HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Allan Crow
Applicant
-and-
Keewatin-Patricia District School Board
Respondent
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Ena Chadha
Indexed as: Crow v. Keewatin-Patricia District School Board
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS
Allan Crow, Applicant
Self-represented
Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, Respondent
Derek T. Noyes, Counsel
1A hearing in this Application is scheduled to commence on October 2, 2012 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
2An unsuccessful mediation took place in this matter in Thunder Bay on October 14, 2011.
3The Tribunal issued its Notice of Confirmation of Hearing (“Notice”) on February 15, 2012. The Notice directed the parties’ attention to the Tribunal’s website (www.hrto.ca) for the purposes of reviewing the Tribunal’s Rules, Guides, Policies and Practice Directions. The Notice stated that if any party is unable to attend the hearing then arrangements must be made quickly to seek a request for rescheduling.
4On May 3, 2012, the applicant emailed the Tribunal and stated that he had requested to the mediator that the hearing be held to Kenora; however, given that the hearing was scheduled for Thunder Bay, “it seems that my voice is not as strong as the respondents”.
5On May 11, 2012, the respondent filed submissions opposing the applicant’s request that the hearing be held in Kenora.
6As explained in the Tribunal’s “Practice Direction on Hearings in Regional Centres”, the Tribunal schedules hearings in the following regional centres: Toronto; Kingston; London; North Bay; Ottawa; Sarnia; Sault Ste. Marie; St. Catharines; Sudbury; Timmins; Thunder Bay; and Windsor.
7The Tribunal may hold hearings in locations other than the ones listed above in order to accommodate Code-related needs or other needs of the parties or their witnesses. The Tribunal’s Practice Direction notes that requests for a change in location should be made in writing to the Registrar as soon as possible.
8The Tribunal has a standard approach of convening hearings in the closest regional centre to the location of the alleged discrimination.
9The alleged discrimination in this matter occurred in Kenora. Thunder Bay is the closest regional centre of the Tribunal to Kenora.
10The respondent in the instant case does not consent to a change of venue.
11The applicant did not provide any reason for his request.
12Based on earlier correspondence in the file from the applicant, it appears the applicant may be requesting a change of venue because of financial reasons. In an email to the Tribunal dated July 26, 2011, the applicant requested that if any further mediations needed to be scheduled he requested that these take place in Keonra because of his limited funds and the expense of travel and accommodation.
13The applicant has not suggested that he requires accommodation because of a Code-related need. Without any further clarification or information, the Tribunal is unable to find that the applicant’s financial circumstances give rise to a “other need” as stated in the Tribunal’s Practice Direction.
14Financial considerations are a common factor to all parties before the Tribunal and, as such, the Tribunal cannot grant requests for change of venue outside the Tribunal’s regional centres without valid reasons, particularly where one party opposes the change in location. The Tribunal will not generally consider changing the location of a hearing simply because of the financial costs associated with travel to the hearing venue.
15Requests for change of venue must be balanced along with the Tribunal’s commitment to a fair, open, accessible, just and expeditious process. As stated in Vallentyne v. Royal Canadian Legion, 2009 HRTO 660 at para. 4, “[t]he Tribunal has a responsibility to ensure that public resources are used effectively to meet the demands of all parties before the Tribunal.”
16The request to hold the hearing in Kenora is denied on the basis that the applicant has not established that he has a Code-related need for the hearing to take place in Kenora, nor indicated why he would not be unable to attend the hearing in a regional centre venue in Thunder Bay.
17I am not seized of this matter.
Dated at Toronto, this 5th day of June, 2012.
“signed by”
Ena Chadha
Vice-chair