CRARR TO SUPPORT BLACK MAN IN DIEPPE BURGER KING RACISM INCIDENT

Montreal, July 17, 2017 — CRARR has obtained a mandate to assist Ronald Delice, a native Montrealer currently residing in Moncton, New Brunswick, who is of Haitian descent and who unexpectedly encountered an anti-Black racial slur from a Burger King employee last May.

Delice, who also serves this country as a soldier for more than 10 years, was driving four customers in his taxi vehicle to a Burger King drive-thru located at 465 Paul St. in Dieppe, NB when the events at issue occurred. After his customers placed the order in the intercom, he drove up to the restaurant’s window for payment and pickup.

When one of his customers asked the white male employee, who looked to have management status based on his shirt and tie clearly displaying the Burger King logo, whether he likes the rapper 50 Cent (whose song was at that point playing on the radio in the taxi), the latter replied, in a matter-of-fact manner, “No I don’t like N-.”

When Delice confronted the employee about the racial slur, the latter apologized in a casual and insincere manner, and stated that he “didn’t mean anything by it.” The exchange was recorded on Delice’s phone. According to news report, the employee in question was fired after the incident.

Outraged by this employee’s conduct, Delice took the case to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission on June 2nd, 2017. His complaint was initially denied on the basis that he was not the primary service receiver, since it was his customers who had asked for such services from Burger King, and that Delice was merely driving these customers in his car. However, after review by the Commission, he was allowed to file a formal complaint, which was submitted on June 8th 2017. Since filing the complaint, Delice has not heard back from the Commission.

“We are puzzled, to say the least, by this narrow interpretation of the Human Rights Act”, said CRARR Executive Director Fo Niemi. “Such response to a Black man being called the N-word at a commercial service point, in front of his own customers who were as offended as he was, is disappointing and concerning.”

CRARR has written to Nathalie Chiasson, Chairperson of the NB Human Rights Commission to enquire about the status of the case. In addition, it asks the Commission to cite the employee who uttered the N-word, and Burger King Canada as Respondents (he listed Burger King in the U.S. in his complaint).

“Mr. Delice is certainly entitled to compensation for this hurtful treatment, and he expects that Burger King as a whole undertake measures to ensure that neither he nor any other individuals of the Black race or any race for that matter be exposed to this kind of civil rights violations,” added Mr. Niemi.