The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal says an aboriginal woman who claims a nightclub bouncer denied her entry because she was wearing moccasins and then told her there were no buffalo to hunt inside can proceed with her complaint against the establishment.

Colleen Mitchell White, who is part Ojibwa, Cree and Metis, filed the complaint against the Roxy Cabaret after an altercation at the club in March 2009, when she attempted to enter the bar with her brother.

The tribunal initially dismissed the complaint, but earlier this year the B.C. Supreme Court ordered the rights body to reconsider that decision. A ruling posted to the tribunal's website last week says Mitchell White's complaint can proceed.

According to Mitchell White's complaint, she showed up at the Roxy, located in Vancouver's trendy downtown Granville entertainment district, carrying a golf club and was told she couldn't bring it inside.

When she returned without the golf club, Mitchell White claims the doorman told her: "We don't serve people in moccasins." When she replied that her ancestors hunted in moccasins, the doorman responded that there were no buffalo inside the club, according to Mitchell White's complaint.

As the confrontation escalated, Mitchell White claims the doorman became physically violent toward her and her brother, and at one point called her a prostitute.

Mitchell White insists she was not loud or confrontation, and she denies she was drunk or under the influence of drugs.

The Roxy Cabaret doesn't dispute the comments about the moccasins and buffalo, but says Mitchell White was intoxicated, aggressive and confrontational throughout her interaction with the bar staff, both when she was initially denied entry because of the golf club and when she returned.

The comment about hunting buffalo, the company says, was only in response to Mitchell White's own comments about her moccasins.

"(The Roxy's lawyer) says that Ms. Mitchell White stated to the Roxy staff that relatives of hers had hunted buffalo in the area and that she was being discriminated against," tribunal member Norman Treris writes in the latest decision related to the case, reciting the Roxy's version of events.

"The staff member dealing with her apparently replied that there were no buffalo in the Roxy, that he was not discriminating against her and that she had to leave because she was carrying a golf club."

Treris notes he is merely laying out each side's complaints and not making any findings of fact.

Treris says video from the club's surveillance cameras appear to show Mitchell White was aggressive during her first visit to the club, contradicting her claims that she was calm and "jovial" when she was told she couldn't bring her golf club inside,

However, Treris says the video isn't helpful to determine what was said when Mitchell White returned.

The Roxy argued the complaint had no chance of succeeding, but Treris said if Mitchell White's story is accepted as fact, it could be considered discriminatory.

"These comments (about hunting buffalo) could certainly be indicative of discriminatory conduct based upon the alleged grounds if Ms. Mitchell White's evidence were to be accepted at the hearing," wrote Treris.

"This could also be true of tossing her moccasins into the street and labelling her a prostitute. The Respondent Roxy has failed to persuade me that there is no reasonable prospect that the complaint will succeed."

Mitchell White's complaint also names the Vancouver Police Board. Last week's written decision doesn't deal with the complaint against the police in detail, but notes Mitchell White was subsequently arrested for "being drunk."

Mitchell White admits she had consumed three glasses of beer, but denies she was drunk.