Ross Haines v. The Royal Canadian Legion, Battlefield Branch, 2014 HRTO 584

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Ross Haines

Applicant

-and-

The Royal Canadian Legion, Battlefield Branch

Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Brian Cook

Date: April 25, 2014

Citation: 2014 HRTO 584

Indexed as: Haines v. The Royal Canadian Legion, Battlefield Branch

1This Application alleges discrimination with respect to employment.

2The applicant states that he was elected to the respondent’s Executive Committee and that he was unjustly removed from that position through an unfair process.

3After reviewing the Application, it was not clear to the Tribunal that there were any allegations that the Tribunal would have jurisdiction to deal with. The Tribunal sent the applicant a Notice of Intent to Dismiss and the applicant has now made submissions on whether the Tribunal has jurisdiction to deal with his complaints about the respondent.

4The Human Rights Code of Ontario does not cover all situations where a person feels that he has been treated wrongly. It deals only with the situations that are set out in the Code, for example, race, colour, disability, gender, family status, age, etc.

5The only ground of alleged discrimination indicated in the Application is “reprisal or threat of reprisal”. This ground is a reference to section 8 of the Code, which provides:

8. 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.

6There is no suggestion in the Application that any of the alleged events were related to any previous claim or enforcement of the applicant's Code-protected rights and so it appears that section 8 does not apply. There is also no indication that any of the other grounds of discrimination specified in the Code were involved in the events described by the applicant.

7It is clear that the applicant believes that he was treated unfairly by the respondent. However, the Code does not apply to all circumstances where a person feels he has not been treated fairly. In this case, it does not appear that the applicant's allegations involve any of the grounds set out in the Code. As such, the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with the applicant’s allegations. The Application is dismissed on that basis.