Human rights commission recommends $10K for gay couple

The Quebec human rights commission recommended yesterday that the province’s rights tribunal award Roger Thibault and Theo Wouters $10,000 in moral damages. The same-sex couple has lived together in Pointe Claire for 30 years.

Thibault and Wouters claim they have been victims of serious harassment and abuse over the past 10 years because of their sexual orientation. In 2003, the couple caught someone driving a dark blue pickup truck throwing a firecracker at their home with a video camera set up on their property. That same year, a 17-year-old boy driving the same truck allegedly threatened to punch them in the face.

The human rights commission concluded there was enough proof to recommend the $10,000 compensation after the youth admitted he did not approve of the couple’s lifestyle and was annoyed by the publicity they have drawn. The case will now go before the rights tribunal, unless the youth decides to pay the $10,000.

The couple had also filed complaints against their neighbour, Robert Walker, who was acquitted on charges of criminal harassment and uttering death threats by a Quebec Court judge in 2002. Another case with the Quebec human rights commission involving Walker has been stalled since 2003, when he sued Thibault and Wouters for $400,000 in damages for false prosecution, false accusations, violation of privacy, fear and humiliation.