Bell Canada v. Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada
T-1414-96 / T-1985-96 / T-2722-96
Richard J.
21/2/97
18 pp.
Application for interim order under Federal Court Act, s. 18.2 staying further proceedings by Canadian Human Rights Tribunal pending final disposition of Bell Canada's judicial review applications in Court Files Nos. T-1414-96, T-198596 and T-2722-96-Canadian Telephone Employees Association (CTEA) filing five pay equity complaints with Commission-Final report of Joint Committee finding substantial wage gap between male, female employees at Bell Canada-CHRC requesting president to name Tribunal to inquire into complaints brought by respondents against Bell Canada alleging violations of CHRA, s. 11 by paying wages which discriminated on basis of sex-President naming Tribunal to hear complaints against Bell Canada on August 7, 1996-Tribunal intending to proceed with complaints referred to it by Commission regardless of Bell Canada's judicial review application-Application for stay brought in each judicial review application-Whether stay of proceedings before Tribunal should be granted pending final disposition of each of three judicial review applications commenced by Bell Canada-Role of Commission to deal with intake of complaints, to screen them for proper disposition-In dealing with complaints, Commission must assess probative value of evidence and decide to further investigate or not-Commission master of own procedure-Judicial review of allegedly deficient investigation, decision only warranted where investigation, decision clearly deficient-Tribunal entitled to make procedural rulings such as whether to adjourn proceedings without having decisions subject to judicial review-Issue of bias, impartiality also raised by applicant-In case of administrative, investigative function, standard not whether reasonable apprehension of bias on part of investigator, rather whether investigator maintained open mind, has not predetermined issue-Preliminary submission of Bell Canada rejected-Three-stage test set for granting interlocutory injunctions should be applied to applications for stays-Threshold to satisfy test of serious question low one-Application for judicial review in Court File No. T1414-96 raising serious question to be tried-Allegation of apprehended bias on part of Tribunal made by Bell Canada in Court File No. T-2722-96 not raising serious question to be tried-Bell Canada's allegation of institutional bias not raising serious question either-Bell Canada allegedly required to expend considerable effort, undergo disruption of business as witnesses prepared, called to testify, and incur costs of litigation-No special circumstances permitting Court to treat costs or alleged disruptions as irreparable harm-Applicant not satisfying second stage of test-As to balance of convenience, Court must consider public interest in having complaints of discrimination dealt with expeditiously-Not in public interest to delay proceedings before Tribunal-Taking into account public interest, interest of complainants, no stay should be granted-Application dismissed-Federal Court Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. F-7, s. 18.2 (as enacted by S.C. 1990, c. 8, s. 5)-Canadian Human Rights Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. H-6, s. 11.