Mississauga student accuses human rights legal centre of discriminating against him

A Mississauga student who claims a Toronto college refused to provide accommodations for his learning disability says he is experiencing discrimination from the very organization tasked with helping people with human rights complaints.

Jake, now 21 years old, filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario back in November 2021 against Humber College.

He claims the school failed to provide accommodations necessary for him to succeed in a learning environment and retaliated against him when he complained by locking him out of the online course management system.

CityNews is not using Jake’s last name to protect his identity.

Humber College has denied these claims and in a copy of the college’s response to that human rights complaint obtained by CityNews that “the allegation that the College intentionally orchestrated tech issues in order to punish and harass the Applicant for raising concerns about his accommodations is baseless.”

Jake said after he filed the complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, he tried to access a pro-bono lawyer through the Human Rights Legal Service Centre, which offers legal advice and support services but said he was denied a lawyer, accused of not cooperating and unwilling to follow the process.

“I have a disability. I can’t summarize things. I could use my text-to-speech, but I should not be penalized by not sending things. And that’s discrimination,” said Jake.

The Human Rights Legal Support Centre tells CityNews they received Jake’s inquiry and referred him to a legal interview with a member of their staff. The centre said they then requested he provide relevant legal documents in advance of his interview that were necessary “in order for the HRLSC to provide effective, timely and in-depth legal assistance.”

The HRLSC said Jake did not provide the documents and that the centre is waiting on them so that a new interview date can be booked.

Despite CityNews following up, the centre did not specify which documents were needed and whether it was the summary that Jake’s learning disability prevents him from completing.

“[If I had] one word to describe it, a living nightmare. The process should be fair. You’re going to a tribunal, so it should be fair and neutral to every party,” said Jake.

Because of this, Jake’s hearing in front of the Human Rights Tribunal has yet to be scheduled over a year and a half after he submitted his complaint.

“I don’t know when my hearing is because I’ve asked for representation. I feel like I have a right to have representation from the Human Rights Legal Support Centre.”

Jake has written to the tribunal about this but has heard “crickets in response.”

“They’ve served Humber College with the application, but I need representation. This is an ongoing case. I can’t go up against the big institution.”

He expected a stronger response from the tribunal that investigates human rights violations.

“They’re supposed to be there to help you, these organizations. You’re the victim.”

“I would expect this to be dealt with. Go to the tribunal, have representation and put this behind me. But instead, I'[m] … still dealing with this, dealing with the stress, still dealing with the hostility, communicating with them and it is going nowhere,” Jake added.

The tribunal tells CityNews Jake’s application was deemed incomplete after it was first received and it notified the applicant. Once it was completed, the application was served to Humber College and a response was received on May 1, 2023 which was then shared with Jake on July 7, 2023.

“The HRTO did not receive a Form 3: Applicant’s Reply to a Response by the deadline of July 28, 2023. The file is currently under review with an adjudicator for next steps,” said the tribunal in a statement.

They also added they provide accommodation for people who have needs related to any of the grounds listen in the Human Rights Code so they can fully participate in the tribunal process. The participant can request this accommodation by submitting an Accommodation Request Form.

“The HRTO acknowledges that over the past few years they have been managing a higher caseload than optimal, which has an impact on those who access our services,” continued the statement.

The tribunal also noted their service standard to resolve cases is 18 months.

“While there are files outside our 18-month lifecycle, the HRTO has undertaken a number of initiatives and made great strides to modernize its operations to address these challenges and reduce its overall caseload. With these ongoing process improvements, we are confident we will continue to reduce our active caseload and continue to provide accessible and timely access to justice for all Ontarians.”

Alison Brindle, the Executive Director of the Centre for Diverse Learners and Diverse Learners Ontario, has been working as Jake’s advocate. She doesn’t understand why he has not been provided with legal support.

“We haven’t even got to the merits of the case yet. That is still to be determined. But the fact that he is not able to even move forward through the process because of the disability is wrong,” said Brindle.

“Here we are, an institution that’s supposed to hold up the rights of [those with] disabilities, saying because you can’t fit into our expectations caused by your disability, we will not be able to service you,” added Brindle. “I think that this is way bigger than Jake.”

Brindle tells CityNews one of the fundamental barriers that neurodiverse individuals face at institutions is that their disability is invisible.

“There’s a lack of understanding of what neurodiversity means, what support is required because they don’t have a physical disability. [They’re] assumed to be lazy, don’t care, when they’re struggling at school. Nothing [further] from the truth. Our kids are bright, but they need support, and they are entitled to that support under human rights.”

Jake also reached out to The Canadian Human Rights Commission to see if they would hear his case, but they said they cannot offer any assistance.

“The Commission is an independent organization and does not oversee the work of the provincial human rights commission or any provincial agencies,” read their note to him.