A Regina man who won a human rights decision against the city and a union local says he’s still waiting to receive a settlement.
Gary Kivela was a casual truck driver for the city.
He filed a discrimination complaint claiming he was denied a permanent job because he has cerebral palsy.
I tried to read the whole suit, but my goodness. It does appear that the city bent over backwards for the guy, does it not? What was the total? I saw $8k for lost hours, another $10k for hurt feelings, and… were they also supposed to pay him for 2-3 yrs of lost wages? and provide disability too?
It’s way to late for me to find my way through legalese!
You know this has always upet me. Why do adults continualy use a child’s definition of equal?
I mean- here is a guy who could probably claim welfare benefits of some kind, but he doesn’t want to. Mr Kivela wants to work. But, because he has Cerebral Palsy he is unable to do certain types of work. He is able to drive a truck, has a good safety record, and the city seems pleased with his work… but they won’t give him a permanent year round job driving a truck because it would violate union rules- You have to work as a day labourer first- but Mr Kivela can’t be a day labourer, it’s physically impossible for him. The city’s response: They can’t give Mr Kivela “special treatment” because it’s not “equal” and will cause “moral” to drop. (In fact the supervisor says he’d have to wear a bulletproof vest).
This is stupid. They are using the term equal to be synonmous with “the same”. But it is just plain stupidity. If Mr Kivela wants to be a contributing member of society, and he can do the work, why can’t an exception be made to the normal rules regulating promotions to take into account the fact that Mr Kivela is not normal. He has Cerebral Palsy and cannot advance in the typical fashion. Requiring him to do so is just a stupid and childish way of defining “equal”.
Moronic, stupid, pollsters have run amok: Down with polls & f*cus groups. >>>>>
ABC News does a poll, people don’t like high gas prices
Posted by Perdogg
On 08/22/2005 4:16:41 AM PDT � 12 replies � 84+ views
08/22/05 | Perdogg
It was reported on the top of the 7am EST news hour, very first story, that ABCnews conducted a poll and determined that people don’t like high gas prices. Wow, who have figured>>> freerepublic.com
If madmartigan is correct (and I haven’t read the source so I’m taking his word for it,) then it isn’t really the city’s fault. It’s the union’s fault along with their union memebership. The city is tied up by a collective bargaining agreement (one in which they should have done a better job at negotiating but that’s another issue.)
The union mentality is the problem. Seniority is idea that is driving jobs offshore. Who can run a business without flexibility? This driver is a victim of Unions. Don’t like it, talk to the union and get them to budge. Otherwise the city’s hands are tied.
If the guy had a disease that effects his driving he shouldn’t have a driver’s licence….if the goverment deemed him safe to drive then he should not be refused work as a driver. What gets me here is he WAS employed driving so I don’t see him being discriminated against for a disability. What we are dealing with is why he could not get on full time as a driver for 15 years….highly unusual.
In that time he could have sought and retained any number of full time truck driving jobs with other employers…did he try? The natural assuption is he wanted only part time work or is a total goof who will take less pay and zero advancement instead of moving on….someone with limited skills and low job market nobility potential.
I think the culpret here is , first, the union for not representing his interests and second himself for not moving out of a dead end job. Possibly the city for exploiting the situation and getting cheap labor with loose part time staffing policies.
At any rate it’s more a matter of labor code issues and union contract business and more than any HRC discrimination witch hunt.
The Canadian medical association won’t let me set up shop as a gynecologist because they say I lack the credentials. However, I have always regarded my self a gynecologist … should I sue? It’s just not fair. I have some experience in that field. I have been married twice.
There’s enough blame to go around that can easily shared by many for this sad situation. Let’s blame the employee, the city, the union, management, HR, our governments, our politicians & ourselves for allowing it to ever have reached this point.
Rights-worship fetish ruining our society
By MICHAEL COREN
August 20, 2005
Toronto Sun
When British police arrested a highly dangerous terrorist suspect last month, they acted with professionalism and, considering the circumstances, extreme courtesy. “Mohammed,” they shouted, “Take your clothes off! Come out with your hands on your head and you will be all right.”
