SikhSpectrum.com Quarterly
Issue No.34, January 2009
Review requested of rights commission’s decision in spoon-and-fork ruling
Danny Chan
The Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations has formally requested the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission review and rescind its ruling in a racial-discrimination case filed by a Filipino-Canadian mother, Maria Theresa Gallardo-Cagadoc, whose son was subjected to discriminatory remarks in a local school. CRARR stated the human-rights commission partially upheld the complaint, ruling it was an isolated incident, after it decided in September against bringing the case before the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal.
“I can’t understand how the human rights commission expects to provide a fair investigation when it chose to interview representatives of the school board but not even me, my son or my husband, at all,” Ms. Gallardo-Cagadoc, who sought CRARR’s assistance in presenting her son Luc’s case before the commission, said in an interview.
CRARR discovered procedural anomalies, which may have affected the commission’s decision, after it reviewed the file and submitted the written request earlier this month. They found the commission interviewed only the educator, the school principal and two school board employees yet never contacted any family members prior to handing down its decision.
They also discovered the commission failed to reveal to CRARR certain documents about Luc’s evaluation submitted by his instructor, which may have impacted the decision. CRARR further pointed out the commission ignored a newspaper article in which the principal, Normand Bergeron, allegedly found Luc’s cultural eating habits to be offensive and told his mother “you are here in Canada … you should eat the way Canadians eat”. CRARR had presented this evidence repeatedly during the investigation.
“The commission’s decision to completely ignore our claim certainly raises the specter of bias and unfairness,” Ms. Gallardo-Cagadoc said.
CRARR’s civil rights advocate, Leila Jawando, said in a statement, “Procedural fairness is the cornerstone of the human rights commission’s investigative process. If these rules are not obeyed during the commission’s investigation, then the Commission ought to address the administrative unfairness by rescinding its decision and correcting its errors.”
The commission delivered a mixed verdict last September after finding Luc’s school educator, Martine Bertrand, guilty of discrimination and in violation of the then second-grader’s rights when she asked him if “in his (country, the Philippines), Filipinos washed their hands before they eat” after observing him eat his lunch with a spoon and fork.
The commission found Luc, who was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada as an 8-month-old, was rebuked by Ms. Bertrand for his “inconvenient” habit and for consuming his lunch like a clown rather than for his Philippine custom of eating with a fork and a spoon. Last September’s ruling also recommended mediation between the parties.
The Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission is a human-rights agency that safeguards and promotes civil rights in Quebec as enshrined by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The commission is independent of the government although commissioners are appointed by the provincial legislature and it receives government funding. Unlike the Ontario Human Rights Commission and CRARR’s demands notwithstanding, the Quebec commission lacks policies regarding systemic racism in its educational system.
