FILE PHOTO.

Image Credit: pexels.com/cottonbro-studio

A mother who lost her daughter's place at a West Kelowna preschool after she allegedly threatened and harassed staff has won the first round of a BC Human Rights Tribunal complaint.

In a July 13 BC Human Rights Tribunal decision, the unnamed mother had a confrontation with Le Petit Hibou Preschool over her child's allergies.

"The child has several life-threatening allergies, including anaphylaxis to dairy, peanuts, pistachio, and sesame," the decision reads. "The preschool acknowledged these allergies, but committed only to being a nut-aware facility, and the parent was aware that other allergens would likely be present in the facility."

The decision says the daughter had attended the Le Petit Hibou for more than a year when, in October 2019, it was organizing a Halloween party and posted a snack sign-up sheet for parents to bring food for the party.

The mom texted the preschool saying she was concerned because several of the snacks contained dairy, which was life-threatening for her daughter.

The preschool replied offering "strategies" so her daughter could take part in the event.

However, the following day the mom confronted the head, Jessica Powell, over the fence while dropping her daughter off.

READ MORE: BC woman fired for getting pregnant awarded $20,000

Both parties have different versions of what took place, but the preschool alleges the mom's behaviour was threatening and harassing.

The mom disputed this saying she raised her voice but there were no threats made, nor any profanity used.

A couple of weeks later the Preschool’s board of directors canceled the child's enrollment and issued a refund.

"The preschool described the parent’s behaviour as threatening and harassing and concluded that the confrontation 'directly affected other students and families that witnessed this interaction and compromised (its) ability to provide a safe and comfortable work environment to its staff,'" the decision says.

Sometime afterwards, the parent launched a Human Rights case against Le Petit Hibou Preschool.

READ MORE: BC firm fired employee with Hepatitis C ordered to pay $67K

The gist of the case is that the preschool can't penalize the daughter because of the mother's behaviour as under BC Human Rights laws, a person can't be discriminated against because of who their family are.

"The grounds of family status under the BC Human Rights Code may include discrimination resulting from the status of being the child of a particular parent," the Tribunal said.

The preschool argued the case should be thrown out.

However, the Tribunal disagrees saying it should go to a hearing.

"(The preschool) do not point to anything other than the parent’s conduct as the basis for cancelling the child’s enrollment," the Tribunal says.

Le Petit Hibou argued it had a legitimate reason for cancelling the child's enrollment which was the abusive and threatening behaviour of her mother as it had an obligation to the other 47 students to provide a safe environment.

However, the Tribunal pointed to another similar case on Bowen Island.

In that case, the school refused to register a child because of their parents and the Tribunal found that was discrimination.

READ MORE: BC business owner who exploited immigrant employee ordered to pay $61,000

The preschool says the mother's behaviour justified its actions.

However, The Tribunal disagreed.

"They have provided no evidence that they considered any lesser measures that may have appropriately responded to their concerns without impacting the child," the Tribunal ruled.

Ultimately, the Tribunal ruled the case should go to a hearing to determine what took place and whether the preschool's actions were justified.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2023