In 1991, Michael Jackson's hit single, "Black or
White", topped the Billboard Hot 100 just three
weeks after its release. Perhaps it was the universally positive
anti-racism message, as much as the music itself that propelled its
popularity. Regardless, one would have thought that by 2018 it
would have been well understood that the fact that an employee was
white/Caucasian does not create a defence for an employer's
racist conduct. Sadly, Spruce Hill Resort and Kin Wa Chan must not
have been Michael Jackson fans.
In Eva obo others v. Spruce Hill Resort
and Kin Wa Chan, 2018 BCHRT 238 the BC Human Rights
Tribunal found that Spruce Hill and Chan discriminated against a
group of white employees on the basis of race and colour, and that
one of those employees had also been sexually harassed. After Chan
bought Spruce Hill Resort, he brought in employees of Chinese
ethnicity to perform work that had previously been done by the
white employees. He also changed the white