HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Nicole Hoffman
Applicant
-and-
City of Toronto, Michael O’Hara and Nick Van Veen
Respondents
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Geneviève Debané
Date: November 6, 2015
Citation: 2015 HRTO 1498
Indexed as: Hoffman v. Toronto (City)
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS
Nicole Hoffman, Applicant Self-represented
City of Toronto, Michael O’Hara and Nick Van Veen, Respondents Justin Basinger, Counsel
1The purpose of this Interim Decision is to address the applicant’s Request for an Order During Proceedings to anonymize her name. The respondents oppose this Request.
2It is a well-established principle that there is a public interest in transparent legal processes and that, in accordance with section 9 of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.22, and Rule 3.10 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure, human rights hearings are intended to be open proceedings. The Tribunal’s jurisprudence has held that anonymity or publication bans should be limited to exceptional circumstances: Marakkaparambil v. Ontario (Health and Long-Term Care), 2007 HRTO 24; Lazarevic v. York University, 2010 HRTO 1601.
3Human rights applications often include personal information and sensitive medical evidence is often admitted at Tribunal hearings. Before it will grant a request to anonymize a proceeding, the Tribunal must be satisfied that the interest of safeguarding personal privacy in a particular case outweigh the public interest in a transparent human rights process.
4In this case the only basis for the applicant’s Request is that she is concerned that the publication of this matter will impact her professional career and that her private affairs should remain private. These are not exceptional reasons which would warrant the anonymization of the applicant’s name. As such her Request is denied.
Correction
5The parties on consent agree that Interim Decision 2015 HRTO 1266 contains a reference to the applicant’s termination from employment, which is in error because the applicant has not been terminated from employment. Therefore paragraph 8 of the Interim Decision shall be amended to remove the words “including the reasons for the applicant’s termination from employment”. I apologize to the parties for having made this error.
Dated at Toronto, this 6th day of November, 2015.
“Signed by”
Geneviève Debané
Vice-chair