HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Nina Soroush
Applicant
-and-
Ja’fari Islamic Housing
Respondent
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Douglas Sanderson
Indexed as: Soroush v. Ja’fari Islamic Housing
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS
Nina Souroush, Applicant
Self-represented
Ja’fari Islamic Housing, Respondent
Iain Donnell, Counsel
1This is an Application filed under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”) alleging discrimination with respect to occupancy of accommodation because of ancestry, creed and family status.
2The respondent filed a Response to the Application on March 30, 2015. Following an extension request from the applicant, the Tribunal extended the deadline to file a Reply (Form 3) to May 20, 2015. The applicant filed a document that appears to reply to the Response on May 22, 2015, but did not file a completed Form 3. The Tribunal sent a Notice of Hearing, dated June 12, 2015, to the parties setting the matter down for hearing and advising the parties of the deadlines for pre-hearing disclosure, pursuant to the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure. Amongst, other things the Notice of Hearing advised the parties that, pursuant to Rule 16.1, they must disclose all documents in their possession that may be relevant to the proceeding by July 3, 2015. The respondent confirmed that it complied with this obligation on June 24, 2015. As of the date of this Interim Decision, the applicant has no complied with Rule 16.1.
3The respondent filed a Request for an Order During Proceedings on July 27, 2015 seeking an order requiring the applicant to comply with Rule 16.1 and requiring her to file a Reply (Form 3). The applicant did not file a response to the request and the time for doing so has passed.
Analysis and Decision
4An applicant need not file a Reply for his or her Application to proceed, but it appears the applicant did file materials intended to reply to issues raised in the respondent’s Response. In any event, the deadline for filing a Reply has long since passed. In these circumstances, it is not appropriate to order the applicant to file a Reply, but she should clarify that the materials she filed on May 22, 2015 are in reply to the Response.
5The Tribunal has no record indicating that the applicant has complied with her obligation to disclose arguably relevant documents in her possession, as is required by Rule 16.1. Accordingly, it is appropriate to order her to do so.
Order
6The Tribunal orders as follows:
Within 14 days of the date of this Interim Decision, the applicant shall confirm in writing that the materials she filed on May 22, 2015 are intended to be her Reply; and,
Within 14 days of the date of this Interim Decision, the applicant shall comply with her obligations under Rule 16.1 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure.
The Tribunal may dismiss the Application as abandoned if the applicant does not comply with the orders set out above by the specified deadline.
7I am not seized.
Dated at Toronto, this 26th day of August, 2015.
“Signed by”
Douglas Sanderson
Vice-chair