Faro town councillor Valerie Benoit allegedly made derogatory and dismissive comments about a first nations man who applied for the town's top staff position in 2004, a Yukon human rights board of adjudicators heard this week.

That evidence came during a hearing into a complaint lodged by Les Carpenter, an Inuvialuit man who says the Faro town council did not consider him for the job of chief administrative officer because of Benoit's attitude and comments.

This week, the human rights board heard from two of Benoit's colleagues who worked at the nursing station where Benoit was housekeeper.

"She said, 'There's no f***ing way we want a first nations person in here with a braid down his back as our CAO,'" the station's receptionist told the three-person board on Monday.

A nurse at the station said Benoit told her something similar, adding that first nations people are "slow" and "not like us."

The comments came back to Carpenter through his then-girlfriend, who also worked at the nursing station.

The 52-year-old man was never interviewed for the job after some initial, informal meetings, and believes he was never even

considered after Benoit made her feelings known.

Last week, Carpenter testified at the hearing. He told the board he simply wanted an apology and an assurance the town councillors would not allow such attitudes to cloud their hiring process ever again.

He said he did not lodge the human rights complaint looking for money.

A significant amount of cash has been spent on the matter, however.

Last week, the board heard that the Town of Faro, which has a tax base of no more than 400 people, has paid upwards of $60,000 to Gary Whittle, their Whitehorse-based lawyer, in the matter.

After Carpenter filed his complaint in 2005, the Yukon Human Rights Commission sent an investigator to the town to look into the allegations of discrimination.

Whittle filed a petition with the Yukon Supreme Court accusing the investigator of being biased and of tainting the entire staff of the human rights commission against Faro.

Literally thousands of pages' worth of documents were filed in the back and forth between Whittle's office and the commission, representing hundreds of hours of work for both sides.

In the end, a judge decided the investigator's report and related documents should all be sealed until after the board of adjudicators had heard the case and made a final ruling.

The hearing is scheduled to close at the end of this week. The board then has 60 days to come up with a decision.