A. Lyon

The respondents in a human rights complaint brought preliminary applications seeking a summons to compel a Commission investigator to produce the intake questionnaire and investigation analysis, and an order requiring the Commission to reveal the names of two potential witnesses.

The Board of Inquiry dismissed the applications, finding that the Statutory Powers Procedure Act does not provide for pre-hearing discovery of documents.

The Board held that the Commission had satisfied its obligation to provide reasonable information about the allegations, and that the requested documents and witness names were protected by privilege as materials prepared in contemplation of litigation.

The complainant, a single mother of three children, was denied a two-bedroom apartment by the respondent landlords.

The landlords' policy permitted a family of four consisting of two adults and two children to rent a two-bedroom unit, but required a family of four consisting of one adult and three children to rent a three-bedroom unit.

The Board of Inquiry found that this policy constituted discrimination on the basis of family status contrary to section 2(1) of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

The respondents were ordered to repay the complainant's deposit and to cease and desist from discriminating between two-parent and single-parent families in the granting of accommodation.