

Controversy began in 2020

The controversy began in 2020 when Borderline Pride asked Emo -- located 200 kilometres southeast of Kenora with a population of 1,300 -- to declare June Pride Month and fly or display an LGBTQ2S+ flag for a week during June.

During debate over whether to make the proclamation, McQuaker said, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin … there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”

Council declined to raise the rainbow flag, citing the lack of a municipal flagpole, and voted 3-2 against the Pride Month proclamation.

Adjudicator Karen Dawson agreed with Borderland Pride that the mayor’s remark prior to the vote proved that the vote was discriminatory, and awarded the group $5,000 from the mayor and $10,000 from the township.

‘Human Rights 101′

In addition, the mayor and Emo’s chief administrative officer were ordered to undergo a ‘Human Rights 101’ course within 30 days.

Shortly after the decision, Borderland Pride was granted an order to garnish the mayor’s bank account, taking the $5,000 plus costs.

“Human rights tribunals exist to prevent discrimination in public services, not to censor good faith political debates,” Josh Dehaas, counsel for the CCF, said in the news release.

“The bar for limiting political speech in Canada is high, yet there’s no evidence the tribunal even considered the mayor’s expression rights.”

No date has been set for the hearing.