Fil-Canadian family to file a civil rights lawsuit over spoon-and-fork row

CHICAGO, Illinois – The family of Filipino-Canadian Luc Cagadoc, a seven-year-old Grade 2 student who was reprimanded by his lunch supervisor for eating with a fork and spoon, is seeking the help of the Filipino community in Montreal, Canada and everywhere to help them in filing a civil rights lawsuit against the school board and the educators involved. Fo Niemi, executive director of Center for Research Action on Race Relations (Crarr), also said that while Crarr and the Cagadocs had “filed a request for administrative review with the Quebec Human Rights Commission, Maria Gallardo Cagadoc and her family have decided to file a civil rights lawsuit against the school board and the educators." Mrs. Cagadoc also appealed to Filipinos to help her invite a member of the Filipino Human Rights Commission to be a guest speaker in the fund-raising for Luc’s case. In a letter to human rights conscious friends, Niemi said, “We need your help to support equality and dignity for the Filipino community of Montreal – as a matter of fact, for Filipinos everywhere." Luc and his mother lost their battle against a school board and its educators who made discriminatory statements against the Filipino people’s culture and eating habits. In 2006, when Luc was reprimanded for eating with a fork and spoon, Maria and her husband, Aldrin, with the support of the Filipino community, asked the help of Crarr to help them file a complaint before the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission to uphold their civil rights. Last September, the Commission declared that Luc’s lunch supervisor, Martine Bertrand, of the daycare service Ecole Lalande in Montreal, was guilty of discriminating against Luc and violating Luc’s human rights when Bertrand asked Luc, “in your country (the Philippines), do people wash their hands before they eat?,’ although Luc is a dual Filipino-Canadian citizen. As Bertrand also described Luc’s eating habit of eating with spoon and fork “disgusting," the Commission suggested that Bertrand reprimand Luc for his “inconvenient" eating manner at lunch, and his acting like a clown, rather than for his culture-based practice of eating with a fork and spoon. Instead of filing the case before the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, the Commission suggested mediation for both parties. When Crarr reviewed the decision, it found “several procedural anomalies, which affected the decision." Among them are: 1. The Commission’s investigator met with and took written statements from two individual respondents, as well as two employes of the School Board. However, no meetings were held nor interviews were conducted with Mrs. Gallardo, her husband, their son, or any of their witnesses on the Complainant’s side. In fact, the Commission never contacted the family to obtain additional information; 2. During the investigation, the Commission failed to reveal to Crarr that it had received from the Respondents certain documents about Luc’s evaluation by his educator, which undoubtedly influenced the decision. By not disclosing the documents, the Commission prevented Ms. Gallardo and Crarr from responding to the documents and addressing them; and 3. The investigation did not take into account key evidence presented to the Commission. Particularly, it ignored a newspaper article in which one respondent, the school principal, Normand Bergeron, was reported to have made discriminatory comments similar to those complained about by Mrs. Cagadoc, which she considered to be offensive to the Filipino community as a whole (such as “you are here in Canada. You should eat the way Canadians eat"). During the investigation, Crarr repeatedly raised this evidence and urged the Commission to examine it; the Commission did not even address the issue. Mrs. Cagadoc doubts that the Commission could be fair in its investigation because it was selective in interviewing “representatives of the School Board" but excluding her, her son or her husband. According to Crarr’s civil rights advocate Leila Jawando, “Procedural fairness is the cornerstone of the Human Rights Commission’s investigative process. If these rules are not obeyed during the Commission’s investigation, then, the Commission ought to address the administrative unfairness by rescinding its decision and correcting its errors." The Crarr will develop a public awareness program of the case in French, in Tagalog and in English to inform Filipino Montrealers of racism and its manifestations, and of their civil rights. Donors to the public awareness program to support Mrs. Cagadoc and her family and the Crarr’s work to file a civil rights case may get in touch with the Institute for Research and Education on Race Relations (IRERR), a charitable organization, at 460 Sainte-Catherine, West, Suite 610, Montreal H3A 1B7, Tel. 514.939.3392, Charity No. 89210 4720 RR0001, for a tax deductible donation. For non-tax deductible donations, donors may get in touch with the website of Crarr at (www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm) or may write Crarr at the same address of IRERR above or call Tel. 514.939.3342 or Fax at 514.939.9763 or email: crarr@primus.ca. - GMANews.TV