Sara Badawi

The appellant, an ODSP recipient with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), appealed a decision of the Social Benefits Tribunal denying her a special diet allowance.

The Tribunal had found that while ARFID required dietary modifications, the appellant failed to prove it resulted in additional food costs compared to a regular healthy diet.

On appeal to the Divisional Court, the appellant raised numerous procedural, substantive, and constitutional issues, including challenges to the Tribunal's rules and the introduction of new evidence.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, finding no errors of law or procedural fairness in the Tribunal's decisions, and declined to hear constitutional arguments raised for the first time on appeal without proper notice.

The self-represented applicant brought an application for judicial review of two decisions made by Superior Court judges.

The Divisional Court issued a notice under Rule 2.1.01 indicating the application appeared to be an abuse of process because the court lacks jurisdiction to judicially review decisions of Superior Court judges.

The applicant argued that her Charter claims superseded statutory jurisdictional limits.

The court rejected this argument, holding that the Charter does not expand the statutory limits of the Divisional Court's jurisdiction under the Judicial Review Procedure Act.

The application was dismissed as an abuse of process.