Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

Between:

Richard Burns Applicant

-and-

James Elvish Respondent

Decision

Adjudicator: Brian Cook Date: January 15, 2010 Citation: 2010 HRTO 74 Indexed as: Burns v. Elvish

Decision

1This Interim Decision deals with an Application under section 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the "Code") (the "section 34 Application"). The Application names James Elvish, a police officer, as a respondent.

2The applicant previously filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, and Robert Herman, Chief of Police. That complaint is the subject of an Application with the Tribunal under section 53(5) of the Code (the "transition file"), in Tribunal file TR-0130-09. That complaint concerns over thirty different incidents.

3In the section 34 Application, the applicant identifies James Elvish as an officer who was involved in one of these incidents. He advises that he has only recently discovered the name of the officer involved. He says that the incident occurred on March 17, 2008.

4Pursuant to section 53(8) of the Code, a person cannot make a new Application to the Tribunal about an allegation that is the same or substantially the same as a complaint previously filed with the Commission. The section 34 Application that names James Elvish as a respondent concerns an allegation that is the same as one of the allegations dealt with under the transition file. The only difference is that he has now discovered the name of the officer who was involved in one of the incidents.

5In these circumstances, the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with the new section 34 Application.

6It appears that the new section 34 Application is in effect an attempt to amend the transition file by adding James Elvish as a personal respondent. If the applicant wishes to do this, he should file a request with the Tribunal's Registrar-Transition, who is the person responsible for administration of all Transition applications.

7The Tribunal will send a copy of this decision to the Thunder Bay Police Association and the Thunder Bay Police Chief.

Order

8The Application is dismissed. The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with the Application filed under section 34.