The Canadian Human Rights Commission is going to hear a formal motion to stay proceedings in the ongoing Zundelsite internet case because of the recent judgment by Madame Justice Donna McGillis in Federal Court of Canada, who ordered Tribunal hearings quashed in a landmark pay-equity case involving Bell Canada versus the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Here are some excerpts of the judgment in the Bell Canada case. Everyone appearing before administrative boards is entitled to be treated fairly. It is an independent and unqualified right. . . If there has been a denial of a right to a fair hearing, it cannot be cured by the tribunal's subsequent decision. . .
Procedural fairness is an essential aspect of any hearings before a tribunal.
The damage created by apprehension of bias cannot be remedied. The proceedings before the Tribunal are quashed. There shall be no further proceedings in this matter, until the problems identified in these Reasons for Order. . . are corrected by legislative amendments to the Act. It would appear that this judgment applies to all Human Rights Tribunals, since all are selected, staffed and paid for by the same process and rules. They have done this with such commitment that they now stand or fall with it.