Categories:
Discrimination
Case Study
You rent a one-bedroom apartment near the university where you are taking classes. Your landlord offers you gifts like flowers and candy. He makes excuses to come to your apartment, sometimes early in the morning when you are in your pajamas. He makes comments about your appearance saying you have beautiful eyes and that it is obvious you work out. He invites you to go to the movies and the beach. You turn down his invitations and try to refuse his gifts but he gets starts arguing with you and gets aggressive. You are always worried he’ll get upset and you try to stay out of his way. One time he pushes himself into the apartment saying he needs to do some repairs. You decide you need to find somewhere else to live and give your notice. While you wait for your move-out day, you are afraid to stay in your apartment alone in case your landlord forces his way in and you are afraid to leave your apartment in case he changes the locks while you are out.1
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Are you experiencing discrimination?
Yes. Your landlord’s unwelcome gifts, visits, sexualized comments and invitations are sexual harassment. He knew or should have known you were not interested in a relationship with him beyond that of renter/landlord. You refused his gifts, declined to go out with him and avoided him. You were forced to move out of your home because you felt unsafe. You have the right to live in your apartment free from sexual harassment. Your landlord discriminated against you on the basis of sex, a part of your identity protected by the Code.
1Friedmann v. MacGarvie, 2011 BCSC 1147 (CanLII), <https://canlii.ca/t/fmrf4>, retrieved on 2022-12-05