Denied entry to bar because of his age, Quebec man wins rights case

MONTREAL – Most young people turned away by a bar doorman try their luck elsewhere, but a Quebec man took his case to the human rights commission and has been awarded $500 in damages.

Marc-Olivier Migneault was 20, above Quebec’s legal drinking age of 18, when he turned up with friends at the Aqua bar north of Montreal in 2012. When he showed his ID, he was refused entry because the bar had a policy of admitting only people 21 and over.

The bar’s manager upheld the doorman’s decision, pointing out a poster declaring the age rule, and Migneault and his friends left.

In a complaint to the Quebec Human Rights Commission, Migneault said he had been a victim of discrimination based on his age and had been humiliated in front of his friends.

In a ruling this month, a human rights tribunal found that Migneault’s rights had been infringed. The decision noted that bars and restaurants cannot invoke discriminatory rules to deny people entry. Posting such rules, as Aqua did, is also a violation of the provincial rights charter.

The tribunal ordered the bar’s owners to pay punitive damages of $500 but rejected Migneault’s request for an additional $2,000 in moral damages.

“The harm suffered was minimal,” the tribunal said.