Article content

MONTREAL — Quebec’s highest court largely upheld a human right’s tribunal’s ruling requiring a comedian to pay damages to a disabled singer he mocked, while overturning the part of the decision that ordered Mike Ward to also pay $7,000 to the victim’s mother.

In a split decision, two of the three judges argued Ward’s comments about Jeremy Gabriel’s disability compromised the young performer’s right to the safeguard of his dignity and could not be justified, even in a society where freedom of expression is valued.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Comedian loses appeal over penalty for joke about disabled boy Back to video

In 2016, Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ordered Ward to pay $35,000 in moral and punitive damages to Gabriel based on comments Ward made during shows between 2010 and 2013.

Gabriel has Treacher Collins syndrome, a congenital disorder characterized by skull and facial deformities. He became a celebrity in Quebec after he sang with Celine Dion and for the Pope.

In his act, Ward joked that he thought Gabriel’s illness was terminal and people were only nice to him because he would soon die. Ward joked that after he realized the child was not going to die, he tried to drown him.