Independent Board of Inquiry Decision
The chair of the independent human rights board of inquiry in the matter of Charla Dorrington vs. A.J. Acheson Sales Ltd., operating as Canadian Tire, Dartmouth Crossing, found the complainant was the target of racial profiling.
In a decision issued this week, board chair Eric Slone found that an employee exhibited racial profiling based on Ms. Dorrington’s mixed Black and Indigenous ancestry.
The owner of the respondent company – which is no longer in operation – Alan Acheson, was informed of the complaint and hearing but did not participate or attend the hearing. The board proceeded in his absence.
Mr. Slone notes in his decision the incident appears to have been “a classic example of racial profiling, which is ‘the practice of targeting a consumer for discriminatory treatment based on the consumer’s race, or ethnicity, or both.’” He has ordered that the respondent pay Ms. Dorrington $20,000 in general damages.