Toronto residents are sounding the alarm on Monica’s Bar & Grill (881 Bloor St. West), a Toronto bar that is notorious for turning away Black customers.
The bar is open until 2 a.m., but many Black residents have reported showing up well before closing time and being denied service.
Three women tell their story in this recent Instagram
video. They showed up at 10 p.m. to grab a drink before an art show,
only to be told the bar was closed -- despite there being multiple (white, male) patrons visible inside. When the three women left their art show at 1 a.m., they noticed the bar was still open, despite what they were told earlier, leading them to conclude they were denied entry due to their race.
Countless online reviews have piled up over the years on Facebook, Yelp, and Google Reviews citing similar behavior - see screenshots
here.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of the Constitution Act of 1982, and the Canadian Human Rights Act and Human Right Codes prohibit discrimination based on race.
Please sign this petition to pledge to boycott Monica's bar and to urge the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to conduct an investigation into its alleged discriminatory behavior!