Michael John Ward (born September 14, 1973) is a Canadian comedian.[1] He performs comedy in both French and English.
Career
Ward has appeared on television doing stand-up in 20 countries; airing throughout Europe, Africa, Australia and North America. He has been a frequent guest of the Anthony Cumia Show podcast.[2] Ward hosts two podcasts: 2 Drink Minimum with comedian Pantelis Palioudakis on Compound Media[3] and Mike Ward sous écoute.[4]
Controversies
Ward in May 2014
Ward has been the subject of controversy. At Jean-Marc Parent's 2008 Just for Laughs French gala, he made a joke about Revenu Québec, in which he mentioned[5]Cédrika Provencher, a young girl who had been abducted in 2007[6] in Quebec and whose remains were found in December 2015.
Mocking of Jérémy Gabriel
Between 2010 and 2013, Ward performed a comedy routine about Jérémy Gabriel, a young disabled singer with Treacher Collins syndrome. Ward mocked Gabriel's appearance, his illness and his abilities as a singer and joked about trying to kill him by drowning him. Gabriel said he was repeatedly bullied at school and became suicidal.[7]
Gabriel's parents filed a complaint with the Quebec human rights commission, and the commission brought the case in front of Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal seeking $80,000 in damages from Ward. On July 20, 2016, he was ordered to pay $42,000 ($35,000 to Jérémy, $7,000 to his mother). Ward's lawyer, Julius Grey, appealed the decision,[8][9] and the decision was upheld by appellate court judges on November 28, 2019, but dropped the fee initially ordered to be paid to the mother.[10]
In February 2021, Ward appealed the damages award to the Supreme Court of Canada.[11] On October 29, 2021, the Supreme Court overturned, in a 5–4 split, the lower court's decision, citing "The question is whether a reasonable person, informed of the relevant circumstances and context, would consider that the remarks about Mr. Gabriel incite contempt for him or his humanity on a prohibited ground of discrimination. The next question is whether such a reasonable person would consider that, in context, the words could reasonably be expected to lead to the discriminatory treatment of Mr. Gabriel. In our view, the remarks made by Mr. Ward do not meet either of these requirements."[12]
