For refusing to serve a man carrying what it deemed to be improper
I.D. — and then calling the police when he refused to leave — a Halifax
bar is now awaiting punishment for what the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission deemed to be a discriminatory act of “imposing the police” on a customer “because of his colour.”

“Our motto is ‘if in doubt, keep them out,’” Alehouse general manager Peter Martell said in a letter filed before the commission. “We are heavily scrutinized by the [Alcohol and Gaming Division] and follow their guidelines.”
The incident occurred on a Saturday night in February, 2010. Mr. Gilpin, then 32, entered the Alehouse, ordered a beer and was immediately “carded” by server

Mr. Gilpin provided an expired Nova Scotia identification card

As none of the cards

Mr. Gilpin continued to linger, despite the intervention of manager Shawn Murgatroyd. Eventually, Mr. Murgatroyd called Halifax

Despite unanimous testimony by Alehouse staff that Mr. Gilpin did not seem intoxicated, police

He will never forget how the Alehouse made him feelThe charge was subsequently dismissed, and Mr. Gilpin is intending to pursue a separate case

In its final decision rendered in July, the Human Right Commission ultimately ruled that Halifax Alehouse’s denial of Mr. Gilpin’s identification was not necessarily racist, even if it chastised the bar’s current age identification policy for being “aggressive and even arrogant.”
What was racist, though, was the bar’s act of “invoking the force of the state” by summoning police.
Halifax Alehouse was unable to “rebut the presumption of discriminatory behaviour,” read the decision.
“As Maya Angelou has said: … ‘people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,’” wrote commission board chair Walter Thompson.
“Mr. Gilpin wept as he told his story. He will never forget how the Alehouse made him feel.”
At proceedings, Mr. Gilpin’s lawyer also claimed the episode had triggered his client’s post-traumatic stress disorder.
At a final hearing convened on Tuesday, the parties met to hash out an appropriate “remedy” to the July decision. To be decided by the board chair within the next

“What I think you’re going to see from the board chair is some commentary with respect to the benefit of having training

His client’s experience is “not the first of its kind in Nova Scotia, that’s for sure,” he said.
Gordon Stewart, executive director of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, said he anticipates the pending remedy will prompt Nova Scotia restaurants to work out clearer carding guidelines with the Alcohol and Gaming Division — particularly since the Halifax

“It can get restaurants

Alehouse lawyer Eric Thomson, meanwhile, told Halifax’s Chronicle Herald that the case’s outcome still leaves plenty of ambiguity on how bars will be expected to treat their customers.
“The question still remains — when do you make a phone call, when don’t you make a phone call?” he said.
National Post
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