Skip to content

'Mrs. Claus' files human rights complaint against Burnaby Horsemen's Association

A Burnaby woman who has dressed up as Mrs. Claus for Christmas for the last five years and volunteered to give children rides on her miniature horse has launched a human rights complaint against the Burnaby Horsemen’s Association.
Cheryl Needes, Burnaby Horsemen's Association
Burnaby resident Cheryl Needes, with her miniature horse Elvis, dresses up as Mrs. Claus for the Burnaby Horsemen’s Association’s annual Christmas With the Horses open house in December 2014.

A Burnaby woman who has dressed up as Mrs. Claus for Christmas for the last five years and volunteered to give children rides on her miniature horse has launched a human rights complaint against the Burnaby Horsemen’s Association.

Cheryl Needes has multiple sclerosis, and her complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal alleges the association failed to accommodate her disability and allowed her to be bullied by another member who took a video of her having an “emotional meltdown” and then showed it to others to mock her, according to Needes.

Visitors to the association’s annual Christmas With the Horses open houses will recognize Needes as “Mrs. Claus” and her husband Tom as “Santa.”

The couple have been involved in the Burnaby Horsemen’s Association since their daughter first took lessons at its facility at the east end of Burnaby Lake Regional Park 25 years ago.

Tom was a board member for five years, and Needes, besides taking occasional lessons, has worked taking care of several horses at the association’s facility.

Diagnosed with MS seven years ago, Needes says she is no longer able to ride regular-sized horses because of problems with balance.

Her husband got her her first miniature horse, Elvis, about two-and-a-half years ago.

“We realized that her condition was going to deteriorate and she wouldn’t be able to adequately exercise a large horse, but the small horse seemed to be within her abilities,” Tom told the NOW. “I felt that it would be good for her; it would be something she could still do.”

The couple decided Elvis would be trained to pull a cart for Needes by the time he was four years old.  

But Needes said association members told her on multiple occasions she couldn’t work her miniature horses in the indoor riding arena because it disturbed the other horses.

She lodged a complaint with the board of directors, but the directors did nothing to affirm her rights, according to her human rights complaint.

Nor did it step in, according to Needes, when another member named in the human rights complaint allegedly took and shared a video of Needes “having a complete emotional meltdown” last November after the member’s horse escaped from its stall and cornered Needes in a stall she was cleaning.

The human rights complaint claims that, instead of stepping in, the board came after Needes in December for violating the conditions of her sublease by keeping her two miniature horses in the same stall.

Needes denies the claim, saying the horses were only put together to socialize and were separated into different stalls for feeding and overnight, something other members had done without repercussions, according to Needes. She alleges the warnings about the sub-lease violation were “retaliation” for her complaints to the board.

The lack of support from the board and the video incident have caused Needes “tremendous stress” and adversely affected her health, according to her human rights complaint.

“Coupled with my disease, it has caused me increased fatigue, greater depression and made my emotional state very fragile,” states the complaint. “I used to enjoy going to the stables to caretake horses for others and spend time with my own horses. Now I dread going there. The unchecked spread of stories, rumours and gossip about me has completely demoralized me.”

Needes moved her two horses to a stable in Ladner in January – a 45-minute drive from her Burnaby home – and has given up some of the paid caretaking work she had been doing at the Burnaby stable.

The move has deprived her of the everyday visits she used to have with her horses when they were stabled five minutes from her house.

“(Elvis) was my joy and he cheered me up days that I really did not have a very good day,” Needes said.

In her human rights complaint, Needes calls for all members of the board to step down and be excluded from sitting on the board or any committee for five years; she is calling for a formal apology from the member who videoed her, as well as a three-month suspension; and she is asking for just under $1,300 in lost caretaking wages to offset her horses’ move to Ladner.

“I want people to know that this board cannot go around and keep bullying people,” Needes said.

None of Needes’ allegations have been proven in court, but the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has agreed to hear the case.

The horsemen’s association submitted its response on May 2, but president Debbie Rogal said she couldn’t comment on the complaint because it was “under review and confidential.”

Asked if the association would be willing to settle Needes’ complaint outside of a hearing, Rogal said again that she couldn’t comment.

“I can’t comment on anything until I speak to our legal counsel,” she said.

Needes has until June 20 to submit documentation to support her complaint. The horsemen’s association has until July 25 to submit its supporting paperwork.