Tribunal denies requests to admit unqualified expert witness on lived experience and to order production of lost documents.
The applicant in a human rights proceeding alleging discrimination based on disability brought two requests for orders during proceedings.
First, the applicant sought to admit the testimony of a former NHL player as an expert in the lived experience of anxiety-based mental illness.
The Tribunal denied this request, finding the proposed witness did not meet the Mohan criteria for expert evidence, as his personal experiences were not directly relevant to the applicant's specific educational context and did not qualify him to give opinion evidence.
Second, the applicant requested the disclosure of two letters written by his teachers to a private boarding school.
The Tribunal declined to order production because the respondent could not locate the documents, noting the applicant could question the teachers at the hearing or seek to introduce the letters later if obtained from the boarding school.
L.B. v. Toronto District School Board, 2015 HRTO 148
