Grace Vaccarelli

The applicant landlord sought judicial review of a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario decision finding he discriminated against and harassed his tenants based on their religious beliefs.

The tenants, who are practicing Muslims, had requested accommodations regarding notice for apartment viewings and the removal of shoes in their prayer space.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding the Tribunal's denial of an adjournment request was fair and its findings on discrimination, which were largely based on credibility assessments, were reasonable.

The court also found no error in the Tribunal's admission of the applicant's Facebook post into evidence.

The applicants sought judicial review of interim decisions by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, which declined to dismiss human rights applications under s. 45.1 of the Human Rights Code.

The applicants argued that prior proceedings under the Police Services Act and the Regulated Health Professions Act should bar the human rights complaints based on issue estoppel and finality principles.

The Divisional Court dismissed the applications, finding the Tribunal reasonably applied the Supreme Court's fairness principles from Penner to conclude that it would be unfair to dismiss the human rights applications, given the different purposes, lack of financial stakes, and statutory contexts of the prior proceedings.