Hamilton man waiting 5 years for tribunal hearing after human rights complaint against McMaster security

When Kevin Daley filed a human rights complaint against security at McMaster University, he was ready for a fight — but he wasn't expecting it to go five years.

Despite filing the complaint about what he believes was racial profiling in 2017, Daley said he still hasn't had a hearing before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO).

Aside from a mediation and case management meeting, "we've heard nothing," he said.

Daley was a Toronto police officer at the time of a string of events in late 2017 and early 2018 that saw security pull him over, ban him from campus and notify his employer. 

In 2018, he filed a complaint to both the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) — which ruled in his favour in 2020 — and HRTO. 

Daley now fears people without knowledge of the law and legal systems may struggle to find justice due to the HRTO delays.

"People are putting their lives on hold," he said.

Tribunals Ontario, which runs the human rights tribunal along with others, has faced criticism from politicians, lawyers and public interest groups due to its backlogs. The provincial ombudsman also received 1,110 complaints about Tribunals Ontario between 2021 and 2022, an increase from 935 the previous year, according to its last annual report.

Janet Deline, spokesperson for Tribunals Ontario, told CBC Hamilton in an emailed statement HRTO "acknowledges" it has managed a "higher caseload than optimal."

It says the service standard is to resolve cases within a year-and-a-half or 18 months, but only 45 per cent of cases are resolved in that time, according to the tribunal's key performance indicators from cases between April 2022 and the end of March 2023.

In that period, there have been 2,024 hearings, most of which were done online.

Deline listed multiple factors contributing to the hearing delays.

She said some cases are waiting on a decision from another jurisdictional body, usually the Ontario Labour Board, and that sometimes the HRTO never needs to get involved depending on the decision from the other body.

She also said requests to extend or reschedule and adjourn proceedings also play a role.