TORONTO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Canadian court in Toronto has overturned a Human Rights Tribunal finding that three black men were discriminated against in an Ontario courthouse.
The three-judge panel of the Ontario Divisional Court struck down the tribunal's finding that lawyers Selwyn Pieters and Brian Noble and a law student, all black, were discriminated against in a lawyers' lounge at a courthouse northwest of Toronto in May 2008.
The lawyers claimed librarian and court administrator Melissa Firth demanded to see identification, which they challenged as racial profiling, the National Post reported.
The rights tribunal agreed and ordered the regional law society to pay each of the three men $2,000.
The court decision Tuesday instead ordered the three men to pay $20,000 to cover the librarian's legal costs.
"A complainant cannot merely point to his or her membership in a racialized group and an unpleasant interaction to establish a … case of discrimination," the judgment said.
Pieters, who has a record of claiming discrimination dating back to 1999 because of his color, said he was considering an appeal, the Post said.
