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Some of you may have been keeping up with the foofaraw about a religious freedom bill in Indiana. Small-town pizzeria owners who declared they would not cater a same-sex wedding due to their religious beliefs (SSM is legal in Indiana, although the business has not been asked to cater one) was bombarded with hate e-mail.
You'd better not have the 'right' for that nonsense.
It's not a matter of what should be, it's a matter of what is. I'd be very interested to find out the answer to that question as regards Canada. I know that for medical professionals we can refuse services that we find morally objectionable, unless we are the only licensed provider of those services that can reasonably provide them to a client in an area or time period, and we must inform our employer of our objections before any incidents occur. But this has to do with professional codes, not national laws. I'd be curious to know how non-professional private businesses are allowed to operate. I found this op-ed, but it didn't really answer to question. Perhaps it has yet to be clarified in the jurisprudence?
Some of you may have been keeping up with the foofaraw about a religious freedom bill in Indiana. Small-town pizzeria owners who declared they would not cater a same-sex wedding due to their religious beliefs (SSM is legal in Indiana, although the business has not been asked to cater one) was bombarded with hate e-mail.
What would happen in Canada? Do businesses up there have a right to refuse service?
You can refuse service to any individual you wish. You can't refuse service based on a protected class. No different than in most states. What is causing the kerfuffle in Indiana is that gays are not a protected class, and the Governor stated that it wasn't on his agenda to make it so. Therefore you could be an idiot and say No Gays and get away with it.
Some of you may have been keeping up with the foofaraw about a religious freedom bill in Indiana. Small-town pizzeria owners who declared they would not cater a same-sex wedding due to their religious beliefs (SSM is legal in Indiana, although the business has not been asked to cater one) was bombarded with hate e-mail.
What would happen in Canada? Do businesses up there have a right to refuse service?
No they do not have the right to refuse gays service. A church has the right not to perform gay weddings though.
There was a case in B.C. where owners of a B&B refused to let a room to a gay couple. If you are operating a business in Canada, you must everyone that is protected from discrimination by law.
"Under the Canadian Human Rights Act, the grounds, or the group characteristics, protected from discrimination are:
race
national or ethnic origin
colour
religion
age
sex (includes protection for males and females, sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and transgendered discrimination)
sexual orientation (includes protection for heterosexual, bi- sexual, gay men and lesbian women)
marital status and family status (includes protection if you are married, single, widowed, divorced, separated, or living common law)
disability
conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted"
It's not a matter of what should be, it's a matter of what is. I'd be very interested to find out the answer to that question as regards Canada. I know that for medical professionals we can refuse services that we find morally objectionable, unless we are the only licensed provider of those services that can reasonably provide them to a client in an area or time period, and we must inform our employer of our objections before any incidents occur. But this has to do with professional codes, not national laws. I'd be curious to know how non-professional private businesses are allowed to operate. I found this op-ed, but it didn't really answer to question. Perhaps it has yet to be clarified in the jurisprudence?
No, sorry, but I don't give any passes on this kind of stuff. I'm sure you can refuse certain services to people for different reasons, but it is completely unacceptable to refuse service to someone based on sexuality for anything ever. I don't care what is the technical law, it doesn't matter, because if it turns out it is, it shouldn't be.
It seems like this would be a violation of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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