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Human rights complaint over alleged homophobic strata tirade dismissed

'Not every failure to be kind or respectful requires state intervention,' says BC Human Rights Tribunal member
Court gavel

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed the complaint of a Burnaby man allegedly subjected to a “tirade” of homophobic slurs by his Burnaby strata neighbour.

Hugh Finnamore launched a complaint against his Patterson Court Strata at 5400 Patterson Ave. after an incident on Oct. 16, 2016, according tribunal documents.

He told the tribunal he had been driving out of the strata’s parkade when a fellow resident sawing wood in the driveway yelled out, “Is that enough room for you princess?”

Finnamore said he responded by “flipping him off,” getting out of his vehicle and asking his neighbour “what the deal was,” according to tribunal documents.

According to Finnamore’s complaint, the neighbour then launched into a tirade, directing homophobic slurs at him and asking him why he didn’t just move out because everyone in the strata hates him.

Finnamore complained to the strata council, he said, but the council did nothing to address his fellow resident’s homophobic conduct during the incident.

Finnamore alleged this constituted discrimination on the part of the strata.

Tribunal member Barbara Korenkiewicz disagreed.

“Not every failure to be kind or respectful requires state intervention,” Korenkiewicz wrote in a ruling Feb. 2. “This includes failures with discriminatory overtones – and therefore highlights a distinction between comments that may be ‘discriminatory’ in the everyday sense of that word, and comments that amount to discrimination, within the meaning and scope of human rights legislation.”

Context is critical when it comes to whether conduct violates the Human Rights Code, Korenkiewicz said.

She concluded the October 2016 strata clash was an isolated incident that had escalated from a single “disrespectful comment” and that both parties had engaged in “disrespectful and socially inappropriate” behaviour.

“In my view, the complaint does not merit using the Tribunal’s scarce resources,” Korenkiewicz said.

But, while she dismissed Finnamore’s complaint before a hearing, Korenkiewicz did not let strata councils off the hook for not intervening in discriminatory behaviour that unreasonably interferes with another resident’s right to use and enjoy common strata property.

The strata had argued it didn’t address the alleged homophobic comments made by Finnamore’s neighbour because strata corporations are not in the business of “policing conduct” between residents.

 “I do not find this argument persuasive as the Tribunal’s case law establishes that, where a protected ground under the Code is engaged, strata corporations regularly address disputes as between residents arising from conduct such as smoking or making excessive noise, for example,” Korenkiewicz wrote. “When a strata corporation acts on a resident’s complaint and notifies another resident to cease their offending conduct or ultimately imposes a fine for breach of a bylaw in such scenarios, it clearly is – to use the Strata’s phrase – policing conduct as between residents.”

In dismissing Finnamore’s complaint, Korenkiewicz noted she made no findings of fact, but only recited the submission of both parties relevant to her decision.