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Jamie Sarkonak: Serving Starbucks in English might be 'racism,' Saskatchewan court says

Human rights commission must reconsider case of woman who was refused service in Tagalog

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In Saskatchewan, the authorities are currently deciding whether to treat Tagalog like an official language.

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It all started at the Starbucks in Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital. Vanessa Casila, a Filipina woman, tried to order in Tagalog. The employee taking her order refused, saying she would receive a formal reprimand from the manager if she went along with it. Casila then filed a human rights complaint, claiming that the “English only” policy amounted to discrimination based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, and nationality.

Jamie Sarkonak: Serving Starbucks in English might be 'racism,' Saskatchewan court says Back to video

Casila also claimed that Starbucks’ language policy prohibited staff from communicating amongst themselves or with the public in any language other than English or French. This, she said, was borne from customer complaints to the company about Starbucks staff not speaking English.

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