News Release Archive
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION--BOARD OF INQUIRY-COMPLAINT RULING ------------------------------------------------------------ A board of inquiry into the complaint of Kenneth J. Wood against the Hants West District School Board and/or Andrew Kirk, principal of the Windsor Regional High School, has dismissed Mr. Wood's complaint. The ruling contains significant comments on fair process and the identification of witnesses. Mr. Wood made a complaint under the Human Rights Act on April 6, 1994, alleging that he was discriminated against because of his sex and/or his age when he applied for a term position as a grade eight math and science teacher at Windsor Regional High School. The complaint could not be resolved following an investigation. The matter proceeded to a board of inquiry chaired by Lyle I. Sutherland. In his decision of Jan. 15, 1996, Mr. Sutherland found that the successful candidate, who was a young woman, was hired because in the opinion of Andrew Kirk, the school principal, she was better qualified to teach middle school aged children. Mr. Sutherland found that sex and age were not factors in Mr. Kirk's decision. The Board of Inquiry found that the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission has a duty to disclose the identities and evidence of all witnesses to the respondent, once a complaint proceeds to a board of inquiry. It found that it was acceptable to keep the identities of witnesses confidential at the conciliation stage. This is a significant ruling by Mr. Sutherland, in that the commission has in the past made every effort to keep the identities of witnesses confidential, in order to protect them. This has not been a universal practice and in some cases the identities of witnesses would be revealed, in order to allow respondents a fair hearing, or because it was impossible to keep their identities secret in a small workplace. This board ruling suggests that the identity of witnesses should be revealed to the respondent in a human rights complaint. -30- Contact: Wayne MacKay 902-424-4111 trp Jan. 17, 1996 - 1:35 p.m.