Colette Cloutier v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario as Represented by the Minister of Community and Social Services, 2008 HRTO 78

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Colette Cloutier Applicant

-and-

Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario as Represented by the Minister of Community and Social Services Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: David A. Wright Date: September 17, 2008 Citation: 2008 HRTO 78 Indexed as: Cloutier v. Ontario (Community and Social Services)

Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario 655 Bay Street, 14th Floor Toronto ON M7A 2C7 Phone (416) 326-1312 / 1-866-598-0322 Fax (416) 326-2199 / 1-866-355-6099 TTY (416) 314-2379 / 1-800-424-1168 E-mail hrto.registrar@ontario.ca Website www.hrto.ca

1The applicant filed an application with the Tribunal pursuant to s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended ("Code"), relating to the "special diet allowance" under the Ontario Disability Support Program. Over one hundred related complaints have been referred to the Tribunal by the Ontario Human Rights Commission under the old Code. In the referred cases, the Tribunal has adopted a "lead case" approach under which several of the referred cases are being heard in advance of the others: see Ball v. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2008 HRTO 24 ("Ball #2"), Ball v. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2008 HRTO 29, and Ball v. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2008 HRTO 72.

2In a previous application on the same issue, the Tribunal suspended the requirements for further steps until after the final decision in the lead cases: Lawson v. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2008 HRTO 59.

3In her application, the applicant indicates that she has filed an appeal of the decision to reduce her special diet allowance which is before the Social Benefits Tribunal ("SBT"). The applicant has requested deferral of the application pending the completion of the SBT hearing. The application has not yet been served on the respondent.

4Unless there are compelling reasons not to do so, the Tribunal intends to apply a similar procedure to any new applications relating to the special diet allowance as has been applied to the cases already before the Tribunal, for the reasons set out in Ball #2. No further steps in the application will be required until the final decision in the lead cases, and the Registrar will send the applicant all decisions in the lead cases. Within 60 days of the final decision in the lead cases, each applicant shall advise the Tribunal of how he or she wishes to proceed, and if she does not do so, the respondent may ask that the application be dismissed.

5The Registrar is directed to serve the application upon the respondent with this decision. Should any party wish to make any submissions with regard to the procedure to be applied in this case, they may do so, in writing to the Registrar by letter, by October 1, 2008.