On February 12, 2021, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario dismissed a complaint against an employer who was alleged to have discriminated against an employee on the basis of sex. The employer would like to ask the Tribunal to order that the complainant pay their costs for the hearing. During the hearing, the complainant was frequently disruptive, brought frivolous motions to the Tribunal, and generally delayed matters with her behaviour.

The Tribunal is subject to theStatutory Powers Procedure Act(the SPPA). Section 17.1 of the SPPA deals with costs and reads as follows:

17.1(1) Subject to subsection (2), a tribunal may, in the circumstances set out in rules made under subsection (4), order a party to pay all or part of another party's costs in a proceeding.

(2) A tribunal shall not make an order to pay costs under this section unless, (a) the conduct or course of conduct of a party has been unreasonable, frivolous or vexatious or a party has acted in bad faith; and (b) the tribunal has made rules under subsection (4).

(3) The amount of the costs ordered under this section shall be determined in accordance with the rules made under subsection (4).

(4) A tribunal may make rules with respect to,

(a) the ordering of costs;

(b) the circumstances in which costs may be ordered; and

(c) the amount of costs or the manner in which the amount of costs is to be determined.

A previous version of the OntarioHuman Rights Codecontained a provision, s. 41(4), allowing the Tribunal to order costs where the complaint was trivial, frivolous, vexatious or made in bad faith. This section has been repealed and is not found in the current version of theCode.The current version of theCodedoes not contain any provision allowing the Tribunal to order costs.

The Tribunal has no rules under its Rules of Procedure dealing with costs.

The employer has come to you asking for your opinion on whether the Tribunal can grant it costs, given the unreasonable and frivolous conduct of the complainant.

1. Yesorno,does the Tribunal have jurisdiction to award costs under the SPPA? Answer with one of yes or no. ]
2. With clear connections to the facts and SPPA, briefly explain your choice.