{"id":892,"date":"2017-04-28T02:59:44","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T02:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=892"},"modified":"2017-04-28T02:59:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T02:59:44","slug":"landlord-screwed-free-speech-out-the-window-as-moslem-tenants-write-the-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=892","title":{"rendered":"Landlord Screwed: Free Speech Out the Window As Moslem Tenants Write the Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"gmail-clearfix gmail-legend\"><\/figure>\n<h1 class=\"gmail-clearfix gmail-legend\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Landlord Screwed: Free Speech Out the Window As Moslem Tenants Write the Rules<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n<figure class=\"gmail-clearfix gmail-legend\"><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gmail-clearfix gmail-legend\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-photo\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/storage.torontosun.com\/v1\/dynamic_resize\/sws_path\/suns-prod-images\/1297949121478_ORIGINAL.jpg?quality=80&amp;size=420x\" alt=\"book\" \/><figcaption id=\"gmail-photoCaption\">A landlord who rented out the main floor of his Brampton home to an Arab Muslim couple must pay them $12,000 for failing to accommodate their religious practices when showing their apartment to prospective tenants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"gmail-socialAside gmail-col210\">\n<section class=\"gmail-sharingTools\">\n<div class=\"gmail-premiumStoryIcon\"><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section><\/section>\n<section id=\"gmail-ga-right-rail\"><ins id=\"gmail-aswift_0_expand\"><ins id=\"gmail-aswift_0_anchor\"><\/ins><\/ins><\/section>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"gmail-mainContent\">\n<p>It didn\u2019t help his case that he shared a joke about a devout Muslim on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p>Now the small landlord who rented out the main floor of his Brampton home to an Arab Muslim couple must pay them $12,000 for failing to accommodate their religious practices when showing their apartment to prospective tenants.<\/p>\n<p>The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario also found that he \u201charassed them and created a poisoned housing environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His sins? John Alabi refused to remove his shoes when showing the bedroom where the couple prayed and while he always gave them the mandated 24-hour notice before showings, he didn\u2019t always provide the five-minute heads-up they\u2019d requested to ensure the wife was modestly dressed and they weren\u2019t in the midst of their five daily prayers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was absolutely no evidence that the applicants\u2019 requests for additional notice and for the removal of shoes in this case were an attempt by them to impose their way of life on the respondent or anyone else,\u201d ruled vice chair Jo-Anne Pickel. \u201c(They) were merely making simple requests for the accommodation of their religious practices &#8230; their requests easily could have been met without any hardship to the respondent, let alone any undue hardship as that term is used in human rights law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In December 2014, Walid Madkour and his wife Heba Ismail moved from Montreal into Alabi\u2019s ground-floor apartment. Following several disputes, including the couple allegedly wanting their landlord to be quiet after 10 p.m., they agreed to terminate the lease on Feb. 28, 2015.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Alabi tried to rent out the unit. Madkhour wanted a one-hour notification of any showing in addition to the 24-hour notice.<\/p>\n<p>Alabi told him that by law, only 24 hours was necessary. Madkhour accused him of \u201cracism and violation of our civil rights:\u201d Since his landlord was well aware that Ismail was unemployed and always home, \u201che considered it harassment for (Alabi) to continue to say that he would enter the premises without permission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alabi texted back: \u201cWelcome to Ontario, Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The landlord told the hearing that he meant that apartment viewing rules were different in Ontario than in Quebec where the couple had last lived. The human rights tribunal saw it as another example of discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>That same evening, Ismail heard loud pounding on the steps outside their door; Alabi said he was just shovelling the snow; she said it was intimidating and frightening.<\/p>\n<p>The couple called police.<\/p>\n<p>They were told that contrary to their understanding, their landlord had a right to show the apartment when they were home. As a \u201ccourtesy,\u201d Alabi agreed to give them five minutes notice in addition to the 24 hours. But that negotiated detente ended two days later after Ismail videotaped Alabi refusing to remove his shoes when entering their bedroom. \u201cShe said it was disrespectful and an act of racism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alabi told the hearing that his shoes had never been an issue before and accused his tenants of trying to set up roadblocks to his renting their flat. He also accused them of trying to impose their way of life on him and said \u201cthe fact that someone belongs to a religion does not permit them to inconvenience others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tribunal didn\u2019t see it that way \u2014 especially after the tenants introduced their landlord\u2019s Facebook page that had a \u201cjoke\u201d about a devout Arab Muslim that they found offensive. Alabi told the hearing \u201che had freedom of speech and could post what he wanted on his Facebook page &#8230; He did not share the post to attack anyone. He said he shared it only because it made him laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Be careful what you post online \u2014 Pickel saw it as further evidence of his bias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen considered together, I find that the comment \u2018welcome to Ontario, Canada,\u2019 the making of loud pounding noises outside the applicants\u2019 door shortly after making that comment, and (Alabi)\u2019s refusal to remove his shoes when entering (their) prayer space amounted to harassment under the Code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to paying them $6,000 each for injury to their dignity, feelings and self-respect, Alabi must also take an e-learning course on \u201cHuman Rights in Rental Housing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Landlord Screwed: Free Speech Out the Window As Moslem Tenants Write the Rules A landlord who rented out the main floor of his Brampton home to an Arab Muslim couple must pay them $12,000 for failing to accommodate their religious practices when showing their apartment to prospective tenants. It didn\u2019t help his case that he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[692,689,688,690,691],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}