Categories:
Discrimination
Case Study
You and your partner are Indigenous and are looking for a rental home. You talk to a landlord who has a laneway house to rent and arrange to see the house. When you and your partner arrive, the landlord isn’t there. The landlord has asked the current tenant to show you the laneway house and, if you like it, to drop a deposit off the next day. You decide to rent the lane house and you drop the deposit in the landlord’s mailbox the next day as instructed. You talk to the landlord several times to arrange the move-in, but it isn’t until you arrive to move in that you meet them. When they meet you in person, they look surprised and ask you about your ethnicity. You say that you and your partner are Indigenous. They refuse to let you move into the laneway house. 1
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Are you experiencing discrimination?
Yes, you are experiencing discrimination. The landlord agreed to rent to you and your partner but then refused to let you move in after they found out that you and your partner are Indigenous. You can tell from what happened that they refused to rent to you based on your Indigenous identity since nothing else had changed. Your Indigenous identity is protected by the Code. The landlord discriminated against you when they refused to let you move in because of your Indigenous identity.
1DesRosiers v. Manhas, 2000 BCHRT 23