I'm still blinking in amazement at the plight in which a Canadian charity recently found itself.
The people who run Waterford's food bank are breathing a sigh of relief after a complaint to the province's Human Rights Tribunal from a client who demanded someone drive him home with his groceries was dismissed.
If the request had been upheld, the charity, which feeds about 100 individuals and families a month, would have been forced to close, they said.
The catch, they said, is that the man, who suffers from arthritis, also asked for $20,000 in damages because he had been refused the service.
"We would definitely have had to close our doors if we had to pay out $20,000. We don't have the funds to do so," said Karen Haviland, the food bank's coordinator.
As well, a judgment against the food bank would have forced it to offer delivery to all 100 clients, creating a whole new layer of costs and complications: more volunteers to do the driving, increased mileage expenses and insurance premiums, and worry over the safety of volunteers going into homes.
"If we had to meet these requirements, we'd have to close the food bank," said board member Gail Nutley.
There's more at the link.
This just boggles my mind! If such a complaint can be even considered by the Human Rights Tribunal, the latter must be so overrun with political correctness that it positively reeks of patchouli and prissiness! There's growing opposition to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (for a couple of examples, see here and here); and I'm coming to understand why!
I hope, for the sake of ordinary Canadian citizens, that this nonsense can be stopped . . . but once the train of bureaucracy is empowered by political correctness, it's hard to derail it.
*Sigh*
Peter
Always going to be some leech who isn't happy enough that you're giving him free food.
ReplyDeleteHappened to notice the town of Waterford in the post.
ReplyDeleteI once lived and worked there-what you'd call a nice small town, 4,000 people with the small town values you'd expect in an agricultural community-including helping neighbours.
A sense of entitlement now seems to have replaced "gratitude" and "community" even there.
For once the Human Rights Commission actually showed some (un)common sense, though they never should have been involved anyway.
must be so overrun with political correctness that it positively reeks of patchouli and prissiness!
ReplyDeleteI must find a way to bring that into conversation, as I do love its alliteration...