Chinese strata proceeds to B.C. Human Rights Tribunal
Richmond News
Graeme Wood
19 December 2017
A case of alleged discrimination by Mandarin-speaking strata council
members against their English-speaking neighbours will be heard at a
B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing.
Former Richmond resident Andreas Kargut — who moved to the Interior
following what he describes as strenuous living conditions for his
family, after his Tribunal claim was filed against the strata —
expressed relief in the decision to have the case heard.
“I’m very happy about this,” said Kargut.
He and eight other owners at Wellington Court, on Heather Street, made
national headlines after the Richmond News broke the story in December
2016. They claim racial discrimination from the Mandarin speakers who
refused to conduct strata council meetings, including an Annual General
Meeting (AGM), in English.
The case is unique in so much that ethnic Chinese people are a visible
minority in Canada but a majority in Richmond (52 per cent).
“Where it occurs, discrimination by the minority against members of the
majority group is no more acceptable just because that group has
obtained a majority in a particular enclave,” stated Tribunal member
Walter Rilkoff in a written statement.
The Mandarin-speaking strata claimed the need to speak Mandarin only
because its members were all Chinese and some didn’t speak English
(11.2 per cent of Richmond residents cannot communicate in English — by
far the highest rate in Canada).
Wrote Rilkoff: “Wellington Court is not, and cannot be, a closed
community open only to people of one ethnic group. Any owner is free to
sell their unit to anyone and anyone is entitled to purchase a unit.
That buyer in turn is entitled to meaningfully participate in the
Strata’s governance.”
Because a small minority of owners cannot speak English at all, Rilkoff
suggested “the Strata may be under an obligation to provide reasonable
accommodation to the Mandarin speakers.”
The Tribunal will explore such matters at a hearing date to be determined.
MLA Reid calls case isolated
Kargut said he initially had the verbal support of his then MLA, Linda
Reid, to change the Strata Property Act to require English in council
meetings.
“When I first met with her she agreed changes need to be made. The
Strata Act was revamped in 2014 and language wasn’t part of that. Linda
Reid told me it wasn’t a matter of if a Caucasian person would file a
case against Mandarin speakers, it’s a matter of when. That’s what she
said. In other words, this kind of stuff is happening all over
Richmond,” said Kargut.
But when the News asked Reid this month about changing the Act, she
said it wouldn’t be necessary and Wellington Court is an isolated
incident.
“It didn’t require it and we have no other ongoing complaints at the
present time, so we’ll work our way through that process,” said Reid,
nevertheless noting that “to be a non-Asian speaker and have the
meetings conducted in Chinese puts you at an enormous disadvantage.”
Prior to the May election Reid was Speaker of the House and said she
must remain neutral on matters. During the campaign she touted in ads
she was “proud of our international city.” Her then NDP counterpart
Coun. Chak Au suggested translation services (for either party) be
available under law.
When he filed his claim in 2016, Kargut contended: “This is Canada and
we have to preserve our official languages. We have to be vigilant
about this as Canadians.
“They are trying to build a monocultural community and hoping that
people who don’t speak their language, and don’t have their cultural
background, will move out.”
Some complainants are Chinese themselves
In his written submission to allow the hearing to proceed, Rilkoff
addressed the matter of some of the complainants (the Kargut group)
being of Chinese ethnicity (who nevertheless cannot speak Mandarin).
“The concepts of race, colour, ancestry and place of origin often seem
to be used interchangeably, and that certainly appears to be the case
here,” he said.
But in submissions, the strata council members noted complainant Mr.
Tan is of Chinese ethnicity, thus putting into question the claim of
racial discrimination.
“The Respondent (strata) refers to the inclusion of Mr. Tan, who is
part of the complainant group, but who is Asian, and likely shares more
racial characteristics with the Mandarin speaking group than with Mr.
Kargut, for example. However, that is not a complete answer. The fact
that there may be exceptions in a group to that group’s protected
characteristic does not, in and of itself, avoid a finding of
distinctions on the prohibited ground.”
In this respect Rilkoff agreed that the “complainant group is likely predominantly one of race or place of origin or ancestry.”
He said Kargut “may wish to consider amending the Complaint to add additional protected grounds.”
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