EMO — The Township of Emo will have to pay damages after refusing to proclaim Pride Month.
In 2020, Borderland Pride requested the township declare June as Pride Month and display a rainbow flag for one week.
The township refused that request and now the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled that the refusal was discriminatory.
In decision released Wednesday, the tribunal awarded $15,000 in compensation to Borderland Pride for "injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect."
The township will have to pay $10,000 of that amount. Emo mayor Harold McQuaker is personally responsible for the remaining $5,000.
The tribunal also ordered McQuaker and the township's current chief administrative officer to complete human rights training within 30 days.
The tribunal declined, however, to order the township to make any Pride Month proclamations either retroactively or going forward.