Recent Human Rights Decisions

Condominium corporations have a duty to accommodate a resident’s disability – to the point of undue hardship. But that doesn’t mean that accommodation is required in every case.

Two recent decisions of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal are good examples of cases where accommodation was not ordered – even though the resident suffered from a disability.

In Taite v. Carleton Condominium Corporation No. 91, a resident had a disability that limited his neck movement, causing him pain and affecting his mobility, particularly in colder weather. As a result, he claimed that he needed a large truck, and an outdoor parking space in which to park the truck (because his large truck could not fit into the condominium’s parking garage). The Tribunal dismissed his claim and said that the decision to drive the large truck was a “personal preference” rather than a true need.

In Robinson v. York Condominium Corporation No. 365, a resident suffered from electro-magnetic sensitivity, and claimed that changes made to the building’s security system had caused her suffering to increase. The Tribunal dismissed her claim because the evidence did not indicate that the changes to the security system had increased electro-magnetic radiation in any way that could have affected the Applicant’s symptoms.