Bill 147 explained in plain English
Human Rights Code Amendment Act (Awarding of Costs), 2013
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 147 gives the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal the authority to award costs for proceedings, with specific rules that override the Statutory Powers Procedure Act for these matters.
This bill amends the Ontario Human Rights Code to give the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario the power to award costs for proceedings. Currently, the Statutory Powers Procedure Act allows tribunals to award costs under certain conditions. This bill allows the Human Rights Tribunal to award costs, decide who pays them, and how the amount is determined. These new rules for the Human Rights Tribunal will take precedence over the rules in the Statutory Powers Procedure Act. The changes apply to new proceedings started on or after the bill becomes law.
- Grants the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario the authority to award costs for proceedings under Part IV of the Human Rights Code.
- Allows the Tribunal to determine who pays the costs and to whom they are paid.
- Enables the Tribunal to set the amount of costs or direct that they be assessed, including specifying the scale and assessor.
- States that the Tribunal's power to award costs is not limited by the considerations used by courts.
- Specifies that this new power to award costs applies despite sections 17.1 and 32 of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.
- Indicates that the amendments apply to proceedings that begin on or after the date the bill receives Royal Assent.
- Individuals and organizations involved in proceedings before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
- The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
- The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has the right and power to award costs for proceedings.
- Parties involved in proceedings before the Tribunal may be ordered to pay costs or may be entitled to receive costs.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The amendments apply to proceedings commenced on or after the day this section comes into force.
- Parties to proceedings before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario may be required to pay costs, or may be awarded costs, based on the Tribunal's decision.
- The bill does not specify the exact criteria the Tribunal must use when deciding to award costs, stating only that the Tribunal is 'not limited to the considerations that govern awards of costs in any court'.
- The specific scale or method by which costs will be assessed is not detailed beyond the Tribunal's power to 'direct the scale according to which they are to be assessed and by whom they are to be assessed'.
Adds a new section (45.3.1) that grants the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario the power to award costs for proceedings. This includes determining who pays, who receives payment, and the amount or assessment of costs.
Source: Section 1
The new provisions in the Human Rights Code regarding the awarding of costs apply despite sections 17.1 and 32 of this Act, meaning the Human Rights Code provisions take precedence in cases before the Human Rights Tribunal.
Source: Section 1 (5)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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