Dawit Tuquabo v. University of Ottawa and John Basso, 2010 HRTO 477

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Dawit Tuquabo

Applicant

-and-

University of Ottawa and John Basso

Respondents

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Ken Bhattacharjee

Date: March 3, 2010

Citation: 2010 HRTO 477

Indexed as: Tuquabo v. University of Ottawa

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS BY

Dawit Tuquabo, Applicant ) On his own behalf

Reasons for Decision

1The applicant filed an Application under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), on June 29, 2009, which alleges that the organizational respondent (University of Ottawa) and 12 individual respondents (Alain Roussy, Allan Rock, Robert Major, André E. Lalonde, Leonard Kleine, Tina Michaud-Barnes, John Basso, Gabriel Guillet, John E. Baenziger, Alvin Chan, Ilona S. Skerjanc, and Kathy-Sarah Focsaneanu) discriminated against him with respect to services, goods and facilities because of his race, colour and place of origin.

2In his Application, the applicant, who is or was a student at the University of Ottawa, alleges that the respondents treated him unfairly with respect to academic matters. The Application contains general statements about “overt systemic academic apartheid”, “equality under the code”, and “overt & subtle discrimination”, but with the exception of one allegation of discrimination against Mr. Basso, does not explain how 11 of the 12 individual respondents discriminated against him because of Code-related grounds.

3On January 14, 2010, the Tribunal’s Registrar issued the applicant a Notice of Intent to Dismiss Against Certain Respondents, which informed the applicant that the Application appears to be outside of the Tribunal’s jurisdiction against certain of the named respondents (all the individual respondents except for Mr. Basso) because the Application and the narrative setting out the incidents of alleged discrimination fail to identify any specific acts of discrimination committed by those individuals. The Tribunal invited the applicant to provide written submissions to explain how each individual respondent (with the exception of Mr. Basso) is alleged to have breached the Code.

4The applicant filed written submissions on or about February 1, 2010, which state that the respondents are “employees of one human race and employer (University of Ottawa),” and that the Tribunal should read his documents to find the allegations of discrimination, specifically, page 8, which cites Part I of the Code.

5An Application will only be dismissed at a preliminary stage if it is “plain and obvious” on the face of the Application that it does not fall within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction: Masood v. Bruce Power, 2008 HRTO 381, Morin c. Alliance de la function publique du Canada, 2008 HRTO 58, and Hotte v. Ontario (Finance), 2008 HRTO 63.

6In my view, it is plain and obvious on the face of the Application that the allegations as against all the individual respondents, with the exception of Mr. Basso, do not fall within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, the applicant’s written submissions fail to explain how each of them is alleged to have breached the Code. The Tribunal therefore orders that they be removed as respondents to the Application. The style of cause shall be amended accordingly.

7I am not seized of this matter.