The owner of a resort in B.C.'s Cariboo region has been ordered to pay more than $173,000 to seven former employees who complained they faced discrimination on the job – for being white.

The Spruce Hill Resort and Spa staff alleged owner Kin Wa Chan fired some of them and reduced the others' hours back in August 2016 after he hired several new employees, all of whom were Chinese.

The former workers, represented by general manager Melonie Eva, filed a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal, which ruled in their favour last week. Tribunal chair Diana Juricevic noted it was an unusual case, given that the workers "are not members of a group that has been historically discriminated against."

"Nevertheless, (they) have been subjected to a poisoned work environment due to racism," Juricevic wrote in her Oct. 24 decision. "On top of that they experienced this in a small community where there are few alternatives to escape."

Before Chan hired the new employees, he mentioned on multiple occasions that he wanted to bring in Chinese students because they wouldn’t demand holiday pay, overtime pay or days off, according to Eva.

"I find that over a period of months Mr. Chan repeatedly said that he wanted to replace Caucasian employees with ethnically Chinese employees to reduce labour costs," the tribunal's decision reads.

"Mr. Chan said words to the effect, 'Chinese workers are better and cheaper than white workers.'"

Though Chan denied the allegations, Juricevic found they were corroborated by other witnesses – and that one Chinese student was ultimately hired at the resort and asked to "perform the job duties of two Caucasian employees."

Three other ethnically Chinese workers were hired around the same time. When Chan subsequently began reducing hours and firing employees, only white workers were impacted, according to the tribunal's decision.

"While one may sympathize with (the Chinese student) who was on salary, and appeared to work long hours with limited additional compensation, Caucasian employees lost hours and income because they were Caucasian," Juricevic wrote.

Speaking to CTV News on Thursday, Eva said the tribunal's ruling came as a huge relief after the group spent more than two years seeking justice for their treatment.

"There's a lot of emotion and anxiety and stress that's built up, so we were so relieved and overwhelmed by the determination by the tribunal," Eva said.

"We feel that this is not just a victory for us, as a small group of employees, but for our community and for anybody who suffers the indignity of being discriminated against."

Eva also complained that Chan sexually harassed her during a business trip to China, when he only booked them one hotel room and tried to convince her to share it with him.

Though Chan claimed he did so to save money, the tribunal noted the room he booked was not at a budget hotel. Eva described it as a "fancy" five-star accommodation.