The Ballad of Luc Joachim Cagadoc;

DEAR READERS; Since we have been talking about multiculturalism these last few days here is another case of immigrants coming to our shores and learning how to use the system!

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This is the story of Luc Joachim Cagadoc, and how he and his family came over from the Philippines’ and settled in Quebec to start a new life!

It’s also about how our policy of Multiculturalism, political correctness and fear of offending anyone has brought our justice system to its knees!

Seems that little Luc, when he was old enough, was put in a boarding school (2008) and started down that long road of gaining an education when he ran afoul of the system and upset the apple cart…… so to speak!

(Now let’s see if I can keep the whole story straight, and at the same time make some sort of sense of it!).

Seems the seven-year-old second grade Filipino boy, was stopped by his school lunch supervisor from stuffing more rice than he could take in his mouth during a lunch break to prevent him from choking. (Luc was also eating with a spoon and a fork at the same time, and goofing around, in his attempt to be the class clown.)

Now here’s where it gets interesting kids!

According to Robert Sylvestre, spokesman of the Quebec Human Rights Commission in Montreal , Luc was clowning around and stuffing his mouth with more rice than he could take, and was reprimanded for his own safety. Ms. Bertrand, the lunchroom supervisor, also described Luc’s habit of eating with spoon and fork “disgusting" and asked Luc whether in his country, “do people wash their hands before they eat?"

But, when his mother, Mrs. Gallardo-Cagadoc, brought the matter up with Bertrand’s school principal, Normand Bergeron, about the treatment of her son, he told her, “You are in Canada, and here in Canada, you should eat the way Canadians’ eat. If your son keeps eating like a pig and not washing his hands, then he will go to another table because that is how we do it here."

Now for the 'Coup De Grace' folks; Luc’s mom said she finds Bergeron’s statements as “racially insensitive and discriminatory towards me and my family!”

Angelita Ogerio, president of the Federation of Filipino-Canadian Association of Quebec, was quoted by the Montreal Gazette as saying, “The remarks of the principal and the lunch supervisor were not acceptable to this community."

Gallardo then filed a complaint with the Montreal School Board and the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission against the school board and two officials for racial and ethnic discrimination.

Gallardo sought $24,000 in moral and punitive damages from the educator, Martine Bertrand, the school principal, Normand Bergeron, and the school board.

She was supported by CRARR throughout her QHRC complaint and was represented by civil rights lawyer René Saint-Léger in her lawsuit. n 2008, the commission did not find any evidence of any discrimination. It was considered an isolated incident.

However, the Cagadocs were adamant to fight them in court.
In 2009, the family appealed to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal in Montreal and sought support from various Filipino organizations and CRARR.

CRARR finally submitted a request to the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Commission to re-evaluate and repeal its decision regarding the complaint.

The Cagadoc family was finally awarded $17,000.00 after a long court battle against Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board for racial discrimination and moral damages.

The School Board, the principal and the educator have to pay $5,000 each in moral damages and the principal, $2,000 more in punitive discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal focused particularly on the principal who failed in his duty, among other things, to implement the School Board’s policy on intercultural education.

According to Fo Niemi, executive director of The Center for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR), “Luc Cagadoc’s case is one of the very few times an Asian Quebecer wins in a civil rights case especially since most Asians are afraid to file a complaint”. CRARR was one of the strong supporters of the Cagadocs in their quest for justice.

WHEN MY FATHER CAME TO THIS COUNTRY IN THE 1950'S, HIS FIRST QUESTION WAS TO ASK WHAT HIS RESPONSIBILITIES WERE!

THE FIRST THING TODAY'S IMMIGRANT ASKS ABOUT IS WHAT HIS RIGHTS ARE!

(Good God, I said; 'what HIS rights are," now I'll have the feminists on my ass for not saying; "what HER rights are!")