Court rules RCMP discriminated against Muslim cadet
In 2006, we posted an article entitled, “Broad Remedies for Discrimination,” written on the case of Ali Tahmourpour, an RCMP cadet who was expelled from the cadet academy after facing discrimination. This Wednesday, the Federal Court of Appeal made a ruling in the case.
An article by Kenyon Wallace in Wednesday’s National Post details a Federal Court of Appeal decision against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The court has ruled that the RCMP “engaged in racial and religious discrimination when it expelled a Muslim man from its cadet academy,” allowing the man, Ali Tahmourpour to return to training 11 years after his dismissal from the cadet academy.
In 2008, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal also ruled that Ali Tamourpour “faced verbal abuse and hostility from instructors, ridicule over his wearing of religious jewellery, and poor performance evaluations while enrolled in the RCMP’s Regina cadet academy…”
“I finally have vindication,” Mr. Tahmourpour told the National Post from his Mississauga home, saying he intends to return to the academy to fulfill his dream of becoming a member of the RCMP. “My great-grandfather was a mounted police chief in the western mountains of Persia, so it runs in the family.”
After the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that his termination was based on “discriminatory assesments” of his skills and performance, and that the “decision to prevent his return to the academy was ‘based in part on his race, religion and/or ethnic or national background,” it was ordered that Mr.Tahmourpour would be reinstated into the academy. Last year, the RCMP challenged the Tribunal’s ruling in Federal Court, where a judge sent the complaint back to the Tribunal for a rehearing. Mr. Tahmourpour appealed that judgment to the Court of Appeal.
This week, Justice Karen Sharlow upheld the Tribunal’s original ruling. She stated that the RCMP’s “’discriminatory treatment of Mr. Tahmourpour denied him the opportunity to complete his training at the Depot and to make his living as an RCMP officer.’”
To read more, please visit the National Post article here.