It was a heated day Friday for a Tim Hortons in Etobicoke, after an attempt to ban teens from the coffee shop from 11am to 4pm raised the ire of an entire student body.
Rather than being welcomed with a friendly smile at the local coffee shop, students from
Michael Power and St. Joseph Catholic High School were greeted with a sign - that's since been taken down - telling them their money was "welcome" inside - but they weren't.
A spokesperson at Tim Hortons headquarters said the franchise owner was just trying to speed up traffic, while an employee claimed the students could get really out of hand. A partial statement was also issued by the company's headquarters saying that the partial ban was because of unfortunate and inappropriate behaviour that's on its way to being resolved.
Needless to say, the teenagers were outraged, and felt the many were being blamed for the shortcomings of the few.
"I think they should be dealt with on a case by case scenario and not just ban the whole teenage population from this area," one student said.
Another found the sign was insulting, "That's very discriminating toward us. If there's a group of people you can't tell us that it's only kids that can get rowdy."
The principal of the school met with the shop owner Friday morning to put a stop to the ban which could have resulted in a boycott. As for whether Tim Hortons was within their rights to do that, the answer is yes. The
Ontario Human Rights Code does not provide protection to people under 18.