Andrei Starostenko v. Board of Referees, 2010 HRTO 1743

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Andrei Starostenko

Applicant

-and-

Board of Referees, R. Harris, P. Velasco and J. Flnt

Respondents

DECISION

Adjudicator: Brian Cook

Date: August 24, 2010

Citation: 2010 HRTO 1743

Indexed as: Starostenko v. Board of Referees

1This is an Application filed under section 34 of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”). The applicant alleges that a decision of the Board of Referees was discriminatory. The personal respondents are the members of the Board of Referees. The Board of Referees was established to hear an appeal from a decision of the Employment Insurance Commission. The Board of Referees was established under the Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23, a law enacted by the Parliament of Canada.

2On July 26, 2010, the Tribunal issued a Notice of Intent to Dismiss. The applicant was advised that it appeared that the Application was outside the Tribunal’s jurisdiction because it related to a federal government, department or a federally regulated business or service.

3The applicant filed submissions in response to the Notice of Intent to Dismiss. He submits that the Board of Referees is not a federal department, agency or service. He bases this on the fact that the Board of Referees is intended to be independent of the government and the Employment Insurance Commission. He states that he was told this at the beginning of his hearing before the Board of Referees and has found confirmation of the independent status of the Board of Referees on various websites and in letters he received about the hearing.

4The Ontario Code does not apply to matters that are under the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada. While the Board of Referees is independent of the federal government and the Employment Insurance Commission it is nevertheless established under a law passed by the Parliament of Canada and in a matter that is under the

jurisdiction of the federal government and not the Province of Ontario. For this reason, the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with the Application and it is dismissed on that basis.