HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Kenneth Bruce
Applicant
-and-
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, District 9, Sandra Sahli, Pat Pajot and Geoff Delaplanque
Respondents
AND B E T W E E N:
Kenneth Bruce
Applicant
-and-
Greater Essex County District School Board, Mary Gallagher, Heather Liffiton, Bob Garrett, Diane Beck and Dawn Garvey
Respondents
CASE RESOLUTION CONFERENCE Decision
Adjudicator: David Muir
Date: February 15, 2010
Citation: 2011 HRTO 316
Indexed as: Bruce v. Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, District 9
Appearances
Kenneth Burns, Applicant Graham H. Smith, Representative
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation,District 9, Sandra Sahli, Pat Pajot and Geoff Delaplanque, Respondents Simon Blackstone, Counsel
Greater Essex County District School Board, Mary Gallagher, Heather Liffiton, Bob Garrett, and Diane Beck, Respondents Suzanne M. Porter, Counsel
Dawn Garvey, Respondent Ian Werker, Counsel
1These are two Applications filed pursuant to section 53(3) of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c.H.19, as amended, (the “Code”).
2In Decision 2010 HRTO 261, a different Tribunal adjudicator dismissed the Applications on the basis that the human rights complaints (the “complaints”) underlying them were filed more than three years after the last incident complained of and they were therefore out of time pursuant to section 34 of the Code.
3The applicant filed a Request for Reconsideration of the Decision under section 45.7 which was granted in 2010 HRTO 2129 and the Applications came back on for a Case Resolution Conference (CRC) hearing before me.
4For ease of reference the respondents in T-0476-08, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, District 9 and the named individuals, will be referred to as the union respondents and the Application, the union Application. Similarly the respondents in T-0477-08, the Greater Essex County District School Board and the named individuals, will be referred to as the employer respondents and the Application, the employer Application. The respondent Dawn Garvey although named as a respondent in the employer Application, was separately represented and will be referred to by name where appropriate.
5This Decision deals with the respondents’ renewed Requests to dismiss the Applications on a preliminary basis. All of the respondents state that the Applications should be dismissed for delay. The union respondents state as well that the Application T-0476-08 should be dismissed pursuant to section 45.1 of the Code.
Background
6The complaints underlying these Applications were filed with Ontario Human Rights Commission in April 2007 and relate to events in 2003. They are identical. On what appears to be an amendment to the complaint underlying T-0476-08 the date of the last incident was changed from October 23, 2003, to March 7, 2007. There does not appear to be a corresponding amendment to the complaint underlying the Application T-0477-08.
7The substance of the two complaints can be briefly summarized as follows:
T-0476-08: The applicant a former employee of the respondent school board in T-0477-08 alleges that he was discriminated against in employment and vocational associations by the respondents, his trade union and its officials at the time, on the basis of sex, sexual solicitation and reprisal in the manner in which they represented him in response to the termination of his employment. The applicant alleges that the union colluded with the employer to terminate his employment and bury his human rights allegations. The applicant alleges that negative comments which had been made about him by the respondent Garvey and which informed his dismissal, were a reprisal for his having rebuffed the sexual advances of Garvey. The essence of the applicant’s claim is that he was treated differently in the manner in which the competing allegations of himself and a female co-worker were dealt with by the respondents.
T-0477-08 The applicant alleges that he was discriminated against in employment by the respondent employer and its employees on the basis of