Federal appeal | Human Rights
Practice and procedure
Commissions, tribunals and boards of inquiry
Commission had discretion to refuse to investigate complaint
Applicant was immigration officer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Applicant alleged he was discriminated against as part of selection and hiring process for job position. Applicant sent letter to Human Rights Commission, informing it that he wanted to file complaint of discrimination against his employer. Commission decided not to rule on complaint because complaint was inadmissible under s. 41(1)(e) of Canadian Human Rights Act as complaint was filed after one-year expiration period. Applicant’s application for judicial review was dismissed. Judge concluded Commission had discretion to refuse to investigate complaint and that decision was not unreasonable. Judge found there was no breach of procedural fairness in limiting applicant to 10 pages in order to make his written submissions. Judge found that procedure established by Commission did not constitute violation of applicant’s freedom of expression. Applicant appealed. Appeal dismissed. Judge did not make any reviewable error by adopting and applying standard of reasonableness to Commission’s decision and dismissing complaint under Act, and standard of correctness on issue of procedural fairness. Even if Commission would have taken May 25, 2012 as date of last discriminatory event, filing of complain on July 9, 2013 would have nevertheless been outside permitted period. Commission did not commit any breach of procedural fairness in applying its procedure of limiting written submissions to 10 pages. Commission did not err in concluding applicant did not submit sufficient evidence to establish that his mental state prevented him from filing his complaint within prescribed time limit.
Jean Pierre c. Canada (Citoyenneté et Immigration) (2017), 2017 CarswellNat 252, 2017 CAF 26, A.F. Scott J.A., Richard Boivin J.A., and Yves de Montigny J.A. (F.C.A.); affirmed (2015), 2015 CarswellNat 10840, 2015 CarswellNat 7384, 2015 FC 1423, 2015 CF 1423, Denis Gascon J. (F.C.).