He argued with them for some time, demanding to know why he should strip down to his underpants. When he was told the obvious — that he was thought to be a potential suicide bomber — he still argued and refused to move.
Eventually the police had to bring the man out by force and he was taken away. But his first response to the police was so deliciously relevant. He shouted it from the balcony. “I have rights,” he screamed. “I have rights.”
There we have it. Rights. Even for a man who is suspected of trying to murder innocent people and create panic and terror.
The mass of our social difficulties, the majority of our seemingly insoluble problems, arise from the fact that in the Western world (and particularly in Canada) we have engineered a rights-based society rather than a responsibility-based one.
The social contract between the governed and the government, between authority and citizenry, has become degraded and unbalanced. Instead of asking what our duty or responsibility might be in any given situation, we demand to know what are our privileges and rights.
At its most obvious there is the usual list of standard demands. The right to marry whomever you want, the right to be ordained a priest when you don’t qualify, the right to claim welfare even if it isn’t deserved, the right to have sex with anyone and everyone, the right to die, the right to be wrong.
The list goes on: The right to swear, the right to defy righteous authority, the right to be publicly uncouth, the right to insult a cop, the right to hide behind any excuse to escape punishment, the right to never fail, never lose, never have one’s self-esteem challenged, the right to be wrong.
Instructional guides
Recently our Supreme Court was called upon to judge a man who on the Internet had been selling instructional guides on how to make bombs, break into houses and commit credit card fraud. The judges decided that he had the “right” to do this because they did not assume he had the “responsibility” to read the contents of the material before he marketed it.
Nor is this fetish of rights-worship in any way consistent. A 14-year-old girl, for example, has the right to be given the contraceptive pill by her family doctor, but that same doctor has no right to inform the parents of the girl.
The concept of responsibility is entirely removed from the equation. Individual rights, even for a child, supercede the role of family and medical responsibility.
The same applies to self-defence. We’ve all heard stories of people like the corner store owner who grew tired of repeated burglaries at his business, who fights back against the criminals with, say, a baseball bat.
In such cases, chances are it’s the owners who will be charged. Too often, the rights of thieves outweigh the rights — and responsibilities — of citizens to protect their own property and livelihoods.
A mere symptom
Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms was supposed to liberate the people of this great nation. What was not noticed was that Canadians were already free. Today, the Charter appears a mere symptom of a deeper dysfunction.
To paraphrase former U.S. president John F. Kennedy, ask not what are your rights in Canada but what are your responsibilities to Canada. And ask now, before the cloud of “rights” chokes us into oblivion.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael/2005/08/19/pf-1180425.html
Idiot.
The very best item I have ever read about the lunacy we now call our “rights” was written by Theodor Dalrymple and you can read it here. I highly recommend it .. it explains much about our present behavior.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spectator/spec284.html
And Trevor ….
are you talking to yourself again?
madmartagan, alot of this gentleman’s problems are related to his personal choices. When the city started using larger trucks for efficiency purposes (which he couldn’t drive) they offered him different work, which he refused as he felt “insulted.”
You know what? When my boss tells me that he’s changed my job description, I have to choices: go along with it, or go away. Period.
While I feel sorry for this guy, his therapist admitted that he has refused to do a variety of exercises that would improve his physical health & well-being, he has refused other work opportunities, etc. In essence, he has chosen to pout, and seems to think the city & the union should pay for it. That a judge agrees is, to me, a sad state of affairs.
What surprises me is that people are surprized by this kind of crap anymore.
Mindless Beuracracy runs our lives now. the Tools are now using us!!
OT, but responding to Maz,(re polls)
You might want to avail yourself of today’s National Post. According to national pollster Darrell Bricker, Stephen Harper is bad. His quote, in part,”As bad as Stephen Harper is” shows how much the National Post is inline with the rest of the MSM in attacking Harper. If they didn’t agree with Bricker, they wouldn’t have printed it.
My Gawd! I want to sue the Toronto Symphony for not giving me a job in the violin section.
Never mind that I can’t play the violin.
But I think I’ll win!
Ah, the land of rights and no responsibilities.
Doug,
Hey,lad. If you want to sue ANYTHING in Toronto, count on me for a donation towards your legal fees!
