Barton v. Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Services), 2009 HRTO 1529

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Craig Barton

Applicant

-and-

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Alison Renton

Date: September 23, 2009

Citation: 2009 HRTO 1529

Indexed as: Barton v. Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Services)

1The applicant filed an Application under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c.H.19 as amended (the "Code"), on April 18, 2009. The applicant alleges discrimination on the basis of disability and reprisal or threat of reprisal in goods, services, and facilities. The applicant also completed a Form 1-C which indicates that he started or took part in a human rights proceeding and marked off that these were commenced before the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and another proceeding (civil police complaints). He did not provide the file numbers of those proceedings and did not provide details about the proceedings that were commenced or the complaints or applications upon which those proceedings were based.

2The respondent filed a partial Response on July 23, 2009 in which it indicated that it could not complete a full Response because the applicant had not provided any particulars or factual details to support his allegations of discrimination. It also filed a Request for Order During Proceedings ("RFOP") and requested that the Application be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because the applicant has not made out a prima facie case of discrimination. The applicant has not filed a Reply or a Response to the RFOP and the time for doing so has now passed.

3This Interim Decision addresses the lack of factual details and jurisdiction of the Tribunal as well as the other proceedings that the applicant has identified.

4An applicant is required to provide sufficient factual details or allegations in his or her Application so that a respondent is capable of knowing the allegations against him, her or it. Rule 6.6 requires:

A complete Application must provide the information requested in every section of the Application form and must set out all the facts that form the substance of the allegations of discrimination including the circumstances of what happened, where and when it happened, and the names of person(s) or organization(s) alleged to have violated the Applicant's rights under the Code.

5In his Application, the applicant alleges discrimination based on disability and reprisal or threat of reprisal in goods, services and facilities. The Application is very brief. When the applicant provides brief responses to some of the questions that are asked on the Application form, he provides few details about his medical condition and ethnic background, rather than the factual assertions about why he believes he was discriminated against. From a brief handwritten document appended to the Application, it appears that the applicant is alleging that he felt he was subjected to physical harm while in jail and that he raised a similar complaint elsewhere. However, other than naming the respondent, the applicant does not set out any factual allegations connecting the respondent and the Application; nor does the applicant explain how being subjected to physical harm while in jail relate to his claim of discrimination on the basis of disability and reprisal or the threat of reprisal in goods, services and facilities.

6The Tribunal's jurisdiction (power) is based on the Code, which prohibits discrimination in accommodation, services, good and facilities, and employment on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, record of offence, marital status, family status or disability. The Tribunal does not have general power to inquire into claims of physical harm outside of its jurisdiction.

7Section 8 of the Code, which prohibits reprisals or threat of reprisals, states:

Every person has a right to claim and enforce his or her rights under this Act, to institute and participate in proceedings under this Act and to refuse to infringe a right of another person under this Act, without reprisal or threat of reprisal.

8The applicant has not alleged in his Application that the respondent's alleged actions were in response to claiming or enforcing a right under the Code, instituting or participating in proceedings under the Code, or refusing to infringe the right of another person.

9In the circumstances, the Tribunal requires the applicant to provide written submissions setting out the specific details or allegations of discrimination on the basis of disability and reprisal in the provision of goods, services and facilities, and how they are therefore within the Tribunal's power to decide. The submissions should identify:

• Who was involved in each event;
• When each event occurred;
• What happened; and
• Why the applicant believes that the events were discriminatory and/or reprisals.

10The applicant is also directed to provide written submissions providing details about the other complaints and applications that he has filed with the Tribunal which deal with the subject-matter of this Application, if any, and to the other entities he identified on page 5 of his Application as well as the status of those proceedings.

11The applicant must deliver these submissions to the respondent and file them with the Tribunal no later than seven days from the date of this Interim Decision. Until the respondent is directed to by the Tribunal, it does not need to respond to the applicant's submissions.

12The Tribunal draws the applicant's attention to the "Applicant's Guide" and in particular to sources of legal assistance and representation available to applicant, including supporting that may be available through the Human Rights Legal Support Centre. The Guide and links to other sources of information are available on the Tribunal's website, www.hrto.ca, or from the Tribunal's Registrar.

13I am not seized of this matter.