Transgender woman in Alberta seeks judicial review in 911 discrimination case

An LGBTQ2 advocate who was discriminated against by 911 dispatchers has applied for a judicial review of a ruling by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal.

Marni Panas, a transgender woman, filed a complaint in 2019 after she was misgendered three times by dispatchers when she called to ask for a welfare check on a friend.

The tribunal found there was discrimination but that dispatchers didn’t mean to misgender Panas and dismissed the complaint.

An application for a judicial review says the tribunal erred in not holding the police employees liable.

A hearing date is to be scheduled with the Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton.

Panas says the case is a concern for equity-seeking groups who don’t feel safe calling for help.

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Lawyer Michael DeRosenroll, who is representing Panas, says the tribunal made a significant error in dismissing the complaint.

“It was an unreasonable legal conclusion to draw from the tribunal’s own findings of fact. So there is a strong basis for the court to overturn the decision on judicial review,” he said in a statement Thursday.