Perry v. Muir’s Cartage Limited, 2012 HRTO 739

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Winston Perry

Applicant

-and-

Muir’s Cartage Limited, Doug Blain, Ed Harrington and Victor Penney

Respondents

DECISION

Adjudicator: Jay Sengupta

Date: April 13, 2012

Citation: 2012 HRTO 739

Indexed as: Perry v. Muir’s Cartage Limited

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 in respect of employment on the basis of ancestry, colour, creed, ethnic origin, place of origin and race.

2The respondents deny discrimination and seek dismissal of the Application on the basis that it is not within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.

3The respondents argue that the organizational respondent, Muir’s Cartage Limited is a division of Indis Inc., a transportation company governed under federal jurisdiction. The respondent company is engaged in the business of inter-provincial trucking, picking up product from multiple vendors, consolidating that product in warehouses located in Ontario and Quebec and then distributing the product to locations throughout Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

4The respondents also point to the fact that the parent company, Indis Inc. is registered under the International Fuel Tax Agreement, a benefit only available to companies that operate inter-provincially and between Canada and the United States.

5The applicant was provided a copy of the respondents’ submissions and directed to file a Form 11 addressing the respondent’s request to dismiss the Application no later than March 27, 2012. The applicant has not filed any submissions and the deadline for doing so has now passed.

6Under Rule 13.1 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure, the Tribunal may dismiss an Application that is outside its jurisdiction. Pursuant to subsectoion 92(10)(a) of the Constitution Act, 1867, transportation works and undertakings that extend beyond the limits of the province are within federal jurisdiction.

7Based on the respondents’ submissions that the organizational respondent is engaged in transportation extending beyond Ontario, I am satisfied that the organizational respondent is federally regulated and that the Application is, therefore, not within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. See Soler v. Luckhart Transport, 2009 HRTO 1486 and Digby v. Trans-Provincial Freight Carriers 2010 HRTO 1354.

8Accordingly, the Application is dismissed.