Tribunal rules in favour of gay Indigenous man rejected for auto shop job

A gay First Nations man who was turned down for a job at an autobody shop east of Edmonton has been awarded $56,000 in damages and lost wages by a human rights tribunal.

The Alberta Human Rights Commission said in a written decision last month that Rambo Landry applied for an administrative job at Vegreville Autobody Ltd. about a year after he and his husband, an RCMP staff sergeant, moved to the area from the Northwest Territories.

Myron Hayduk — a co-owner of the shop who was Vegreville’s mayor at the time — conducted a 75-minute interview with Landry, the tribunal heard.

Landry testified that Hayduk spent an estimated 80 per cent of that time discussing religion, marriage, race, sexual orientation and other matters unrelated to the job.

“I find that Mr. Landry’s race, sexual orientation and marital status were factors in the respondent’s decision not to hire him,’’ tribunal chair Karen Scott wrote in the Oct. 17 decision.

“Accordingly, I award the complainant $20,000 as general damages for loss of dignity as well as $36,000 for lost wages, plus interest.’’

Hayduk said he has been advised by his lawyers not to comment on the decision. Landry did not immediately respond to an interview request.

In her decision, Scott wrote that the interview started off with a routine question about why Landry wanted to work there, but then took a strange turn when he was asked what he would do if a customer had an issue with his sexual orientation.