VANCOUVER - A Surrey metal recycling company that claims it was harassed by a pair of city bylaw inspectors because its directors and employees are Chinese has lost its second court battle.
Zhen Hao Chen, Liang Hai Su, Wong Chee Kwai, Carlos Yeung, Marco Fung and Terry Chen, of Ever Recycling Inc. in Bridgeview, petitioned B.C. Supreme Court to reverse the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal's rejection of their complaint, but in April 2014 Justice Lisa Warren Warren upheld the tribunal's decision.The City of Surrey, bylaw inspectors Don Smith and Andrew Singh and the BCHRT were respondents. The metal recyclers had alleged that Smith and Singh had "harassed" them based on their race and place of origin and had added the City of Surrey to their complaint on grounds the city is vicariously liable for its employees' conduct.Justice David Frankel, of B.C.'s Court of Appeal, dismissed the appellants' bid to have Warren's decision reversed. He gave his oral reasons for judgment earlier this month inVancouver, with Justices Anne MacKenzie and John Savage concurring.Frankel determined Warren "did not err in determining the tribunal's decision was not patently unreasonable."The two bylaw officers began inspecting Ever Recycling in May 2007 and the recyclers filed their complaint with the tribunal in November 2011, claiming that while the inspections were ostensibly to ensure that Ever Recycling complied with the city's bylaws, the officers' conduct amounted to "orchestrated harassment."The recyclers presented 15 specific incidents involving the bylaw officers allegedly using City of Surrey vehicles to block the public entrance to their scrap yard, yelling and screaming at them, ticketing them for "every possible" bylaw infraction and making no effort to explain the city's bylaws to the recyclers or to help Ever Recycling comply with them.They also accused the Surrey bylaw officers of conducting "illegal" searches, of threatening to close their business and taking photos of their scrap yard.Warren heard the petitioners took issue with the bylaw inspectors allegedly screaming at them in English "even though they knew or should have realized that many of the complainants did not understand English."She noted that the fact Smith and Singh spoke English while carrying out their duties "could not possibly support an inference that race or place of origin" played a role in how the recyclers were treated.The recyclers also alleged the bylaw officers treated non-Chinese scrap dealers differently.Warren noted that the tribunal had found itself unable to conclude that the complainants had alleged facts, which, "if proven, would establish that the respondents' conduct was based on the complainants' race, or place of origin."The tribunal also noted that while the recyclers maintained they were victims of "differential, discriminatory treatment in comparison to their competitors," they didn't provide any information about who their competitors are or how the city treated them.tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com