Author Archives: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

About Jonnette Watson Hamilton

B.A. (Alta.), LL.B. (Dal.), LL.M. (Col.). Professor Emerita. Please click here for more information.

Residential Tenancies, Mental Disabilities, and Evictions

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

Case Commented On: AG obo ZG v FirstService Residential Alberta Ltd, 2022 AHRC 38 (CanLII)

PDF Version: Residential Tenancies, Mental Disabilities, and Evictions

This case concerns a challenge to an eviction from a rented condominium – a challenge claiming the eviction discriminated against a tenant’s child on the ground of mental disability. There is something wrong with this decision to confirm the Director’s dismissal of the tenant’s complaint. The conclusion that there was no reasonable basis in the evidence to proceed to a hearing does not follow from the facts that are recounted. This may simply be because all the relevant facts are not set out in the decision. But based on the facts that are summarized, the most plausible –perhaps the only possible – inference is that the tenancy was terminated because the tenant’s son had a mental disability that the landlord, building manager, and other residents of the condominium building thought meant the son would endanger them or their property in the future, and no accommodation was possible. Continue reading →

Women’s Charter Equality before the Supreme Court of Canada: Where Do We Stand as of International Women’s Day 2022?

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton & Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: Women’s Charter Equality before the Supreme Court of Canada: Where Do We Stand as of International Women’s Day 2022?

Matter Commented On: International Women’s Day 2022

March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day on which we assess the progress towards achieving women’s rights. The theme this year is “Break the Bias.” We are encouraged to “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.” When considering women’s rights under Canadian law, we tend to use the lenses of discrimination and equality as the umbrella words rather than bias. Bias is certainly one form of discrimination, but discrimination also includes the harms of stereotyping, prejudice, and disadvantage. The right to equality and to be free from discrimination based on protected grounds is guaranteed under s 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada’s constitutional equality guarantee. Continue reading →

The Chilling Effect of Costs on Appeals from Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service Orders

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: The Chilling Effect of Costs on Appeals from Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service Orders

Case Commented On: Chisholm v Boardwalk General Partnership, 2021 ABQB 991 (CanLII)

This brief decision by Justice John T Henderson concerns the costs of appealing a decision of the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. Following an April 2021 hearing, the RTDRS’ Tenancy Dispute Officer ordered the tenant, Ms. Chisholm, to pay her landlord, Boardwalk, the sum of $2,606.78 for arrears in rent, utilities, and parking, plus $75 in costs. The tenant appealed, but Justice Henderson dismissed her appeal in November 2021. Boardwalk then asked Justice Henderson to award them $4,556.25 in costs for that appeal. Not only did they want costs of $4,556.25 for winning an appeal from a judgment for $2,606.78, they had threatened to ask for costs of $7,087.50 (at para 5g). And they wanted these costs from a tenant whose source of income was Alberta’s Assured Income for the Severally Handicapped (AISH), i.e., a tenant who by definition has a permanent and untreatable medical condition that substantially limits their ability to earn a living (AISH Overview – Eligibility). For people living in privately-owned housing like this tenant, the maximum AISH monthly allowance has been $1,685 for the past two years (AISH Policy Manual). Her rent at Boardwalk was $1,079 per month (para 5b), leaving $606 per month for food, clothing, transportation, and all other needs. Continue reading →

Frost on the Constitutional Windshield: Challenge to Critical Infrastructure Defence Act Struck by Alberta Court of Appeal

By: Jennifer Koshan, Lisa Silver and Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: Frost on the Constitutional Windshield: Challenge to Critical Infrastructure Defence Act Struck by Alberta Court of Appeal

Case Commented On: Alberta Union of Public Employees v Her Majesty the Queen (Alberta), 2021 ABCA 416 (CanLII) (AUPE (ABCA))

The Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, SA 2020, c C-32.7 (CIDA) has been in the news recently, with the truckers’ blockade at Coutts, Alberta causing some to question the lack of enforcement of available legal sanctions. CIDA prohibits entering on to, damaging, or obstructing essential infrastructure in the province, amongst other activities. Essential infrastructure is broadly defined and includes highways and – as of October 2021– health care facilities (Critical Infrastructure Defence Regulation, Alta Reg 169/2021; for a discussion of that addition see here). However, it appears that no charges have been laid under CIDA to date despite several disruptive COVID-19 related protests on and blockades of essential infrastructure. Continue reading →

Setting Aside and Varying Orders of the Residential Tenancies Dispute Resolution Service for Procedural Unfairness

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: Setting Aside and Varying Orders of the Residential Tenancies Dispute Resolution Service for Procedural Unfairness

Cases Commented On: 21006414 (Re), 2021 ABRTDRS 19 (CanLII), 20003149 (Re), 2020 ABRTDRS 18 (CanLII), 20003525 (Re), 2020 ABRTDRS 21 (CanLII), and Hammond v Hammond, 2019 ABQB 522 (CanLII)

This post looks at how difficult it is to have an order of the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) set aside or varied. The power of a Tenancy Dispute Officer (TDO) to set aside or vary their own order was added in 2017 to the Residential Tenancies Dispute Resolution Service Regulation, Alta Reg 98/2006 (RTDRS Regulation). Unfortunately, there has been little reported consideration of how the new section 19.1 works. There are three reported Reasons for the Decision from the RTDRS, all of which were written by TDO J. Young. The most recently added Reasons for Decision cited two Court of Queen’s Bench cases that provide some principles that can be used to interpret section 19.1. It is therefore an opportune time to look at how easy (or difficult) it is for a landlord or tenant to persuade a TDO to set aside or vary the TDO’s own order. Continue reading →