Le Papillon on the Park shuts down
In the seventeen years Abdul Malik worked for Le
Papillon he made an amazing rise from dish washer to head chef in a in a highly
rated fine dining restaurant (first at one location then in the spin off
location) at Le Papillon on the Park. Most people who hold such a position
study for years and work as sous-chef s and line cooks under Master chefs
before attaining such a position as head chef for an establishment such as Le Papillon on the Park. To these Masters of the culinary arts their
reputations and that of the fine dining establishments they work for is
everything.
It appears
Malik had little respect for either his profession or the restaurant he worked
in. In fact, due to his complaint with the Human rights tribunal of Ontario, I
doubt he will ever work as head chef for such a place again. The 25 employees
he put out of work are left wondering why they are looking for new jobs and the
owner and his family have had their dream shattered because of this government’s
kangaroo court that sided with Malik, his nephew and their friend when they
decided to play the race card after years of employment.
Paul Bigue
originally founded Le Papillon with his friend Sandra Kane, and his brother
Marc, opening Le Papillon in 1974 in the St. Lawrence Market
neighbourhood. In 2008 the partners amicably split, with Kane re-opening Le
Papillon on Front St. and Paul and his wife Danielle opening Le Papillon on the
park. Abdul Malik chose to make the move to the new restaurant with Paul. The
restaurant featured French Canadian cuisine with a special tourtiere recipe. It
also had an open kitchen style floor plan where the kitchen is open and visible
to the dining room. Malik made it clear he did not like it.
The opening
of the restaurant was a big success and the establishment quickly picked up a
crowd of regular patrons both locally and far beyond. As time went on the only
problem they seemed to have was a high turnover in the kitchen staff. After
time the restaurant was a success and well received by critics, that is until
Malik and his friends played the race card which generated press that killed
the business. At this point cultural Marxism reared its ugly head. The ensuing
press of the Human Rights Tribunal painted Malik and his friends as poor
discriminated fellows who were being oppressed by a racist employer.
Paul Bigue
the owner of Le Papillon on the Park posted the following statement on his
restaurant’s web site.
On a Friday night in January 2011, our chef Abdul Malik (a 17 year
employee), his nephew and sous-chef Arif Hossain (a 12 year employee), as well
as a friend of theirs, Nahid Ashfaq Islam, marched out in rage and did not
return because we required them to train a new female cook. Fortunately, we
were able to retain a few chefs from a friend of ours and re-opened the next
day until we found permanent replacements.
In response, Mr. Malik went to
the Ontario Labour Relations Board and filed a complaint of discrimination. The
Board thoroughly investigated, found his accusations to be unjustified, and
denied his claim.
Not content to accept the judgment of the Labour Relations Board, the
three individuals filed false claims of discrimination against my wife Danielle
at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), and asked for $100,000 in
compensation. They received free advice from the Tribunal as well as free legal
counsel. In other words, they had absolutely nothing to lose.
Six months after our hearing and thirty one
months after we were cleared by the Labour Board, Tribunal adjudicator Judith
Keene found us guilty. Because the HRTO is not a court of law, there was no
appeal process available to us. It is also famous for its 96% conviction rate.
Devastated, we have taken our case to the Ontario Superior Court in order to
reverse the HRTO decision.
Meanwhile, last December the Toronto Star wrote a one-sided story which
perpetuated the falsehoods, harming our reputation and in turn impacting our
business.
It remains on the front page of Google search results six months
later. Our sales this year have dropped by 20%, which, coupled with
our lawyers fees (past and present) resulted in us not being able to discuss
the case until it has gone to the Ontario Superior Court. We were
advised that risking a PR blow-up on such a touchy subject could bankrupt
us, so we kept our public reply short and formal even though
it frustrated us enormously to do so.
We have operated restaurants in
Toronto for more than 40 years with the utmost integrity. We have great respect
for the men and women we have had the privilege of working with, and consider
them members of our family. We will defend our reputation and refuse to
allow a few misguided individuals to destroy our good name and a business that
employs 25 (wonderful) people.
So after 17
years all of a sudden Malik realized he was being discriminated against and his
employers were monstrous bigots!
