termination of services due to the applicant’s disability. With the exception of the latter,
the Tribunal dismissed all these allegations, finding that:
The Code is not a mechanism to challenge, in general, the quality of
health care that a person has received or a disagreement over the nature
or extent of the care that was provided. ... there must be something more
than an assertion that the applicant’s particular disability was not dealt
with properly in a particular case to establish discrimination, such as
systemic problems, policies, or considerations unrelated to the
implementation of the program that differentiate based on Code
grounds.^68Another example is K.M. v. North Simcoe Muskoka Community Care Access Centre. In
that case the applicant alleged, inter alia, that the CCAC discriminated against her by
denying her speech therapy services. She alleged that the CCAC’s assessment found
that she required augmentative communication therapy rather than speech and
language therapy because the CCAC did not believe she would gain anything from the
speech and language service due to the severity of her autism. The basis for the
applicant’s claim was that the CCAC undervalued her as a person with autism. The
Tribunal accepted this characterization as an allegation of discrimination, which the
Tribunal had jurisdiction to adjudicate. The Tribunal noted that had the applicant
alleged that the CCAC’s assessment was wrong, this would not have been an
appropriate basis for a human rights claim, but could have been heard by the Health
Services Appeal and Review Board.^69
Counsel must ensure that human rights applications frame the events as allegations of
discrimination, not as complaints about improper or poor quality services. On this point,
particular attention should be paid to cases involving government funded benefit
programs, services and supports. See section “VI. What Discrimination Does the Code
Prohibit?” below, for a more detailed discussion of what constitutes discrimination under
the Code.
(^68) Barber v. South East Community Care Access Centre, 2013 HRTO 60 (CanLII) at para 26; on this point
see also 69 Zakiv. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2011 HRTO 1797 (CanLII).
K.M. v. North Simcoe Muskoka Community Care Access Centre, 2011 HRTO 175 at paras 25, 26, 30.