'Race discrimination' - Indigenous Quebec man who lived on reserve denied insurance

This is something that I wasn't even aware of.

Not sure if this is going on in the USA, but here in Canada major corporations feel they have the green light to discriminate in our current poitical environment.

MONTREAL — An Indigenous Quebec man who was denied car insurance because he lived on a reserve was the victim of race discrimination, the province's human rights commission concluded in a recent decision.

Alexis Wawanoloath, a lawyer and ex-Parti Québécois member of the legislature, told a news conference Thursday he welcomed the decision stemming from a complaint four years ago, but called it a partial win because the decision didn't look at the systemic nature of the situation.

"Yes, I experienced discrimination, but as I knew it had been experienced by plenty of other people, I wanted the commission to look at the systemic issue," Wawanoloath said at the offices of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, which helped him with his complaint.

Wawanoloath, 40, brought the complaint in October 2018 after he was refused a car insurance quote because of his postal code in Odanak, about 120 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

He said the minute he gave the postal code, the woman at the other end of the phone said that they could not insure him because the address was on the reserve.
Link

What is the most sickening is that this guy had to go to court over this.

When does the Government EVER step in and do what's right?

Even if we took race out of the equation, does an insurance company have the right to deny you based on where you live? Hmm.

Sad state of affairs IMO

In Canada we HAVE to consider the individuals race should they be native under the law. It’s called the gladue factor. It’s literally our law to discriminate based on race why are you surprised?

I live so far north lots of people won’t ship to my postal code. Damn racists.
a reply to: MykeNukem

originally posted by: Athetos
In Canada we HAVE to consider the individuals race should they be native under the law. It’s called the gladue factor. It’s literally our law to discriminate based on race why are you surprised?

I live so far north lots of people won’t ship to my postal code. Damn racists.
a reply to: MykeNukem

I believe the Gladue Factor is related to considerations in Criminal Sentencing guidelines, nothing else.

This was found to be discriminatory.

If it's because your postal code contains a certain race, creed or nationality it would be discriminatory according to this.

I know exactly what it refers to. The government considers the race. It’s a racist practice. Just because it benefits one group with lesser sentences doesn't mean it’s not racist and discriminatory.
It’s just in favour. If the government demands judgments must consider race why can’t anyone else? Serious question. Not saying it’s right or that we even should just why would we consider race for one set of offences and not all sets of offensive if it actually matters.

The government demands discrimination. It’s the law. It’s because of their race. It’s racist.
Again not saying I agree with it. The Gladue factor means two people can commit the same crime and get different sentences based on the race of offenders.

I ask again if the law demands discrimination why be surprised when your discriminated against? I mean usually natives are discriminated in a positive sense(their race during sentencing, favoured in academic acceptance,) but I don’t differentiate. Discrimination is discrimination and it’s wrong.

a reply to: MykeNukem

originally posted by: Athetos
I know exactly what it refers to. The government considers the race. It’s a racist practice. Just because it benefits one group with lesser sentences doesn't mean it’s not racist and discriminatory.
It’s just in favour. If the government demands judgments must consider race why can’t anyone else? Serious question. Not saying it’s right or that we even should just why would we consider race for one set of offences and not all sets of offensive if it actually matters.

The government demands discrimination. It’s the law. It’s because of their race. It’s racist.
Again not saying I agree with it. The Gladue factor means two people can commit the same crime and get different sentences based on the race of offenders.

I ask again if the law demands discrimination why be surprised when your discriminated against? I mean usually natives are discriminated in a positive sense(their race during sentencing, favoured in academic acceptance,) but I don’t differentiate. Discrimination is discrimination and it’s wrong.

a reply to: MykeNukem

I agree, discrimination is wrong.

This was a Civil matter that has nothing to do with Gladue is the only point I was making.

I'm not surprised he was discriminated against, I just posted the article for discussion and I was thinking that we shouldn't even require a court case over this, it should be de-facto that we don't discriminate.

Discrimination is wrong and I thought I'd highlight a case of it here in Canada. ie; the OP

a reply to: MykeNukem

In the UK, insurance companies cannot deny service to applicants based on any discriminatory factor.

They can and do charge far higher premiums to people living in high crime post code areas.

The case you raise seems odd in that the insurers would turn away business?

