The human rights commission in the province of Quebec has ordered a man to pay $8,000 to a panhandler after he wrote an e-mail to a liquor store complaining about her presence outside. The commission found the man had violated the panhandler’s rights and ordered him to pay moral and punitive damages.
Suffering from a degenerative bone disease, the woman cannot work. Although she receives monetary support from the government, she raises a bit of extra money panhandling outside a Montreal liquor store for a few hours on Friday and Saturday evenings.
In 2010, one customer complained to the store manager describing the woman as overweight and a “drunk” with “no apparent IQ.” The letter went on the suggest “solutions,” including “a bullet to the neck and send the bill for the bullet to the deceased bum’s family.”
In its decision, the commission said “Any ordinary person in the same situation as the victim, and anyone who was the target of these words, would have suffered a loss of dignity because of the contempt demonstrated by the defendant.” It goes on to describe the woman hiding in her home with her curtains shut and her fear of the letter writer.
The woman herself said she was “deeply hurt” by the letter and “couldn’t believe another person could say things like that.
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