Madkour v. Alabi, 2017 HRTO 436

The HRLSC represented tenants Walid Madkour and Heba Ismail. They had given notice to their landlord that they were moving out and had a basic request: additional notice before prospective tenants entered their home. They wanted to ensure that their prayer times were not interrupted and that Ms. Ismail could be modestly dressed. The Tribunal found that “there was no evidence showing that the additional five-minute notice requested by the applicants would have had any impact whatsoever on the respondent’s ability to rent the apartment.”

The landlord was also found to have harassed the tenants by making “the comment ‘welcome to Ontario Canada’, the making of loud pounding noises outside the applicants’ door shortly after making that comment, and the respondent’s refusal to remove his shoes when entering the applicants’ prayer space.”

The Tribunal found that:

  • the landlord’s “evidence was inconsistent with the documentary evidence on key points”; and
  • “the respondent’s inclination to tailor his evidence in an attempt to justify his actions in this case.”

The Tribunal ordered:

  • $6,000 to each tenant as compensation for the discrimination;
  • the landlord to confirm that he had completed training on human rights and housing; and
  • the landlord to review the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy on Human Rights and Rental Housing.

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