I'm glad the court found for the plaintiff and can only surmise the respondent provided poor and inadequate evidence for their actions and could not prove it was reasonable to discriminate.

All discrimination is cringe-worthy; positive discrimination mainly helps organisations pretend they are fully participant in being non-discriminatory employers and service providers!

It's come to the point where any one-eyed lesbian of colour with a dick can secure any job or service they want and trigger a tick-box frenzy.

Is the reservation under the same laws concerning auto insurance as the rest of Canada? Could an insurance company on the reservation insure this guy, or as a member of a first nation does he even need insurance? Maybe it's such a legal mess for insurance companies to insure a car on the reservation they won't do it.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
Is the reservation under the same laws concerning auto insurance as the rest of Canada? Could an insurance company on the reservation insure this guy, or as a member of a first nation does he even need insurance? Maybe it's such a legal mess for insurance companies to insure a car on the reservation they won't do it.

The same laws apply for on or off-reserve (whether the reserve enforces it is another story, lol), though the coverage requirements can vary from Province to Province:

Mandatory insurance coverage
Canadian provinces and territories require drivers to have mandatory coverage. Some provinces may require more coverage than others.
Link

Much like the US each of our Provinces have their own Constitution and/or Charter. In this case it's Quebec and they have The Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

According to the article the court found against the insurance company under articles 4, 10, and 12.

I looked up Article 10 which seems to be the main thrust of the argument:

Article 10 in the Charter guarantees every person the right of recognition and to exercise, in full equality, rights and freedoms without distinction, exclusion or preference, based on the discriminations enumerated. The list of prohibited grounds includes traditional ones such as ethnic origin, sex or religion, and other more modern grounds such as social conditions, political conviction, and pregnancy. It must also be emphasized that Québec is the first jurisdiction in North America, as of 1978, to forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. All discrimination is therefore forbidden in the juridicial acts as regards work, housing, and access to public places and services.
Link

Also, certain Provinces have solely government run insurance, not in this case though.

So, in short, they can't discriminate based on where you live here. Though they can adjust rates accordingly.

a reply to: teapot

In the UK, insurance companies cannot deny service to applicants based on any discriminatory factor.

I believe our law is much the same here.

Though, this was an obvious hiccup and doesn't address the systemic aspect of the problem, just one case.

I can see the insurance companies have issues having to pay out for lost/stolen/damaged cars. I know most Repo men in Alberta will NOT go onto certain reserves to repo cars that are defaulted on (even with RCMP assistance, tribal officers won't usually help), This makes it what it is, a simple bad business deal for the insurance company. Its a case where a few bad apples screwed the rest of them over.
Keep in mind and I'm in Alberta and we have some wealthy reserves here. Most of the native kids(from reserves) I went to school with, get a payout (some reserves up to $50K) when they turn 18. So purchases of trucks and atvs that are subsequently written off in short order is also common. Once again a bad business deal.

Not saying racism couldn't have been the reason, just able to see it from both sides.

originally posted by: JRDACOWBOY
I can see the insurance companies have issues having to pay out for lost/stolen/damaged cars. I know most Repo men in Alberta will NOT go onto certain reserves to repo cars that are defaulted on (even with RCMP assistance, tribal officers won't usually help), This makes it what it is, a simple bad business deal for the insurance company. Its a case where a few bad apples screwed the rest of them over.
Keep in mind and I'm in Alberta and we have some wealthy reserves here. Most of the native kids(from reserves) I went to school with, get a payout (some reserves up to $50K) when they turn 18. So purchases of trucks and atvs that are subsequently written off in short order is also common. Once again a bad business deal.

Not saying racism couldn't have been the reason, just able to see it from both sides.

Excellent point.

This case is Quebec but I can see your point about Alberta.

I bet the insurance rates there are through the roof on-reserve.

I have a question -
We live in NJ, our parked vehicle was slammed by an illegal alien driver, who had no paperwork to be in our country, no driver's license, no license plates, no insurance - nothing.
We were left with $5,000 in damages to our vehicle.
The illegal was let go, no problems. I argued with the police officer taking the report, stating that as an American Citizen I would be arrested on the spot with numerous charges, among them having no driver's license, which he acknowledged as the truth.
There was absolutely no interest from local law enforcement, nor anyone in local government.
Is this not discrimination??
Oh - and the illegal is still residing in the state, and still driving with no license.