Discrimination not a factor in bridge stop: human rights chair

The Macdonald Bridge is pictured. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)

Three years ago, Ross Gray was walking his bicycle across the Macdonald Bridge when patrol officers for the crossing stopped him, mistaking him for someone else. A chair from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission has now ruled Gray was not a victim of discrimination from the interaction.

According to a written decision from Chair Benjamin Perryman, Gray filed his complaint against the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission and Commissionaires Nova Scotia in October 2021, claiming the ”Bridge Commission had discriminated against him in the provision of or access to services or facilities because of his race and colour.” A hearing was held last April.

In the decision, Perryman said Gray was walking his bicycle towards Dartmouth in the pedestrian walkway of the bridge on July 17, 2021. The bridge has a pathway for bicycle riders on the parallel side of the roadway, but people are permitted to walk their bikes on the pedestrian section.

At the same time, Cody Emery, a constable in training, was driving to Dartmouth when they spotted a different person cycling on a bike in the pedestrian section, which is prohibited. Emery alerted another constable, Megan Tizzard, and they both proceeded to a “bottleneck” on the bridge to intercept the cyclist.

“Ms. Tizzard and Mr. Emery briefly engaged the complainant (Gray), who at that point was still walking his bike across the bridge,” Perryman’s decision reads. “Ms. Tizzard and Mr. Emery thought they had identified the cyclist seen riding his bike across the bridge. They had not.”

The constables soon spotted the other cyclist still riding their bike and realized they had stopped the wrong person.

In the decision, Perryman said Gray testified to seeing the constables stop a white person on a bicycle shortly after their interaction, which he characterized as “aggressive.”

“The incident destroyed his trust in the system,” Perryman writes. “As a parent, he felt compelled to educate his son on systemic anti-Black racism in Nova Scotia in a way that he had not done before. He felt racially profiled by the stop and following interaction.

“He stated that the public does not really understand what it is like to be stopped by a peace officer when you have not done anything wrong.”

The decision said Gray received a written apology from Halifax Harbour Bridges, but he wasn’t satisfied with the response. Gray also noted this was the third time he’d been stopped on the bridge.

Tizzard testified she tried to de-escalate the situation, although she noted she became frustrated and her tone became “sharp.” She said she apologized to Gray as soon as she realized a mistake had been made.

“Ms. Tizzard testified that race was not a factor in her decision to stop Mr. Gray,” the decision reads. “While she normally would not have stopped someone who was walking their bike, the information she received from the operations supervisor and the timing between that information and seeing Mr. Gray led her to conclude this was the person seen riding his bike.”

Perryman ultimately concluded discrimination was not a factor in the incident.

“In my view, race was not likely a factor in the officers’ decision to stop the complainant,” the decision reads. “The officers did not have a description of the cyclist who had been observed riding on the pedestrian walkway. The radio communication reveals that a decision to ‘go talk to him’ was made before there was any further visual of the cyclist.

“Even though there was a distinction in this case that resulted in disadvantage and harm to the complainant, the test for discrimination was not met. Accordingly, this complaint is dismissed.”

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