Black lawyer denied entry to law society building claims racial profiling
TORONTO — A prominent black lawyer who says he felt humiliated when a security guard denied him entry to the law society’s headquarters has made a racial profiling complaint to the human rights tribunal.
Among other things, Selwyn Pieters is asking the tribunal to order the Law Society of Upper Canada to implement training focused on anti-black racism for security guards, lawyers and others. He also wants $75,000 in damages.
In his unproven complaint, the Toronto lawyer says he and a black student were visiting the headquarters in July when a security guard demanded to see his law society identity card, while white people both before and after the incident were buzzed in without scrutiny.
When his ID card turned out to be expired, the guard refused to allow them entry, despite protocol that calls for a database check that would have confirmed his lawyer status, Pieters said in an interview Friday.