B.C. Court of Appeal says 1995 controversy was handled appropriately by a group dealing with women in crisis
Vancouver (20 Jan. 2006) - The British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled in favor of a Vancouver rape crisis group that banned a transsexual from participating in its volunteer training program. The incident occurred more than a decade ago and the case has been in dispute ever since.
The latest decision, in the case of Kimberly Nixon vs. the Vancouver Rape Relief Society, says the organization was protected by a "group rights exemption" set out in the B.C. Human Rights Code.
The code shields groups from liability if they discriminate when acting in good faith. In this case, the group clearly established a rational connection between its discrimination against Nixon and its work as a group, the court ruled.
A post-operative transsexual when the incident happened in 1995, Nixon originally had her complaint upheld. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal found in her favour and ordered the group to pay $7,500 compensation, a record award at the time. That ruling was later overturned by the courts.
In the lastest decision, the appeal court found Section 41 of the code permits a group to "prefer a sub-group of those whose interests it was created to serve, given good faith and provided there is a rational connection between the preference and the entity's work, or purpose."
While sanctioning discrimination in such narrow circumstances, however, the court actually strengthened protections against discrimination in general by ruling that a complainant does not have to prove an injury to dignity to establish discrimination under the human rights code.
Because of this, the earlier court ruling erred in finding that Nixon had not suffered discrimination, it said. NUPGE
More information:
Chronology - Kimberly Nixon vs Vancouver Rape Relief Society
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