Jose Moreira v. COPA Flight 28 Inc. Ontario, 2012 HRTO 1121

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Jose Moreira Applicant

-and-

COPA Flight 28 Inc. Ontario Respondents

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: David Muir Date: June 6, 2012 Citation: 2012 HRTO 1121 Indexed as: Moreira v. COPA Flight 28 Inc. Ontario

1This is an Application filed under section 34 of Part IV of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), alleging discrimination with respect to goods and services because of age. This Interim Decision deals with various issues arising in this Application.

2The applicant is learning to fly light aircraft. He states that he is 45 years old. In May 2011 he applied for a scholarship offered by the respondent to assist aspiring pilots of light aircraft. The applicant was denied the scholarship on the basis of his age, eligibility for the scholarship being restricted to persons aged 16 to 25.

3The respondent relies on section 14.1 of the Code and states that its scholarship is a special program intended to assist a disadvantaged group – young people between 16 and 25 years of age. This aspect of the Application will proceed to a one-day hearing to hear the parties’ evidence and submissions on the issue raised in the respondent’s Response – that the scholarships restriction based on age is a special program within the meaning of section 15 of the Code. The Tribunal will issue to the parties a Notice of Confirmation of Hearing confirming the hearing date and giving the parties further information with respect to the hearing process including their respective obligations to disclose documents to each other and to the Tribunal.

Other matters

4In section 9 of his Application, the applicant also states that the alleged discrimination by the respondent will affect his ability to continue his flight training because the flight school he attends shares the same airstrip as the respondent, whose members are present from time to time. On the basis of the Application it appears that these are not allegations of discrimination upon which the applicant intends to rely but rather the expression of the applicant’s concerns about how the filing of this Application might affect him in the future. The respondent has responded to these issues in its Response as if they were allegations of further discrimination. Whether or not these are matters that the applicant is relying upon as further incidents of discrimination as opposed to what they appear to be – speculation about the affect this dispute may have on his use of the airstrip in the future – should be resolved prior to the hearing. Accordingly the applicant is directed to confirm whether he is relying on any further incidents of discrimination in addition to the central issue identified above – whether the age restriction on the scholarship offered by the respondent is contrary to the Code.

Request for Production

5In his Reply (Form 3) the applicant requested documents from the respondent. Although the request was not made in the proper form, the respondent has responded to the request and opposes it on the basis that the documents sought are not relevant to the issue raised in the Application.

6The applicant seeks all “information” related to the communication by the respondent to its membership that this Application had been filed by the applicant. The applicant also seeks the production of any minutes of any meeting that took place about the applicant’s claim. The applicant made no submission with respect to the relevance of these documents, if they exist, to the central issues raised in the Application.

7I agree with the respondent that these documents are not relevant to the issues raised by this Application, which at this stage is confined to the alleged discriminatory age restrictions on the scholarship offered by the respondent.

Directions

8The Tribunal makes the following Directions:

a. Within 14 days of the date of this Interim Decision the applicant will confirm, or not, whether any of the issues he has raised in section 9 of the Application are allegations of discrimination upon which he intends to rely at the hearing. If there are further allegations of discrimination which the applicant intends to rely upon, he is directed to provide full particulars of any incidents of discrimination upon which he intends to rely.

b. The Tribunal may make further Directions upon receipt of the applicant’s materials required above.

9I am not seized of this case.