Drenic v. The Governing Council of the Salvation Army in Canada, 2010 HRTO 514

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Ignacio Drenic Applicant

-and-

The Governing Council of the Salvation Army in Canada Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Ken Bhattacharjee Date: March 8, 2010 Citation: 2010 HRTO 514 Indexed as: Drenic v. Governing Council of the Salvation Army

APPEARANCES BY

Ignacio Drenic, Applicant ) No one appearing The Governing Council of the Salvation Army in Canada, Respondent ) Blair McCreadie, Andy Pushalik and Christine LeBlanc, Counsel

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 September 17, 2008.

2The Tribunal sent the parties a Confirmation of Hearing notice on November 3, 2009. The notice informed them that the Tribunal had scheduled a hearing of the Application on March 8, 2010 at 655 Bay Street, 14th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, commencing at 9:30 AM. On the date of the hearing, I waited for a half-hour for the applicant to appear and then dismissed the Application with written reasons to follow. The following are my reasons.

3The Tribunal issued a Case Assessment Direction dated March 5, 2010, which denied the applicant's Request to adjourn the hearing.

4The respondent attended the hearing at the date, time and place that was set out in the Confirmation of Hearing notice, but the applicant did not appear.

5I commenced the hearing at 10:00 AM and invited submissions from the respondent's counsel on how to proceed in light of the applicant's failure to appear at the hearing.

6The respondent's counsel requested that the Tribunal dismiss the Application on the basis that the applicant received notice of the hearing, but failed to attend. He also requested that the Tribunal dismiss the Application as an abuse of process because the applicant repeatedly breached the terms of his written undertaking to the Tribunal dated October 16, 2009 to treat the Tribunal's staff, adjudicators and the other parties in the proceeding with respect and courtesy, and not to use any offensive, abusive, profane, lewd or threatening language.

7I am satisfied that the applicant was aware that the hearing was scheduled for March 8, 2010, but decided not to attend.

8The applicant commenced a legal proceeding when he filed his Application with the Tribunal. 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.

9In the absence of the applicant and any explanation for his non-attendance, the Application is dismissed as abandoned. In view of my Decision, it is not necessary to decide whether the Application also should be dismissed because of an abuse of process by the applicant.