MONTREAL - A federal human rights tribunal has rejected a complaint by a transgendered lawyer that she was discriminated against when the Canadian Forces refused to enlist her.
Micheline Montreuil alleges the Forces did not accept her 1999 application because of her sexuality.
"For sure, it's a disappointment," Montreuil said of the ruling Tuesday.
"More than anything, it's a loss for human rights."
In December 2002, she filed the complaint and tried to claim $547,000 in damages for loss of salary and moral prejudice.
The case was heard in Quebec City between December 2006 and December 2007.
A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled last month that Montreuil, who represented herself, couldn't prove her sexuality was the cause of the refusal.
In the 300-page ruling released Tuesday, Judge Pierre Deschamps said the "allegations are not credible and that Micheline Montreuil is not credible."
In a separate case in 2007, the human rights tribunal ruled the Canadian Forces discriminated against Montreuil when they passed her up for a job as a grievance officer.
The Forces found she was a qualified candidate but ultimately turned her down, claiming there wasn't enough work to justify hiring someone who spoke only French.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Montreuil's sexuality was the real reason she didn't get the position and awarded her $40,000 for loss of income.
She won a similar case in 2004 when the same tribunal ruled against the National Bank for failing to hire Montreuil as a customer service representative.
In 2007, Montreuil was nominated to run for the federal New Democratic Party, but was dumped as a candidate by the party a few months later.
She claimed it was because she is transgendered.
Micheline had alleged that an NDP official told her the party had a tough time attracting new candidates in the province because of her sexuality.
An NDP spokesman said her nomination was not annulled because of her sexuality but because she was not a team player.
