2. Make your opening statement
Question & Answer
What happens at a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario hearing?At the start of your (HRTO) hearing, you can give an opening statement.
Your opening statement is a brief description of your case to get the HRTO member to understand the main issues and evidence.
You're not allowed to try to convince the HRTO member of anything during your opening. If you try to do this, the member may stop you. Or the Respondent might ask the member to stop you. Instead, you can wait until the end of the hearing to try to convince the member during your closing statement.
An opening statement should only be a few minutes long.
When you finish your opening statement, the Respondent can make their opening statement. But the Respondent can also wait until later to make their opening statement.
Prepare your statement
You can write your statement in advance and read it out loud at the hearing. It's a good idea to practice reading your statement before the hearing.
In your statement, you should explain the and how it affected you. This should be a short summary. You can mention the part of the Human Rights Code that you say the Respondent did not follow.
For example: “This case is about whether the Respondent discriminated against me by not giving me a promotion at work because I am Black.”
Your witnesses or evidence will provide the rest of details.
Next, you should tell the HRTO member which witnesses and evidence will support your case. Tell them the order you will present your information in. Briefly mention if there's really important evidence. This helps the member to know what they should pay attention to.
For example: “I plan to call 2 witnesses. The first witness is Jane Doe, an employee at the company. I expect Jane will testify about how the Respondent treated me when I applied for a promotion. The second witness is John Smith, a hiring manager at the company. I expect John will describe an email he got where the Respondent talked about the colour of my skin. This is a very important piece of evidence.”
Finally, at the end of your opening statement, you can briefly mention what you're asking for. For example, “I am asking for $5,000 for the impact this discrimination had on me. I am also asking for $3,500 for lost wages.”
