HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Tariq Iqbal
Applicant
-and-
Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario as represented by the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
Respondents
Interim decision
Adjudicator: David Muir
Indexed as: Iqbal v. Ontario (Health and Long-Term Care)
1This is an Application filed on January 2, 2009, under section 53(5) of Part VI of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”).
2This Decision deals with a request for an adjournment of the hearing scheduled to resume on November 25, 2010, in Ottawa. The hearing date was set on June 9, 2010 after consultation with the parties. The applicant states in correspondence received on November 22, 2010, that he is “unable to attend the hearing as I have to cover some hospital on-call shifts”. The applicant requests that hearing be re-scheduled until after the Christmas season. No further explanation for the adjournment request was offered.
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 Practice Direction are equally applicable to Transition Applications. The Practice Direction states the following regarding requests for adjournments:
The HRTO discourages requests for adjournments outside the fourteen-day period to request rescheduling of a hearing, described above. Requests for adjournments, particularly at the last minute, are a significant impediment to fair and timely access to justice. Therefore, the HRTO will only grant adjournments in extraordinary circumstances such as illness of a party, witness or representative. Absent exceptional circumstances, the HRTO will not grant adjournments, even when all parties consent.
Where a party seeks to adjourn a previously scheduled mediation or hearing, they must contact the Registrar as soon as the need arises. They must contact the other parties to seek their consent, and to discuss alternative dates for the rescheduling of the mediation or hearing.
The party making the request should contact the Registrar and provide the exceptional circumstances supporting the request and any alternative agreed upon dates. Where the request is on short notice, the party must contact the Registrar by email or fax, copied to the other parties.
4In his human rights complaint filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in May 2007 (the “complaint”), the applicant alleges that he was discriminated against in respect of goods and services and employment on the basis of citizenship, ethnic origin and place of origin. The applicant alleges that as international medical graduate (“IMG”) he was prevented from applying for a gastroenterology training position in order to complete the requirements for a career as a gastroenterologist. The applicant also alleges that the return of service agreement that he (as an IMG) had to enter into is discriminatory.
5The only basis for this adjournment request is that the applicant must cover some on-call shifts at the hospital. The hearing date was selected after consultation with the parties in June 2010. The request is made at the last minute with no explanation for the applicant’s suddenly being required to cover on-call duties. I am not satisfied that this circumstance is the kind of extraordinary situation contemplated by the Practice Direction.
6Accordingly, the adjournment request is denied and the hearing will proceed as scheduled on November 25, 2010.
7I am seized of this Application.
Dated at Toronto, this 23rd day of November, 2010.
“Signed by”
David Muir
Vice-chair