MEDIA
ADVISORY: Solo Files Civil Rights Complaint with Saskatchewan Human
Rights Commission against City of Saskatoon (Saskatoon Transit Services) for
Christmas Messages on Programmable Bus Signs
SASKATOON, SK, Mar. 4, 2013 –
Ashu M. G. Solo has filed a civil rights complaint with the Saskatchewan
Human Rights Commission (SHRC) against the City of Saskatoon (Saskatoon Transit
Services) for Christmas messages on programmable bus signs. Solo filed
the complaint after Saskatoon City Council decided to retain the messages and
not add messages for any of the other over 10,000
religions.
Solo believes that these Christmas messages discriminate on
the basis of the prohibited grounds of religion and creed contrary to section 2
of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, violate freedom of conscience in
section 4, and violate section 12 by discriminating against people who aren’t
Christian with respect to the services provided by Saskatoon Transit Services.
“There are over
10,000 religions not including branches of each religion, so they can’t
have messages for all religions on the buses and should have messages for no
religions,” Solo said. “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
guarantees religious equality.”
March is the City of Saskatoon’s Cultural Diversity and Race
Relations Month. “On one hand, they spend a lot of money on events
promoting respect for cultural diversity. On the other hand, they retain
Christmas messages on buses and don’t include holiday messages for any of the
other over 10,000 religions,” Solo said. “Government actions like this
make people mistakenly think that this is a Christian city and Christian
country.”
Solo is attempting to amalgamate his prayer recitation
complaint and Christmas message complaint into one case to reduce costs.
He believes that this can be done because both complaints are against the City
of Saskatoon, both complaints are for religious discrimination, and both
complaints allege violations of the same sections of the Saskatchewan Human
Rights Code, but SHRC will decide if the complaints can be amalgamated.
An attempt at mediation will not be made with the prayer
recitation complaint until after SHRC determines if Solo’s complaints can be
amalgamated. The City of Saskatoon won’t receive any correspondence about
either of these complaints from SHRC until there is an attempt at
mediation. Solo doesn’t believe that mediation is possible for either
complaint because he won’t change his positions and he doubts if the
respondents will too. If mediation fails, SHRC can refer a case for a
hearing by the Court of Queen’s Bench.
Solo believes that he’ll eventually win with both
complaints. “He who is clad in the armor of a righteous cause can defeat
the armies of intolerance,” Solo said.
For further information:
Ashu M. G. Solo