HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Angela Haskins
Applicant
-and-
The Religious Hospitaliers of Hotel Dieu of St. Joseph of the Diocese of London operating as Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital and EMS-Essex Windsor
Respondents
-and-
Windsor Police Services
Intervener
A N D B E T W E E N:
Angela Haskins
Applicant
-and-
The Corporation of the City of Windsor,
Windsor Police Services and Jeffrey Dalpe
Respondents
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Eric Whist
Indexed as: Haskins v. Religious Hospitaliers of Hotel Dieu of St. Joseph
1The applicant has filed two related Applications under section 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19 (“the Code”). This Interim Decision is in relation to the Request made by EMS-Essex Windsor for an adjournment.
2The Tribunal sent the parties a “Confirmation of Hearing” Notice (the “Confirmation of Hearing”) on March 3, 2010, scheduling the hearing of the two Applications for July 20 and 21, 2010.
3In a letter dated March 15, 2010, counsel for EMS-Essex Windsor wrote to the Tribunal to request an adjournment of the hearing on the basis that EMS-Essex Windsor’s principal witness would be out of the province on the scheduled hearing dates. As of the date of this Interim Decision, the Tribunal has not received a response to this request from the applicant or any of the other parties.
4The Confirmation of Hearing states that requests for adjournments will be dealt with according to the Tribunal’s “Information Bulletin: Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests, and Requests for Adjournments”. The Information Bulletin provides that requests to reschedule must be made within five days of receiving the Confirmation of Hearing; otherwise, the Tribunal will only grant adjournments in extraordinary circumstances.
5There is an issue as to whether the request for an adjournment has been made within five days of receiving the Confirmation of Hearing. The Confirmation of Hearing is dated March 3, 2010, and the Tribunal deems that receipt of a document sent by the Tribunal takes place five days after the postmark date (Rule 1.22(a)).
6The EMS-Essex Windsor’s request dates from March 15, 2010, 12 calendar days after the March 3, 2010 date of the Confirmation of Hearing. However, the postmark date for the Confirmation of Hearing is unknown, in this case. If the postmark date is March 5, 2010, or earlier the request is beyond the five-day time limit to request rescheduling; if the postmark is March 6 or later, the request has been submitted within the expected timeframe.
7Under the circumstances, I am prepared to accept the request for rescheduling. I accept that EMS-Essex Windsor has made its request in a timely fashion once it established that its witness was not available. There is still over four months before the hearing is scheduled to take place. None of the other parties has raised any objection to the request and I can see no prejudice to the other parties in allowing this request.
Dated at Toronto, this 23rd day of March, 2010.
“Signed by”
Eric Whist
Vice-chair