Blackbear

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FROM: CBC NEWS ONLINE

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...urt050428.html

Supreme Court rejects hearing 'Kemosabe' appeal

Last Updated Thu, 28 Apr 2005 18:59:48 EDT CBC News
OTTAWA - Canada's highest court has refused to hear arguments on whether the
word "Kemosabe" – a term used in The Lone Ranger TV series – is a racial
slur.

Nova Scotia's Human Rights Commission had turned to the Supreme Court of
Canada to clarify the use of the word in the workplace after a woman filed a
complaint.


The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission spent an entire day watching 'The
Lone Ranger' in 2003 to decide whether being called kemosabe was demeaning. (CP
Photo)

Dorothy Kateri Moore complained to the commission in 1999, saying her boss
and a co-worker at Play it Again Sports in Sydney discriminated against her by
calling her Kemosabe.

The term was the name Tonto gave the Lone Ranger on the 1950s TV show.

The commission appointed a board of inquiry to look into the complaint. In
February 2004, the board ruled that Moore hadn't clearly shown she was offended
by the remark so discrimination didn't take place.

The commission argued that the board of inquiry erred in placing an undue
burden on Moore to prove she found the term offensive, and appealed the ruling to
the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

The three-member appeal court panel upheld the board's decision, writing that
Moore had not shown the word was "notoriously offensive."

But the commission appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada,
hoping it would clarify what the term "notoriously offensive" meant.

"We're disappointed," Mayann Francis, chair of the Nova Scotia Human Rights
Commission, said in a release. "We thought this case might help establish
clearer guidelines for dealing with discrimination and the cultural differences one
finds in a diverse workplace."

"This is about much more than the use of one word. It's about establishing
standards that are clear to employers and to employees, standards that protect
and encourage diversity," Francis said.

Ann Smith, a lawyer for the human rights commission, said that "people need
to understand what that phrase means in order to determine what is or is not
considered acceptable behaviour in the workplace."

"What I consider 'notoriously offensive' you may not. We wanted some legal
standard that would help people," she said.

Since the highest court in Canada will not hear the appeal, she added, the
commission will look for other ways to clarify the parameters.

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.

Privateer6

Is this completely assinine and a waste of tax payers money or is it just me? From I was told by a linquist about 10-12 years ago, is that Hollywood has a history of making up words from other languages and using them in their scripts. "Kemosabe" is a corruption of the Spanish "Que [something I dont' remember know] sabe?" or "What do you know?" Give me a friggin break people.

Blackbear

what gets me is that I felt it was apparent that the word was used in a mocking manner towards the woman, therefore it is an insult based on the womans race... it just seems like they are keeping this going to try to humiliate the woman more by fighting that it was'nt a racist comment.

__________________
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.