And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 09:45:13 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Micmac discrimination lawsuit - Vermont
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opens in Vermont
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) - A discrimination case filed by a group
of Canadian
workers against the Killington ski resort began Tuesday in
U.S. federal court in
Vermont.
The group of construction workers from the Micmac First
Nation in New
Brunswick alleges in their lawsuit they were asked to
leave a Killington cafe
Oct. 5, 1997, because of "intentional racial
discrimination."
The Micmacs� lawyer, Nanci Smith of Rutland, said the nine
men want an
apology, as well as compensatory and punitive damages "in
an amount found
sufficient." Smith said efforts to settle out of court
failed.
The complaint said nine Micmacs working at a nearby
construction site went to
the resort cafe with their white foreman for coffee and
breakfast.
The complaint alleges the restaurant�s female hostess told
them: "You people
don�t belong here" and "you people have to leave."
They were told they could have coffee but only if they
drank it outside.
"The evidence makes clear that this was an instance of an
innocent
misunderstanding, not discrimination," said a lawyer for
Killington, Bill Kayatta
of Portland, Me., on Tuesday. Smith did not return calls
Tuesday.
The resort�s lawyers said in court papers the Micmacs had
visited the same
restaurant, with the same waitress on duty, just two weeks
before.
"They were seated, they had breakfast and they were
treated appropriately in all
respects," the lawyers wrote in a trial memorandum.
The memorandum also said several of the Micmacs heard the
waitress address
them as "you guys."
Killington and its parent company, American Skiing Co. of
Bethel, Me., said the
men were asked to leave because the room was reserved and
because the
resort has an unwritten dress code.
"All of the Plaintiffs concede that (the waitress) made no
reference to their
race," the memorandum said.
"Apparently, the only supposedly �direct� evidence that
the Plaintiffs are relying
on to prove discriminatory intent is the assertion...that
(the waitress) used the
words �you people� along with the fact that the Plaintiffs
were denied service,"
Killington�s lawyers wrote.
"�You people," particularly in the setting used, is no
more likely to have been a
reference to race than to the plaintiffs� occupation or
their dress."
The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
� The Canadian Press, 1999
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks, Creator
of the Manchurian Candidate
born New Brunswick
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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