Manitoba town in spotlight again over charges of discrimination

MORRIS, Man. – For the second time in several months, a restaurant owner in the small Manitoba town of Morris says she is being driven out of town by discrimination.

Thea Morris, the Jamaican-born owner of Thea’s Diner, says she has received an email referencing the Ku Klux Klan and has been told by one of her customers that people are avoiding her business because she is black.

Morris says some customers have been coming in, ordering drinks, and then leaving without paying or an explanation.

Morris opened her diner in June, in the same location that used to house a restaurant run by two gay men.

The men left town last spring, saying they had been subjected to homophobic slurs.

Morris is home to about 1,800 people and lies 50 kilometres south of Winnipeg on a highway to the United States.