Knights of Columbus - Canada Hall Incident

Canada Hall Incident

In 2005, a local Knights of Columbus council in Canada was fined $2,000 by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. The Council's Hall Manager signed a contract for the use of their facilities with Tracey Smith and Deborah Chymyshyn but canceled it after they became aware that it was for a same-sex wedding reception. The two women said they were unaware that the facility was affiliated with the Catholic Church. The local council responded that the hall is on the same compound as a parish church and there were Catholic symbols such as a picture of the Pope and a crucifix inside. The tribunal ruled the Council was within its rights to refuse to rent it based on their religious convictions but fined them "for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect" of the women. One of the females, Tracey Smith, was also a co-worker of the Knight who was in charge of renting the hall. They both worked at Costco and the Knight David Hauser was fired from his job due to this incident.