The Tribunal ruled on the question of whether a Police Services Act investigation absolving officers of wrongdoing would prevent an individual from bringing a subsequent human rights case. They held that that a legal case alleging discrimination (e.g. profiling) should not be dismissed simply because the person had already had an OIPRD complaint dismissed.
In the ruling, a three-person panel ruled that it would be unfair to dismiss a human rights application where the same allegations had been dismissed in a police complaint to the OIPRD.
In its decision, the Tribunal panel considered recent Supreme Court cases on the issue of how to address situations where the same issues have been addressed in a different forum. The Tribunal held that given that given the differences between a human rights application and a police disciplinary proceeding, it would be unfair for one to preclude the other, for the following reasons:
- The applicant cannot receive any remedy under the police complaint process; the only possible outcome if police misconduct is found to have occurred is discipline for the officer;
- The parties to a police complaint would not reasonably expect that a police complaint would preclude a human rights application;
- The police complaint process is an investigation process ultimately controlled by the Chief of Police. Permitting the police complaint process to pre-empt a human rights application would allow a chief of police “to become the judge of his own case.”
A hearing on the merits has yet to proceed.