“Services” has been found to include education services.^62 This includes primary and
secondary education services, as well as post-secondary education services including
those provided by universities, colleges, vocational schools, and other educational
institutions. For a detailed discussion of the application of human rights law in the
context of education services, please see the chapter on Disability and Public Education
in Ontario in this Disability Law Primer as well as the Ontario Human Rights
Commission’s Guidelines on accessible education.^63
The Tribunal has found that statutory decision-making processes, such as
administrative tribunal proceedings and decision processes of government actors, are
“services” for the purposes of the Code. However, the content, reasons and result
contained in the decision of a statutory decision-maker is not part of the service, and
consequently, is not subject to human rights review. However, the manner in which the
decision is made may be found to be discriminatory.^64
Picketing by unionized workers has been found to fall outside the scope of “services”.
Kacan v. Ontario Public Service Employees Union involved a legal strike by support
workers who worked in group homes in which two applicants with intellectual disabilities
resided. The applicants alleged that during the strike the support workers engaged in
discriminatory picketing of the group homes. The Tribunal found that picketing does not
fall within the social area of “services”, and the Code was not intended to regulate this
type of conduct. The Tribunal reasoned that when picketing and on strike, the union
members were not acting as service providers, rather they had expressly withdrawn
their services. Although they could act to affect the applicants’ services and living
requirements, this was not sufficient to engage the Code.^65
(^62) See, for example: Moore v. British Columbia (Education), 2012 SCC 61 [Moore]; Peel Board of
Education v. Ontario (Human Rights Commission) 63 (1990), 12 C.H.R.R. D/91 (ONSC).
64 Guidelines on accessible education, supra note 12.^
65 Zaki v. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2009 HRTO 1595 (CanLII).^
Kacan v. Ontario Public Service Employees Union, 2012 HRTO 1388 (CanLII). See paras. 23-34 of
Kacan for an analysis of “services”.