Black lawyer, Ontario’s law society settle racial-profiling complaint
TORONTO — A Toronto lawyer who says he felt humiliated when a security guard denied him entry to the headquarters of Ontario’s law society has settled the racial profiling complaint he made to the province’s human rights tribunal.
The settlement, announced Tuesday, cites confusion over entry protocols as contributing to the situation Selwyn Pieters faced in July last year.
“The law society appreciates that Mr. Pieters has brought this issue to light,” the two sides said in a joint statement. “It has become apparent that a lack of information about entrance procedures at the law society’s premises, as well as the role that licensee identification cards play in those procedures, were at the root cause of the conflict between the parties.”
In his complaint, Pieters, who is black, said he and a black student were visiting the headquarters of the professional regulator at Osgoode Hall when a security guard demanded to see his law society identity card. White people, both before and after the incident, Pieters said, were buzzed in without scrutiny. When his ID card turned out to be expired, the guard refused them entry, although a database check would have confirmed his lawyer status, he complained.