BC tribunal sides with Langley firefighters against Yaniv

After 30-plus calls for assistance getting out of a bathtub, Jessica Simpson, formerly Jonathan Yaniv, had a human rights complaint against the Langley Fire Department dismissed without a hearing.

A human rights complaint against the Langley Fire Department has been dismissed. The complaint was filed by transgender activist Jessica Simpson, formerly Jonathan Yaniv, who lives in Langley and has called the department for help getting out of the bathtub more than 30 times.

On Tuesday's Rebel Roundup, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle went through the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal decision, which Sheila covered for Rebel News' website the day before.

After 30-plus bathtub calls, Yaniv’s complaint against Langley firefighters is dismissed

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal dismissed Jessica Simpson’s 2021 complaint against the Township of Langley after Simpson filed no response to the Township’s application.

Tribunal member Jonathan Chapnick dismissed the complaint without a hearing on Oct. 20. The decision, Simpson v. Township of Langley, was posted to the tribunal's website on Oct. 23.

Yaniv alleged discrimination in services on the grounds of mental disability, physical disability, gender identity or expression, and sex. The complaint named the fire department, the township's emergency phone lines, and the township employees who work as support staff and jail guards at the Langley RCMP detachment. The township does not have its own police force.

Yaniv made several other complaints, Sheila said, reading from the decision. They included that emergency call takers hung up on calls and placed them through a relay service, that front-counter staff refused to take an audio statement, that police reports were missing, and that guards refused to allow a mobile phone in the cells. Yaniv also alleged misgendering and sexual harassment.

The sexual harassment claim rested on a 2021 letter from the township's lawyer, Sheila explained. The letter told Yaniv the fire department had responded to more than 30 lift assistance calls since January 2021, none of which was a medical emergency.

It accused Yaniv of engaging in “inappropriate and lewd conduct towards fire department staff.” A deputy fire chief's affidavit said some staff were uncomfortable going to the home because of Yaniv's history of inappropriate conduct, Sheila read.

Lise noted that firefighters can't opt out of a call. Sheila said the calls also tied up a fire truck, in a province where she said first responders could be helping people during the opioid crisis.

Sheila called the outcome “a very rare moment of common sense” from a human rights tribunal. She said Yaniv appeared not to have filed any real evidence, and that the tribunal may have done some investigating of its own. “Well done, British Columbia,” Lise said. “Now do this with all of them.”

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