HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Miguel Angel Montano Gutierrez
Applicant
-and-
Quan Lin
Respondent
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Josée Bouchard
Indexed as: Gutierrez v. Lin
APPEARANCES
Miguel Angel Montano Gutierrez, Applicant
Self-represented
introduction
1This is an Application filed on August 2, 2016, under section 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), alleging discrimination with respect to housing on the basis of race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status and receipt of public assistance.
2The Tribunal held a summary hearing on September 29, 2017 to address the issue of whether there is no reasonable prospect that the Application or part of the Application will succeed. The applicant participated but the respondent did not and did not communicate with the Tribunal about his failure to participate.
No reasonable prospect of success
3The issue before me is whether the Application should proceed or whether it should be dismissed as having no reasonable prospect of success. The Tribunal’s Practice Direction on Summary Hearings states:
A summary hearing usually considers:
whether, assuming all of the allegations are true, the Application has no reasonable prospect of success. In these cases, the focus will generally be on the legal analysis and whether what the applicant alleges may be reasonably considered to amount to a Code violation; and/or
whether there is a reasonable prospect that the applicant can prove, on a balance of probabilities, that his or her Code rights were violated by the respondent(s). The applicant has to show that he or she can make a link between the event that led to the Application and the alleged ground(s) of discrimination.
4Rule 19A.6 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure states that where the Tribunal decides not to dismiss an Application following a summary hearing, it need not give reasons.
5At the summary hearing stage, the Tribunal does not hear evidence and a finding that an Application should not be dismissed as having no reasonable prospect of success means only that the Application will continue to be processed. It is not a finding that there is a reasonable prospect of success.
6In the circumstances of this case, I will simply note that the issues raised by the applicant may only be resolved after hearing evidence in a hearing on the merits. The Tribunal’s summary hearing process is used to deal with those applications where the allegations may be legally insufficient to constitute a case to be answered. That is not the case here and a hearing on the merits must be held.
Order
7The Tribunal orders as follows:
a. The Tribunal will continue to process the Application.
b. The Tribunal will serve the Application on the respondent.
c. The respondent must file a complete Response in Form 2 no later than 35 days of this Interim Decision.
Dated at Toronto, this12th day of October, 2017.
“Signed by”
Josée Bouchard
Vice-chair