Man banned from McDonald’s for racist attack

A man who made racist remarks to a McDonald’s employee and “struck” her in the face while going through the drive-thru has been banned from all McDonald’s locations in Brandon for one year.

“People are coming here to start new lives in our community and are trying to have jobs and be meaningful members of the community, and then when they get treated like this, I think it’s extremely disheartening, and it’s traumatizing,” Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said in Brandon provincial court on Thursday.

Jordan Morris, 35, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault.

In April 2025, Morris told a McDonald’s employee that he “only wanted to speak English” and that the business should hire employees who can speak the language, Mathu said.

“The woman was speaking English, but Mr. Morris didn’t appreciate her accent,” she said.

When the employee asked Morris to leave, he got out of his vehicle and “began shouting profanities at the employee and he struck her in the face and made impact that caused pain,” the Crown said.

Court heard he also verbally threatened the employee.

At the time of this incident, Morris was pending on another assault charge. In July 2024, Morris was at a friend’s house, and when he was asked to leave, he refused and proceeded to damage the property and assault a woman, Mathu said.

“These are all very, very, very troubling incidents … especially the McDonald’s one. It shows the behaviour of Mr. Morris was very racist,” she said.

She noted that Morris has struggled with alcohol use and his offending has flowed from that.

Mathu asked the court to impose a fine for the 2024 assault and a one-day court appearance for the drive-thru assault, followed by a 12- to 18-month period of probation.

She asked that several conditions be put in place during his probation, including that he not attend any McDonald’s locations in the city and that he not contact the victims.

Brandon has four McDonald’s locations.

Defence lawyer Colin Fingas joined the Crown’s recommendation and spoke more in depth about Morris’s personal circumstances and his “unhealthy relationship” with alcohol.

Fingas said Morris’s upbringing was “far from perfect,” and his alcohol use started at age 16. He only stopped drinking when he was recently diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, court heard.

“I think it is important to know that Mr. Morris is doing everything that is in his power and … using this bad situation as a turning point,” Fingas said, adding that Morris has completed detox and had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

He said Morris has a limited criminal record and entered guilty pleas at an early stage. Morris knows his behaviour wasn’t acceptable, and he’s genuinely sorry, the lawyer said.

“These were drunken mistakes, and he deeply regrets those words that were said and those actions.”

When given a chance to speak, Morris apologized and said he wants to move forward in a better direction.

“I don’t like for people to see … that’s who I am, because that’s not who I am. That’s my demon that I’ve been dealing with for a long, long time, and it’s time to get it under control.”

Judge Donovan Dvorak said Morris needs to understand where his thoughts are coming from and to look inside his heart.

“Alcoholism does not equal racism … What it does is puts you in a position where your inhibition and perhaps your judgments are off,” Dvorak said, before sentencing Morris to one year of supervised probation and setting the fine at $500.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com