Tribunal to hear Native woman's discrimination complaint

Monday, May 23, 2011  

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal will hear a Native woman's complaint of discrimination against a nightclub in Vancouver.

Colleen Mitchell White, who is Cree, Ojibwe and Metis, was denied entry to The Roxy in March 2009. She was told that she couldn't wear moccasins inside the venue even though the club's dress code doesn't bar them.

"The doorman told her 'we don’t serve people in moccasins," the tribunal stated in a May 18 ruling. "She responded by informing him that her moccasins were good shoes and that her ancestors walked and hunted in those shoes. He told her to hunt buffalo outside because there were no buffalo inside the Roxy."

The tribunal hasn't set a hearing date.

Get the Story:
Native woman denied entry to club can proceed with human-rights complaint, tribunal rules (The Globe and Mail 5/23)