Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
B E T W E E N:
Louise Cartier
Applicant
-and-
Northeast Mental Health Centre – North Bay Campus, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Local 636, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Minister of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Karen Bennett, Marlene Thacker, Don Coutts, Selinah Sogbein, Johanna Fontaine, Mary Anne Lamothe, Ehren Baldauf, Alison Robinson, Jennifer Lyle, Mary Mars, Diane Windsor, Anne Sinclair, Darlene Dubonnet Beauchy, Lorraine Roy, Sonja Brown, Karen Robinson, Lou-Ann Joubenvill, Debbie Orton, Caroline Betty, Jocelyn Rose, Angela Leblanc, Nicole Beaulieu, Kim Jones, Fred Skinner, Jody Jesse, Maureen Leclaire, Sandy Larochelle, Penelope Roberts, Kim Point, Kirk Hewitt, Shirley Bell, Karen Sherry, Marilyn Nairn, Tony Morabito, Marion Mellville, Graig Nesbitt, Jackie Smythe, and Jackie Crawford
Respondents
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Sheri D. Price
Indexed as: Cartier v. Northeast Mental Health Centre
INTRODUCTION
1This Application under section 34 of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), alleges that the respondents discriminated against the applicant on the basis of sex, record of offences, association with a person identified by sex and/or record of offences, and also engaged in reprisals contrary to the Code. The Tribunal has not yet delivered the Application to the respondents.
2On reviewing the Application, it appears the Application was filed outside the time permitted by the Code. As well, it appears the subject-matter of the Application may not be within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. The Interim Decision seeks submissions from the applicant on these two issues.
Whether the Subject Matter of the Application is within the Tribunal’s Jurisdiction
3The Application names three institutional respondents, the applicant’s former employer, Northeast Mental Health Centre – North Bay Campus (“NEMHC”), her trade union, Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 636 (“OPSEU”), and the predecessor employer which ran the psychiatric facility where the applicant worked prior to November 2005, Her Majesty in Right of Ontario as represented by the Minister of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (“the Ministry of Health”). In addition, the Application names 31 personal respondents alleged to be related to NEMHC, 15 personal respondents alleged to be related to the Ministry of Health (of whom at least 14 appear to be the same as the personal respondents said to be related to NEMHC), five (5) personal respondents alleged to be related to OPSEU, and Marilyn Nairn, the arbitrator who dismissed the applicant’s discharge grievance following an arbitration hearing in 2008.
4According to information provided in the Application, from 1999 until the termination of her employment on January 24, 2008, the applicant was employed as a Registered Practical Nurse at a psychiatric facility in North Bay – first by the Ministry of Health, when it operated the facility, and most recently by NEMHC which took over the facility in November 2005. The applicant was represented throughout by a trade union, Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 636 (“OPSEU”).
5The Application alleges that, at some point in 2004, some of the applicant’s coworkers raised concerns with her employer about her work performance. This had an impact on the applicant’s assigned duties and on her eligibility for overtime. Consequently, the applicant filed grievances against her employer at that time, the Ministry of Health, alleging harassment and discrimination. Those grievances were settled in June 2006. There appears to be nothing in the Application connecting the alleged harassment and discrimination to the applicant’s sex or record of offences or to her association with a person based on his/her sex or record of offences or to an attempt by the applicant to enforce her rights under the Code.
6According to the applicant, NEMHC took over the facility where the applicant worked on November 21