Christine Alexander v. Monterey Park Inc., 2010 HRTO 1320

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Christine Alexander

Applicant

-and-

Monterey Park Inc.

Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Mark Hart

Date: June 10, 2010

Citation: 2010 HRTO 1320

Indexed as: Alexander v. Monterey Park

APPEARANCES BY

Christine Alexander, Applicant ) Not appearing

Monterey Park Inc., Respondent ) Morris Glina, ) Representative

Reasons for Decision

1This is an Application filed June 26, 2009 under section 53(5) of Part VI of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the "Code"). The underlying complaint was filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on November 27, 2007.

2On February 3, 2010, the Tribunal sent a notice to the parties confirming that the hearing in this matter was scheduled to proceed on June 9, 2010.

3The notice of hearing was sent to the applicant at the address that had been provided in her Application, consistent with other notices from the Tribunal that the applicant had received and responded to. In particular, the notice of hearing set certain deadlines for disclosure and filing of materials, and the applicant wrote to the Tribunal to request an extension to file materials which was granted. Accordingly, I am satisfied that the notice of hearing was received by the applicant.

4On June 9, 2010, I appeared at the hearing at 9:30 a.m. and the respondent's representative was in attendance and ready to proceed with the hearing. The applicant did not appear. I stood the matter down until 10:00 a.m., and contacted the Tribunal's offices to see if any correspondence or other communication had been received from the applicant, and was told that no such correspondence or communication had been received.

5As I expected that the applicant may be relying upon Wheel-Trans to travel to the hearing and as it was raining on the day of the hearing which may have been a source of delay, I stood the matter down for a further half hour to 10:30 a.m. When the applicant still had not appeared by 10:30 a.m., I advised the respondent that, in the absence of the applicant notifying the Tribunal of some exceptional circumstances that caused her to fail to appear, it was my intention to dismiss the Application.

6A Tribunal application is a legal proceeding commenced by the applicant. It is the applicant's responsibility to attend the hearing and provide evidence in support of the allegations raised in the Application. In the absence of such evidence, the Tribunal is unable to proceed with the Application and there is no onus or responsibility on the respondent to provide evidence in response to allegations where the applicant has failed to appear at the hearing and no evidence has been provided by the applicant in support of her allegations.

7In the absence of any correspondence or communication from the applicant to explain her failure to appear at the hearing and as a result of her failure to appear and provide any evidence in support of her allegations, the Application is dismissed.