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A sports bar owner said he risks breaking the law and could lose his licence if he signs an agreement to settle a complaint at the Ontario Human Rights Commission to allow a patron to smoke medical marijuana outside the front door of his Burlington, Ont. bar.
Ted Kindos, owner of Gator Ted’s Tap and Grill accuses the commission of over stepping its bounds and said he could face sanctions under provincial liquor laws prohibiting controlled substances from being consumed where alcohol is served if he agrees to allow Steve Gibson to light up.
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“I have no intentions of signing it,” Kindos said. “I can’t take the chance of having my liquor licence taken away. That is my livelihood and I don’t feel this agreement puts me in a position where my licence is protected.”
Gibson, who has been authorized by Ottawa to smoke marijuana for medical purposes to alleviate pain from a neck injury, brought the complaint to the OHRC three years ago. He alleges Kindos discriminated against him by not allowing him to smoke his marijuana outside the bar and for making no effort to find any solution - such as smoking outside the back door.
The dispute was to be heard by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in the spring but hearings were adjourned after Kindos, Gibson and the commission agreed to negotiate a settlement. Kindos says he now has no choice but to continue arguing his case before the tribunal because having to break the law to accommodate Gibson is “not right.”
Lisa Murray, a spokeswoman for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, said there are no provisions or exemptions for the use of medical marijuana in the Liquor Licence Act and any changes to the law would be under the purview of the legislature.
Bar owners could face a warning, suspension or a revocation of their licence depending on the circumstances of any infraction, but she added: “Licensees, because of the way the act is written, could be concerned (that) someone smoking marijuana outside . . . may put them in breach.”
In May, an Ottawa man licensed to use marijuana filed a complaint with the commission after he was told by an employee that smoking it on the premises of a local comedy club violated provincial laws. Russell Barth, 39, said he doesn’t blame the club owner but wants the provincial law banning the use or possession of controlled substance where alcohol is served amended.
A spokesman for Health Canada said individuals who are authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes are required to abide by all other applicable federal, provincial and municipal legislation, such as laws restricting smoking in public places.
Although the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations do not specify where an authorized person can light up, government spokesman Philippe Laroche said in an e-mail “the authorized person is advised in an information package, not to consume controlled substances in a public place and not to expose others to any effects related to the inhalation of secondary smoke.”
Afroze Edwards, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Human Rights Commission said the case was not about marijuana but the “duty to accommodate” someone who has a disability. She said the Ontario Human Rights code supercedes all other legislation, unless there is a specific exemption to exclude it written into a law.
Greg Dennis, a spokesman for Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, which oversees alcohol licensing in restaurants and bars, said there are currently no plans to legislate an exemption to allow licensees to accommodate patrons with federal authorization to smoke marijuana.
Still, he said the province will meet in the future with the industry association representing bars and restaurants for “preliminary discussions” and to share information on the issue.
Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young said marijuana should not be considered a controlled substance for the 2,000 Canadians licensed to smoke it because it is approved for medical use. For most conventional medicines, he argued, there is very little issue about when or where a pill is taken or an insulin shot is administered.
“When medical marijuana was approved in Canada no one really thought about the when and the where of it because like all other medicines they simply assumed it wouldn’t be an issue,” Young said.
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