Michael Christianson v. Windsor Police Service and Micheal Langlois, 2009 HRTO 1433

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Michael Christianson

Applicant

-and-

Windsor Police Service and Micheal Langlois

Respondents

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Kaye Joachim

Date: September 10, 2009

Citation: 2009 HRTO 1433

Indexed as: Christianson v. Windsor Police Service

1This is an Application filed September 5, 2008 under section 53(3) of Part VI of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”). This Interim Decision addresses a disputed request to amend the Application and to add a party. The Case Resolution Conference is scheduled for November 6, 2009.

2The complaint which underlies the current Application was filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (“Commission”) on December 17, 2007. The applicant alleged that Michael Langlois and the Windsor Police Service discriminated against him on the basis of disability.

3On October 29, 2008 the applicant wrote to the Commission seeking to amend the complaint to add another personal respondent and to add an allegation relating to an incident on February 28, 2008. On November 26, 2008 the Commission wrote to the applicant declining to amend the complaint as requested. The Commission recommended that the applicant file an Application with the Tribunal under section 34 of the Code.

4The transitional provisions of the Code are intended to deal with the subject matter of complaints filed with the Commission prior to June 30, 2008. The applicant’s requested amendments do not form part of the subject matter of the complaint which was abandoned because the Commission refused to amend the complaint.

5In my view, the legislative intention as set out in the transition provisions is that section 53(3) applications should be dealt with in a highly expeditious manner. To that end, the Tribunal developed Rules to foster a fair, just and highly expeditious process. In particular Rule 6.3 states:

Applications made in accordance with these Rules must be based on the subject matter of the complaint or amended complaint filed at the Commission and the Tribunal will not entertain preliminary requests to add grounds, expand the subject matter of the complaint or add parties to the Application.

6In my view, it would detract from the expeditious nature of the proceeding to permit the applicant to add the requested person and expand the current Application to include the requested amendments. The applicant’s request to amend the Application is denied.