(Disponible en français)
The procedure outlined in this Practice Direction provides general information only. It is not a rule within the meaning of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO)'s Rules of Procedure. The HRTO may vary the approach to conducting a summary hearing where it considers appropriate (Rule A4.2).
Rule 19A of the HRTO's Rules of Procedure addresses summary hearings.
The summary hearing is used to determine at an early stage whether an Application should be dismissed because it has no reasonable prospect of success.
The adjudicator presiding at the summary hearing will assess:
These tests were discussed first in Dabic v. Windsor Police Service, 2010 HRTO 1994. All HRTO decisions, including Dabic and others on summary hearings, are available on the Canadian Legal Information Institute website at www.canlii.org.
The HRTO may order a summary hearing on its own initiative or may grant a respondent's Request for Summary Hearing (Form 26).
At any time after a Response (Form 2) has been filed with the HRTO, a respondent may request the Application be dismissed in whole or in part on the basis that there is no reasonable prospect that the Application will succeed. A respondent must file a complete Response (Form 2) before the HRTO will consider a Request for Summary Hearing.
To request a summary hearing, a respondent must deliver and file a Request for Summary Hearing (Form 26) providing detailed submissions about why there is no reasonable prospect that the Application, or part of the Application, will succeed. Full argument in support of the Request must be provided.
The completed Request for Summary Hearing must be delivered to the applicant and any other parties to the Application and filed with the HRTO along with a Statement of Delivery (Form 23) or confirmation of delivery to the other parties in the cover letter or e-mail to the tribunal.
Summary hearings are meant for an early determination of the issue of no reasonable prospect of success and should be requested as soon as possible. Requests for Summary Hearing filed after a hearing on the merits has been scheduled will rarely be granted.
An applicant who has received a Request for Summary Hearing (Form 26) may respond to the Request for Summary Hearing by completing a Response to a Request for Order (Form 11), delivering a copy to all parties and filing it with the HRTO, along with a Statement of Delivery (Form 23) or confirmation of delivery to the other parties in the cover letter or e-mail to the Tribunal, not later than 14 days after the Request for Summary Hearing was delivered.
In some cases, where no respondent has filed a Request for Summary Hearing, the HRTO may request submissions from the parties on whether a summary hearing should be held.
An Application that is not dismissed at an early stage as outside the HRTO’s jurisdiction will ordinarily be scheduled for a mandatory mediation. The HRTO will not typically decide whether to hold a summary hearing unless a mediation has been held and was unsuccessful in resolving the Application.
The HRTO’s decision on whether to grant the Request for Summary Hearing will be communicated by the Registrar, in writing. The HRTO generally will not provide reasons for its decision to hold or not to hold a summary hearing.
Where the HRTO decides to hold a summary hearing, a Notice of Summary Hearing will be issued by the Registrar. The Notice of Summary Hearing will include information and directions about the date and time of the hearing, the length of the hearing, the issues to be dealt with at the hearing, and any documents or other information which need to be shared with the other parties ahead of the hearing. The Notice of Summary Hearing will also provide information about the procedures that will be followed at the summary hearing.
If the applicant does not attend the summary hearing, the summary hearing may proceed in their absense, and the Application may be dismissed. If a party, other than the applicant, who received a Notice of Summary Hearing does not attend the hearing, the summary hearing may proceed in his or her absence.
The HRTO's Rules about disclosure of documents and witnesses, Rules 16 and 17, do not apply in summary hearings.
The HRTO adjudicator will consider the submissions at the summary hearing and materials in the HRTO file and issue a written decision on whether all or part of the Application has no reasonable prospect of success. If the Application is not dismissed entirely, it will proceed in the HRTO process, and the decision may set out the next steps in the process.
A copy of the decision is sent to the parties and published on the Canadian Legal Information Institute website https://www.canlii.org.