Richard Toderan v. Toronto Public Library – Toronto Reference Library, 2012 HRTO 1700

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Richard Toderan

Applicant

-and-

Toronto Public Library – Toronto Reference Library

Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Ken Bhattacharjee

Date: September 10, 2012

Citation: 2012 HRTO 1700

Indexed as: Toderan v. Toronto Public Library

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

Richard Toderan, Applicant ) Self-represented

1The purpose of this Decision is to decide if the Application should be dismissed at a preliminary stage on the basis that it does not fall within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.

2On June 19, 2012, the applicant filed an Application under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), which alleged that the respondent subjected him to reprisals for claiming and enforcing his rights under the Code with respect to services. Specifically, he alleged that on April 4, 2012, the respondent warned him that he may be excluded from the library if he continued to mutter negative and derogatory comments to the library’s security guards, and on April 11, 2012, the respondent excluded him from the library for two months for allegedly making a rude gesture at the security guards. He stated that he believed that the exclusion was a reprisal for a written complaint that he had made to the respondent about a security guard on March 10, 2008. He attached a copy of the complaint, which alleged that a security guard had harassed him because he was sitting in a chair in the library with his eyes closed.

3The Tribunal’s Registrar issued the applicant a Notice of Intent to Dismiss, which informed the applicant that the Application appears to be outside of the Tribunal’s jurisdiction because it does not allege that the respondent’s behaviour was related to the definition of reprisal in the Code. The Tribunal invited the applicant to provide written submissions to explain why the Application is within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.

4On August 3, 2012, the applicant filed written submissions, which stated:

My right to enjoy the Toronto Reference Library (social-ground) without subtle forms of harassment from library security, direct or indirect, through the agents of the library was abused when [the Department Head] gave me the warning letter and the exclusion letter on behalf of Library security.

The Tribunal has the power to ensure this specific abuse of the code is punished and corrected so it doesn’t happen to library customers again.

5Section 8 of the Code states:

Every person has a right to claim and enforce his or her rights under this Act, to institute and participate in proceedings under this Act and to refuse to infringe a right of another person under this Act, without reprisal or threat of reprisal for so doing.

6The applicant has not alleged any facts which would come within the scope of section 8 of the Code. Although the applicant generally alleged that he claimed and enforced his rights under the Code, his Application, his 2008 written complaint to the respondent, and his written submissions do not set out any factual allegation that the security guard harassed him on March 10, 2008 because of his race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, or disability. The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction over every dispute between a member of the public and a service provider; it only has jurisdiction where there are factual allegations that the Code was violated.

7The Application is dismissed.