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Court asked to toss complaint by man who allegedly threatened to blow up hospital

Man called Emotions Universe wants Islamophobia human rights case to go to full hearing
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A petition to BC Supreme Court from a man who allegedly threatened to blow up Burnaby Hospital should be tossed out, Fraser Health Authority said in documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court March 21.

Emotions Paradise Universe, who legally changed his name from Osama al-Salami, filed a petition with the court March 8 to have an already dismissed discrimination case returned to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

The tribunal in January dismissed Universe’s complaint of discrimination due to race or religion against respondents Fraser Health Authority operating as Burnaby General Hospital, the Provincial Health Services Authority, a nurse and a paramedic.

He had arrived at the hospital July 7, 2017, with back pain, was triaged and put in a waiting room.

When Universe asked a nurse for a place to lie down and was told there was none, he became agitated.

“Mr. Universe threatened that he was going to blow the place up. He also threatened to chop us into pieces,” tribunal documents said the nurse testified.

The paramedic testified he placed his hand on Universe’s shoulder after which the man allegedly began saying “things like I hate Canadians, I hate all of you, we should kill you all, Muslims will get you, and all these weird sort of religious innuendoes, kind of Jihadist type language.”

Shortly after police removed Universe from the hospital, Universe tried to hang himself and was involuntarily committed under the Mental Health Act.

Universe has maintained he is a victim of Islamophobia because his former first name is Osama like Osama bin Laden. His claims he was refused treatment because of discrimination based on race and religion.

Tribunal member Walter Rilkoff ruled Jan. 15 that Universe had no reasonable prospect of establishing he had been discriminated against.

In a petition filed in BC Supreme Court March 8, Universe asked that Rilkoff’s decision be set aside.

He called the decision not to move the case to a full hearing “false, patently unreasonable, malicious, reckless, biased, unfair, prejudiced.”

Universe claims Rilkoff’s decision has damaged his reputation, caused concern for public safety, damaged his health, made him susceptible to threats of “physical attack and murder” and damaged the tribunal’s reputation.

He claims the witnesses against him slandered him, discriminated against him or committed perjury before the tribunal.

Universe said in his petition the hospital repeatedly deprived him of medical attention and suggested he go to another hospital. He said other hospitals told him to use Burnaby General as the closest to his residence.

He said those experiences forced him to change “his full Muslim Arabic name to full English unique name as a real and honest attempt of (Universe) to receive a public hospital medical service that free of discrimination and to live peacefully.”

The respondents’ lawyer, Alon Mizrahi, said Universe’s petition is “repetitive, speculative, vexatious and meritless.”

Mizrahi said the petition lacks legal grounds for an appeal of the tribunal decision.

“He alleges the tribunal erred by accepting the evidence of all the witnesses over his which in his opinion was the only accurate portrayal of what occurred,” the response said.

None of the assertions have been proven in court as the case has yet to be heard.