From the Ontario "Globe And Mail" - December 1979:
Mall Says Woman Not A Fitting Santa
   After-shave lotion, hockey pads, a long white beard, size 13-boots,
eyebrows covered with cotton and plenty of stuffing enabled Nancy 
Fulford to get a job as a Santa Claus.
    But she says she was fired after two days on the job because of 
complaints from store-owners in · the Morningside Mall who didn't like 
a woman in the role. She didn't fit the Santa stereotype.
   Miss Fulford, a 20-year-old theatre student from Scarborough who 
has worked with children in summer camps for four years, said in an 
interview yesterday that at least two men had also applied for the job 
she got in mid-November.
   "I think I made a very good Santa but I didn't happen to be a man ...  
I think for the most part; the kids and parents couldn't tell. I even had 
some middle-aged women flirting with me.
   "If children are fooled by a false beard, red suit, a story about an 
arrival from the North Pole via reindeer, then they'll be fooled by 
Santa's sex" she said.
   Miss Fulford added that she was able to hide her sex by adopting 
a deep voice which "sounds a lot better through a false beard." One 
little boy, eyeing her thin wrists, asked if she were a woman. She re-
sponded quickly: "I'm planning a trip to Florida in the spring and didn't 
want to appear like a blubbery whale on the beach, so I've been 
avoiding Mrs. Claus's cookies and trying to thin down." 
   Miss Fulford said mall manager Carolyn Dunigan called her and fired 
her because of complaints from store owners about her sex. She said 
she had a $850 contract for four-week's work; but the manager offered to 
have Miss Fulford's brother, David, replace her.
   Mr. Fulford, a 19-year old University of Toronto undergraduate, took the 
job and Miss Fulford filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights 
Commission on Nov. 28.
   Three days later he, too, was fired. When he repeatedly asked for a 
reason, he was told he refused to wear all of his costume.
   "I wore the whole costume including all the stuffing," he said. His sister 
concurred: "David went out of his way to play the part by wearing long 
underwear, hockey pads and an extra pillow."
   Margaret Dunigan, the only representative from the mall available, said 
she personally had no comment  and  the  manager couldn't comment 
since she is ill.
   The Ontario Human Rights Commission said the complaint was "still 
under investigation." Miss Fulford said she felt she was the victim of an 
"injustice on the part of closed-minded people."

From the Ontario "Globe and Mail" - January 21, 1980:
Fired Female Santa Gets $500 After Complaint to Rights Body
  The female Santa Claus who was fired last November after two days on the 
job has received  $500 after going to the Ontario Human Rights Commission 
to complain.
  Nancy Fulford, who was hired by Morningside Mall to act as Santa for four 
weeks before Christmas, said in an interview yesterday that she got the $500 
cheque from Palmar Holdings Ltd., the owners of the mall, a few days ago in 
the mail.
  "I was very happy that they didn't get away with it.... it would have been such 
a struggle to pay my rent without that cheque," she said.
  The 20-year old theatre arts student from Scarborough said last December 
that she had signed an $850 contract for the work and was fired because of 
complaints from store owners in the mall who didn't like a woman in the role. 
She then took her complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
  Miss Fulford said she asked for $700 to make up for the income she would 
have received under the contract, but said she was satisfied with the $500. 
She made an additional $200 over the holidays by playing Santa at a down-
town Toronto store and displaying furs for potential buyers in Quebec.
  She said the commission telephoned her late in December and asked if 
she would be happy with $500. "I decided it would be difficult to fight that 
settlement since I go to school in Montreal so I accepted the 9500," she 
said.
  Jim Stratton, director of conciliation and compliance for the human rights 
commission, refused to discuss the settlement. He did say the matter was 
settled through conciliation and did not go to the commission's board of 
inquiry.
  Stanley Bush, the mall's lawyer, also refused to discuss the settlement but 
said that he didn't think there was any sexual discrimination involved and 
that the settlement  was, reached  for "pragmatic reasons."

From the Ontario "Globe and Mail" - December 24, 1987:
Soprano Santa Finds Warm Welcome In N.Z.

BY ANN RAUHALA

  Canadian actors complain that they have to leave the country to win the 
best roles -- but surely Nancy Fulford has gone too far.
   Ms Fulford, who was fired from her job playing Santa Claus at a Toronto 
shopping mall a few years ago, has found her niche in Wellington, N.Z.
  To a group of children at the local YWCA, she is Mother Christmas, a 
vision in red velvet. "Here in New Zealand, it's more interchangeable," she 
said in a telephone interview. "There's a Father Christmas and a Mother 
Christmas."
  She said little New Zealanders are happy enough to see either. "They're 
fairly non-discriminatory. Of course, it could be because I arrived with 
helium balloons and presents for everyone." Ms Fulford was a 20-year-old 
theatre-arts student in 1979 when she took a job as Santa Claus at the 
Morningside Mall. After two days on the job, she was fired, apparently 
because some of the shop owners objected to a soprano Santa.
  At the time, Ms Fulford insisted that she was convincing enough to deceive 
even some parents. The mall did not relent. Neither did Ms Fulford.
  She complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and eventually 
won $500 from the shopping mall.
  But playing Mother Christmas this year was rewarding in a different way. 
"It  was empowering to know that a woman can be :magical and mystical, too."
  For her role, she wore a revamped Santa suit -- without the beard -- and a 
button that read: "All mothers are working mothers."
  Ms Fulford did have one little qualm about her impact as Mother Christmas. "The kids will probably grow up thinking that any body who comes from the North Pole has a Canadian accent."

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