Jack B. Siegel

The appellants, two trusts and their trustee, appealed a bankruptcy judge's decision dismissing their appeal from a Registrar's decision.

The Registrar had confirmed the trustee in bankruptcy's disallowance of the trusts' proofs of claims.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, agreeing with the bankruptcy judge that there was no evidence the cheques deposited into a numbered company controlled by the bankrupt were intended as loans.

Costs were awarded against the trusts and their trustee personally on a joint and several basis.

The complainant, a Spanish-speaking immigrant from Ecuador, alleged discrimination and harassment in employment on the basis of race, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin, and place of origin.

The Board of Inquiry found that the workplace was poisoned by discrimination against Spanish-speaking workers who did not speak English.

The owner and plant foreman regularly yelled at, insulted, and demeaned these workers, using their language and ethnicity as a basis for ridicule.

The complainant was fired following an altercation that was fueled by this racial and ethnic conflict.

The Board ordered the respondents to pay $6,000 for lost wages and $2,000 for mental anguish, and to implement a grievance procedure and human rights training.