Keeping the Faith: Human Rights Damages Awarded to Unqualified Job Applicant

Experienced human resources professionals know that evaluating job applicants is more art than science. Getting it right requires the employer to assess and, eventually, select applicants based on a seemingly unlimited number of factors, including experience, education and "fit".

The recent decision of Paquette v Amaruk Wilderness and another1 is a cautionary tale about the consequences of getting it wrong. In that case, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ("Tribunal") sent a strong message about what can happen if an employer allows its perceptions about a prohibited ground of discrimination, such as a person's religious beliefs, to influence hiring decisions involving otherwise unqualified applicants.

Background

The Complainant, Ms. Paquette, was a graduate of Trinity Western University ("TWU"), an evangelical Christian-based university that gained notoriety when the Law Society of Upper Canada refused to grant it accreditation because of its discriminatory "Community Covenant" (which expressly forbids TWU students from engaging in same-sex relations).2

In 2014, Ms. Paquette responded to a job advertisement for an assistant guide internship with Amaruk Wilderness Corp. ("Amaruk"), a Norwegian-based wilderness expedition company with a base of operations in Vancouver. In response to her application, Amaruk sent Ms. Paquette the following e-mail:

I do not understand the purpose of your application considering you do not meet the minimum requirements that are clearly outlined on our website.

Additionally, considering you were involved with Trinity Western University, I should mention that, unlike Trinity Western University, we embrace diversity, and the right of people to sleep with or marry whoever they want, and this is reflected within some of our staff and management. In addition, the Norse background of most of the guys at the management level means that we are not a Christian organization, and most of us actually see Christianity as having destroyed our culture, tradition, and way of life.

And so Ms. Paquette's application was denied.

The two parties subsequently engaged in a fairly lengthy email exchange pursuant to which Amaruk made "ongoing venomous comments" about Ms. Paquette's religious beliefs. As a result, Ms. Paquette filed a complaint with the Tribunal alleging that Amaruk had denied her an employment opportunity because of her religion. Amaruk defended the complaint and took the position that Ms. Paquette was not...