Part of the
problem began when Nahid Islam joined the kitchen staff and the three started
speaking Bengali in the kitchen which Danielle Bigue had a problem with
and mentioned that for safety and in respect to other employees English should
be spoken in the kitchen. Some of the other false claims made by the three to
the HRTO was that observances for Ramadan were not respected and that one day
in August 2010 he was told by his boss to taste the soup. Malik had made the
soup the night before and felt he should not have to taste anything during his observances.
He claimed that at first declined to taste the soup, but Ms Bigue told him that
he should taste it and he was worried about being fired. He also claimed that
on more than one occasion he was asked to taste a pulled pork sandwich that the
owners wanted to add to the menu. Mr. Islam also testified that Ms Bigue
told Islam that the tortière did not have enough flavour, and that he should
taste it and tell her his opinion. Mr. Islam told Ms Bigue that he was
prohibited from eating pork and that he was fasting. He indicated that Ms Bigue
told him that “if you make food, you have to taste it”.
This brings
up an interesting point here, I have spoken to many chefs and we have all seen
at least one of the top chef type cooking shows that permeate the television
these days. As a chef that prepares meals in a fine dining establishment you
are expected to taste the food you prepare!
A restaurant
that features French Canadian cuisine is going to have pork on the menu! Here
we have three people who claim to be professionals who also claim to have no
need to ever taste the restaurants signature dish!
From reading
the transcript of the HRTO hearings it’s also clear that the management of Le
Papillon on the park went out of their way to accommodate the three when it
came to their religious practices.
How is it
that it took Malik 17 years (and Hossain 12 years) to come to the conclusion
that their employers were racist and file a complaint first with the labour
board and then with the HRTO? And why did this come to a head right when they
were asked to train a female chef? A female chef who besides being a woman,
probably took her chosen profession seriously.
There is no
appeal process for a ruling from the HRTO except to the Divisional court of
Ontario and then only if the HRTO made a mistake in a legal ruling. Needless to
say there was no reversal from the Divisional court, only more lawyer fees and
court costs. The courts at this time ordered the restaurant to pay the three
well over $100,000. Plus court costs within thirty days. Again from the Le Papillon
on the Park web site.
UPDATE May 22, 2015: We lost
our appeal at the Superior Court.
The allegations
were false and we were treated unjustly by the HRTO. Unfortunately, and to our
surprise, there was no appeal process available. Our only recourse was to take
this case to the Divisional Court not for
retrial, but for review. In other words they had to figure out whether or not
the HRTO had made a legal mistake
in their decision. We suppose they did what they could. Had we the option to
retry the case, we would have won.
This case has
ruined our reputation and our health. Our standards and integrity are what have
kept us in business for 40 years in this city, and to have the public believe
that we discriminated against our staff was a huge personal blow that we
haven’t been able to recover from. Patrons that dined with us for years stopped
coming overnight, we received menacing calls and emails and we continue to read
hateful comments about our family and business online. This has been devastating
and extremely frustrating.
We’ve come to
learn that the HRTO has a very high conviction rate and no appeal process. We
made the mistake of wearing the truth like our shield and didn’t represent
ourselves properly. The public, especially small business owners like us, need
to know that there are misguided individuals
that are profiting from the free legal counsel and systems that were put into
place to protect those who actually need it. This is really happening. As soon
as our story made it into the press in December 2013, we received dozens of
calls and emails from business owners that were wrongfully convicted on
discrimination charges at the HRTO and lost their businesses. People were
furious, and their stories were horrible. It’s extremely disheartening to be
added to that list.
This has been
the most difficult thing we’ve ever faced as a business, and above all as a
family. I suppose our greatest mistake was that we were naive enough to think
that justice would prevail and it did not.
No small business can take a financial blow like the one imposed by the
HRTO and survive. Few businesses can field a barrage of political correctness
from the red press, especially when that press is a bunch of one sided lies
from immigrants playing the race card.
So now Le Papillon on the Park is closed
with a For Sale sign on it. The building has been remortgaged (most likely to
pay off the fines and court costs) 25 people are looking for new jobs and a
family is ruined.
But Malik, his nephew and their friend have hit the jackpot. They are
now free to take their windfall and go open a shawarma hut somewhere. I doubt
the Toronto Star food critic will ever review the place but I somehow don’t
think they will care.
Lawrence McCurry
January 2016
That is bad news, hope to see this place up and running again, I have seen Sassafraz rise again after a fire incident, all credit goes to the owner Zoran Kocovski.
ReplyDelete