Fort St. John massage school to pay $10,000 in anti-Muslim discrimination case

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify that the massage school is located in Fort St. John, not Prince George as originally stated.

B.C.’s Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a Fort St. John massage school to pay a Muslim man $10,000 in compensation for discrimination.

Majid Shahadat, a Canadian Muslim man, born in Bahrain and of mixed Arab and Indian descent, booked a massage online when Joyce Middleton, director of Northern School of Massage emailed him back asking him to “certify” that he was not Muslim.

According to tribunal member Devyn Cousineau’s April 17 decision, in an email, Middleton asked Shahadat to: “Certify you are not of the Islamic faith, which as you know has earned a bad reputation for raping and killing of infidels in Canada and elsewhere.”

In another email, she told Shahadat the school would not be accepting new male clients to protect their students “who happen to be all girls at this time.”

Cousineau ruled that because of Middleton’s discriminatory views, Shahadat was denied access to a service that is regularly available to the public.

“This denial was a violation of his dignity and an affront to B.C.’s commitment to an equitable society: Code, s. 3.,” he said.

After Shahadat filed a complaint against Middleton, she advanced a defence that tried to prove that her fears against Muslim men are rational based on “tenets of Islam which promote violence, particularly against women and children.”

Cosineau said her defence has “deepened the extent of harm” to Shahadat.

Middleton’s defence included her “God-given Right to Self Protection” being a universal law, which she claimed is above Shahadat’s feelings.

Middleton said she has Muslim friends.

“They do not wholly agree with the teachings of the Quran – especially with regards to women’s and children’s inferior rights,” she said.

Middleton explained her “risk assessment” was due to “world news, police reports, country statistics, excerpts direct from the Quran.”

“Any law that forces women and children to put themselves into the hands of a strange man, who could be a murderer, rapist, human sex trafficker, slaver or whatever … cannot be a just law.”

Shahadat told the Tribunal that he was deeply hurt, and had never experienced anything like this in the 25 years he’s lived in Canada.

“I’ve had to work extra hard to get where I am … People with my background are the minority,” he said.

“The fact that all of that hard work just goes out the window simply because someone makes a call about what you are based on my colour, my religion, my ethnicity — that was really hurtful.”

Cousineau said Middleton took “far-right” and “anti-Muslim” ideas about Muslim men, rooted in Islamophobia to address Shahadat.

“It impacted Mr Shahadat’s sense of dignity and belonging in Canada,” the Tribunal member said. “It plants the thought that his hard-earned successes are vulnerable to erasure at any point for reasons beyond his control.”

Middleton not only has to pay $10,000 for her disrespect but also another $2,500 as costs for improper conduct during the tribunal process.

“The Tribunal repeatedly cautioned Ms Middelton to correct her conduct, but those cautions have been only partially effective. I am satisfied that she has continued to engage in improper conduct, and that an award of costs is appropriate,” Cousineau said.

“Ms Middleton has had multiple opportunities to stop pursuing anti-Muslim ‘defences’ to the complaint and has nevertheless persisted.”