Gym Owner Complains of Human Rights Commission Process after Costly Battle with Gender-Confused Man

A gym owner in St. Catharines, Ontario, spoke out against the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) yesterday, complaining that, after he had been dragged through the system for three years and spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting a complaint brought against him by a gender-confused man, the case was ultimately dropped.

In recent years the Canadian Human Rights Commission system has come under heavy fire from critics. One of the major criticisms that has been levelled against the system is that people who launch complaints have their legal fees covered by the government, while those responding to the complaints are required to pay their own legal fees. The result is that most respondents will have to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees defending themselves, even if they win the case – ensuring that, in the words of HRC critic Ezra Levant, “the process is the punishment.”

The dispute began in the summer of 2006, when a man, calling himself Lisa MacDonald, sought membership in John Fulton’s fitness club for women.  The man insisted not only on joining the club, but on using the women’s change room and bathroom, despite Fulton’s efforts to offer alternative solutions.  MacDonald refused, however, to consider any other possibilities and threatened legal action.

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