The Lynch List, 06-Apr-2011

Let’s lead you off with a whopper from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.

First: The OHRT was soooo close to shutting down a pesky charity food bank in Waterford, Ontario, if it wasn’t for a technicality. The complaint? An arthritis sufferer argued that his disability entitled him to have his free food delivered to his door. I may be overusing the word incredulous, but nothing else describes my reaction to the fact that the Tribunal even accepted this case.

Nevertheless, the food bank was called on the carpet at the OHRT. The complainant was asking for $20,000, which would surely drive the organization under and force over 100 families who depend on the food bank to go hungry. What is more, should the food bank not have the assets to cover the $20,000, the volunteer directors would have it extracted from their hide (or house). The two directors describe what is wrong with the process:

The pair said they found themselves trying to wade through a process that could have proved fatal to their organization all the while getting virtually no help from the tribunal.

The process, said Nutley, is tilted in favour of those who complain. She said “we were assumed to be guilty in the beginning . . . It’s designed for the supposed victim. It’s not designed for the victims on the other end.”

So how did they manage to squirm out of the complaint? The complainant didn’t call into the scheduled teleconference, and so the complaint was dropped.

As is the case in so many human rights complaints, our vital social fabric is being ripped apart by short-sighted autocrats. In this case, their volunteerism and charity could have cost the directors everything they had. Why would anyone volunteer their time and money when it could make them liable to accommodation complaints?

Second: Where even the OHRT refuses to tread; a woman was fired when she revealed that she was pregnant. But, since she works for a foreign diplomat, the Human Rights Act doesn’t apply. Does that make the employees of foreign missions sub-human?

Third: The CHRC’s annual report has just been issued. No doubt a fascinating read.