Court of Appeal for Ontario

CITATION: Almeida (Re), 2016 ONCA 994

DATE: 20161229

DOCKET: C61860

Jurisansz, Watt and Roberts JJ.A.

IN THE MATTER OF: Stanley Almeida

AN APPEAL UNDER PART XX.1 OF THE CODE

Counsel: Stanley Almeida, appearing in person Howard Krongold, amicus curiae Andrea Baiasu, for the Attorney General of Ontario Barbara Walker-Renshaw, for Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

Heard: December 19, 2016

On appeal against the disposition of the Ontario Review Board dated October 9, 2015 and Charter ruling dated February 26, 2016.

APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT

[1] The appellant abandons his appeal of the disposition of the ORB and proceeds only with the appeal of the ORB’s dismissal of his Charter application. Furthermore, he does not want the court to deal with any additional issues raised by amicus.

[2] The appellant states he was promised a full day for the hearing of his Charter application and spent a lot of time and money preparing for it. He complains that his Charter application was summarily dismissed. The ORB dismissed the Charter application on three grounds: 1) the subject-matter of his Charter application had been dealt with at a previous sitting of the board, and was thus res judicata; 2) no Charter breach was established; and 3) the ORB had no jurisdiction to award the monetary remedy the appellant sought.

[3] We find it necessary to deal with only the third ground on which the ORB dismissed his Charter application – that of the ORB’s jurisdiction to grant the remedy sought.

[4] The appellant’s Charter application does not relate to the exercise of the ORB’s jurisdiction to decide the appropriate disposition under s. 672.54. In his Charter application, the appellant seeks to have the ORB recommend that the Justice Minister award him damages in the amount of $35 million. This court, in Re Starz, 2015 ONCA 318, has decided that the ORB cannot grant a remedy in damages. The appellant asks that we overrule Re Starz. We are not persuaded to do so. The ORB has no more power to recommend damages that it does to award them. The ORB correctly decided it had no jurisdiction to award the remedy the appellant sought in his Charter application.

[5] The appeal is dismissed.