HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
François Zamor
Applicant
-and-
3016776 Canada Inc. o/a CILFO and Bill Kwong
Respondents
Interim DECISION
Adjudicator: David Muir
Indexed as: Zamor v. 3016776 Canada
1This is an Application filed pursuant to section 53(5) of Part VI of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”). This Interim Decision deals with an adjournment request made by the respondents. The hearing is scheduled to begin on July 19, 2010 in Ottawa.
2The date for the commencement of the hearing was set after consultation with the parties on April 13, 2010. The respondents made their request on June 25, 2010. The respondents state that the adjournment is necessary because several witnesses necessary to the hearing are not available to attend the July 19, 2010 hearing due to family obligations, summer vacations and work commitments. These witnesses will be available to attend a one day hearing in Fall 2010. The witnesses are not identified. The applicant does not consent to the adjournment.
3While the Tribunal’s Practice Direction on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests and Requests for Adjournments does not specifically apply to Transition Applications, nonetheless the principles set out in this Information Bulletin are equally applicable to Transition Applications.
4The Tribunal’s Practice Direction provides that requests to reschedule must be made within ten days of receiving the Confirmation of Hearing and that thereafter, adjournments will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances. The Practice Direction states the following regarding requests for adjournments:
Requests for adjournment, particularly last minute requests for adjournments are a significant impediment to fair and timely access to justice.
The Tribunal’s approach to scheduling and rescheduling mediations and hearings is designed to give the parties a fair opportunity to find suitable dates. Therefore, the Tribunal discourages adjournment requests, and will only grant adjournments in extraordinary circumstances such as illness of a party, witness or representative.
5The reasons for the Request do not constitute exceptional circumstances that would permit an adjournment. The date for this hearing was set after consultation with the parties and the respondents have known since April 13, 2010 that this date was fixed. As indicated above the adjournment Request was first made on June 25, 2010.
ORDER
6The adjournment request is dismissed.
Dated at Toronto, this 16th day of July, 2010.
“Signed by”
David Muir
Vice-chair