A Christian woman has been awarded $8,500 by a human rights tribunal
that found a company did not hire her in part because of her religion.
Bethany Paquette will receive the compensation for injury to her
"dignity and self respect" after she received a string of vitriolic
emails from Amaruk Wilderness Corporation in response to a job
application.
The Canadian based adventure company advertised for an "assistant
guide internship" position in 2014 but after applying Paquette was
rejected by the company's CEO Christophe Fragassi, the National Post reports.
Along with her rejection notice, Paquette received emails from Amaruk
insulting her Christian background. The graduate had noted in her
application she had attended Trinity Western University, a private
Christian institution near Vancouver.
"Graduates from Trinity Western University are not welcome in our
company," Paquette was told by an executive named as Olaf Amundsen.
"God bless is very offensive to me," the same purported official
wrote later. "I do not want to be blessed by some guy who was conceived
by a whore, outside of marriage ... If I was to meet the guy, I'd
actually f— him."
The young Christian told the court Fragassi "was clearly the
directing mind of the company" and "should be held personally liable"
for the insulting emails.
The company, which is partially based in Norway, defended itself by
saying it no longer operated in Canada and therefore did not come under
its jurisdiction.
However the tribunal ruled that "both Amaruk, through its employee's
actions, and Mr Fragassi-Bjornsen have discriminated against Ms Paquette
on the ground of religion by harassing her for presumed religious
beliefs and declining to accept her application for an internship, in
part because of those beliefs."
Fragassi was ordered to pay $8,500 for injuries and a further $661 in court fees.
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