Concurrent Jurisdiction
  
A complaint referred to the Tribunal had previously been the subject of both grievance procedures and an application to the Canadian Labour Relations Board.¹⁶²  The respondent therefore took exception to the matter being "relitigated" before the Human Rights tribunal, relying on a Supreme Canada decision to the effect that, "where the essential character of a dispute arises under a collective agreement, a claimant must proceed by way of arbitration."¹⁶³  However, the Tribunal pointed out that the Supreme Court decision in question did not remove all possibility of concurrent jurisdiction between labour arbitrators and statutory human rights adjudication processes. With respect to the case before it, the Tribunal was also not convinced that the essential nature of the complaint arose under the collective agreement. However, it noted that arguments based on issue estoppel and res judicata might conceivably be raised by the respondent. No such arguments had in fact been raised, thus precluding the Tribunal from passing judgment on them at that time. The respondent's application on the question of jurisdiction was therefore dismissed.

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End Notes