I think Duke should take his complaint about being kept in the permanent rut of nonprofessional freelance gynacologist by bureaucratic discrimination to the HRC…it has at least as much merit as most of the other constitutionally insane claims they recieve.
Try this rationale Duke: Being married twice and keeping an adequate stable of happy mistress’s at the same time, at least qualifies you as a consultant in “holistic” gynocology and at best an admistrator of a “holistic” gynocology clinic. 😉
In related news, a young man from Regina has filed an equally opportunity suit against the U.S. Air Force for denying him an equal chance of becoming a pilot, just because he’s legally blind.
Kate — Sorry to both you and your readers. But I thought you might be interested in this.
There is an anti-SDA site up and running called Small Dead Animals 2.0 (www.smalldeadanimals.blogspot.com). And the main protagonist appears to be MWW.
Please head to my blog, and scroll down to the post on Edward T Bear. You’ll find the link and some more information.
I’d join your suit against Toronto Symphony (perhaps it could be class action … if you get enough people) but I’m busy with my other lawsuit – I’m going after Molson for compensation for all the ugly guys I slept with when I got drunk!
Yeah I know about it. It’s been up for months. Now that she’s been outed as “Edward T. Bear” and closed down Blankouttimes (where she had the hilarious practice of quoting her other personalities in glowing terms to support her “arguments”), she’s revived the other.
The woman has a problem. You can also go over to http://www.no-treason.com where they’re eviscerating her for the many and varied versions of her life.
She makes up her family history to suit the demands of the day, it seems.
Poor woman. You’d think that there would be someone in her life who cares enough for her to get her help, but apparently not.
Kate:
It looks to me like MWW or whatever she calls herself has seen too many Stephen King movies. To say that her elevator doesn’t go to the top is an understatement to say the least. Her UP escalator is going DOWN.
The truly scary part is she is now trying to involve RCMP and others in her dilusional world. I’m sure the county mountie of Delise has better things to do with their time.
BTW Duke,
I’d try Bikini Waxing School. A lot less schooling and more on-the-job training.
Sorry, I just couldn’t end on a serious note.
Kate — Thanks for the reply. I will head to no-treason.com to investigate.
Briefly, I’ve watched your “war of words” (so to speak) with MWW develop for some time now. To say she went overboard with her criticism of your post on Indian reserves would be the understatement of the year.
I have rarely seen bouts of such anger and pure nastiness…and keep in mind what my day job is! : )
Cyberspace, like life in general, is full of many interesting and unusual characters. Unfortunately, some of us encounter these characters from time to time. But the mark of a good blogger – and writer – is how we handle them, be it with charm, wit, intelligence, calm rational thinking, and so on.
You’ve done an excellent job in this regard, Kate. Keep up the good work.
RH
That’s gotta be the saddest life I have ever heard of – inventing personalities for yourself in the blogosphere – get a life lady, get a life!
On the other hand, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery….
Duke, you should open a Morgenthaler clinic instead, minimal licensing or oversight. I mean, why let “credentialism” interfere with a woman’s right to yadda yadda? That’s where the gynecological societies send all their pervs and drunks, anyway.
What’s really troubling is that we have all these entrenched (enshrined?) HRCs all across Canada. These idiots are unaccountable to the judiciary, to any level of government, or even the letter of Canadian Law.
Once a decision has been made, there’s little avenue in the way of appeal, so getting a good lawyer isn’t always the ticket. Their decisions are binding. They can close your business, take your wages, fine you up the wazoo, and put you in jail.
And if you speak out against them, the usual response is, “What! You mean you’re against HUMAN RIGHTS?”
Tommy2 – unless I am mistaken, most provincial Human Rights commissioners are officers of the Legislative Assembly, meaning they are accountable to ALL elected members, not just to the governing party. So if you have a beef with one, take it up with your MLA.
Interesting coincidence- in a thread with “Crazy People” in its title the subject of Meaghan Walker Williams arises…
“Sikhs protest hard-hat rule – CP Rail wants drivers to take off turbans, put on safety gear”
Group plans to go to Ontario Human Rights Commission
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1124920224803&call_pageid=970599119419
Naturally. Canadians wouldn’t expect less.