Bar punished for no-blacks policy

Longueuil Venue must pay $25,000; Quebec rights tribunal sides with two men
who were refused service due to skin colour

KAZI STASTNA, The Gazette

Published: Thursday, July 27, 2006

The Quebec Human Rights Commission has condemned the blatantly racist
policies of a Longueuil bar that refused to serve two black men because of
their skin colour.

In a July 7 decision, the commission ordered the Resto Bar Le Surf on
Chambly Rd. to pay $12,500 each to Seydou Boubacar Diallo and Mamadou El
Bachir Gologo. The two men, of Malian origin, were told Sept. 13, 2003,
and again six days later, that the bar had a no-blacks policy.

"The barmaid refused to serve me. I asked why and she said, 'Because you're
black.' It was as explicit as that," Diallo, 33, said yesterday.

Most of the $25,000 in damages is to be paid by co-owner Christian Lemyre,
who instituted the discriminatory policy, and by the numbered company to
which the bar is registered. Barmaid Anne-Marie Lyne Lussier, busboy Serge
Tanguay and doorman Bertrand Fontaine are to contribute $2,000 each.

The commission also recommended the bar prohibit staff from engaging in any
type of discrimination when dealing with customers.

The bar has until Aug. 4 to comply or decide to contest the decision before
the Human Rights Tribunal.

Gologo, a civil engineer who is working in northern Quebec and had not
learned of the decision, was first turned away by a bouncer on Sept. 11,
2003. When he returned with Diallo two days later there was no bouncer at
the door, but a waitress inside refused to serve them.

Lemyre appeared and told the men the bar decided to stop admitting blacks
because black gangs had been causing trouble at bars in the area, and
several had closed as a result.

"I tried to explain that I am not a gang member. I told him I was studying
and showed him my (Universite de Montreal) card and licence," Diallo said.

Black friends of his had been going to Le Surf regularly, Diallo said, but
began to be turned away about two months before his own encounter.

On Sept. 19, Gologo and Diallo returned to the bar with a Journal de
Montreal reporter who disguised himself as a black man. A busboy told the
men staff had orders not to serve blacks, Latinos or members of certain
other ethnic groups until the bar's problems were resolved.

"There were blacks here all the time, but it got to the point where there
were too many," Lemyre later told the Journal reporter, Stephane Alarie.

His policy was not racist, he insisted, but a business decision. Black men
had committed holdups and used counterfeit $50 bills at his bar, he said.

"It's rare that one sees a commercial establishment practise and admit so
publicly and openly a policy of systematic denial of service to people of
black descent," said Fo Niemi, head of the Centre for Research-Action on
Race Relations, which lodged the complaint.

"This decision is an important milestone in the fight against racism in
Quebec."

Diallo, who works for a private security firm and lives in Contrecoeur,
said he hopes the victory will inspire other blacks to rise against
racism.

"I know a lot of people who have been victims of similar actions but have
not come forward," he said.

"These people have to understand that no matter how long it takes or the
outcome, they have to assert their rights."

Lemyre could not be reached for comment yesterday.