In a story that could be lifted from a Seinfeld episode, a Sudbury man has failed in his bid to sue the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for crushing his dreams to be a filmmaker.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario issued a ruling Sept. 14, detailing the reasons why the man launched the claim.
“The applicant alleges that from the time he started high school in 2001 until 2005, he wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking,” the transcript reads. “The applicant alleges his teachers and teachers' aides at the respondent’s school all dissuaded him from pursuing his career as a filmmaker.
“The applicant alleges that throughout his high school years, his teachers and teacher’s aides told him that will not succeed as a filmmaker because his English and punctuation skills were bad, his reading and writing skills were at a Grade 3 level and his career choice of being a filmmaker was an unrealistic goal considering his learning limitations.”
He claimed staff at his school discriminated against him by “failing to support and assist him in pursuing his career goals as a filmmaker.”
The claim is reminiscent of a Seinfeld episode when the character of Newman convinces another character, Kramer, to claim he was distraught over never having fulfilled his dream of being a banker. Newman was trying to beat a speeding ticket, and claimed he had to rush to his friend's side, leading to the ticket.
The judge in the episode didn't buy it.
In this case, the human rights adjudicator was unsure if she even had the jurisdiction to rule. But the decision was easy because the man waited more than a decade after high school to make the claim. The limit is usually one year, although time limits can be extended if there's a compelling reason for the delay.
“The applicant alleges that the last discriminatory event took place on April 1, 2005,” the adjudicator wrote. “The application was filed on April 17, 2017, more than 12 years after the alleged discriminatory event in 2005. The application is clearly out of time.”
While the man claimed problems with emails and other technological problems, as well as his physical and learning disabilities, he didn't provide any proof.
“The applicant did not provide any medical documentation to substantiate how his physical or learning disabilities prevented him from filling the application on time,” she wrote.
