Nova Scotia human rights board awards over $600,000 for racist discrimination
By The Canadian Press
HALIFAX – A human rights board has ordered the City of Halifax to pay almost $600,000 in damages after a former bus mechanic suffered racist discrimination.
Last year, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission board of inquiry in the case found widespread racial discrimination and a poisoned work environment at Halifax Transit’s garage.
The mechanic filed the complaint with the rights commission over 12 years ago, in July 2006, saying the worker suffered from trauma due to the hostile workplace.
The worker’s lawyer had asked for the maximum amount awarded under Canadian law for general damages.
Board inquiry chair Lynn Evans awarded over $105,000 in general damages to the mechanic and $33,015 to his wife, and also set penalties of $21,675 for the cost of future care for the mechanic and $433,077 for past and future lost income
The complainant, whose name is protected from publication, is white, but his wife is African Nova Scotian, and black and Indigenous co-workers also suffered under the actions of a bus mechanic who no longer works at the garage.
Copyright (c) 2019 The Canadian Press
