Sask. Human Rights Commission forced to accept complaint by man with brain injury against Regina police

A judge has ruled the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission must accept a man's complaint of being improperly arrested and allegedly mocked by the Regina Police Service.

According to a recent decision by Justice Jeff Kalmakoff, two officers showed up to Dean Nelson's residence in March 2015 to enforce what they believed was an eviction order from the landlord.

Nelson told the officers the landlord was not following the proper rules to evict him — a position the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission later ruled was correct — explaining a residential tenancies officer was set to decide on the matter in an upcoming hearing.

Kalmakoff writes that the officers did not listen, eventually handcuffing Nelson.

'Mr. Lawyer'

"Mr. Nelson alleges that the officers used excessive force and mocked him, calling him 'Mr. Lawyer' and a 'retard,' while affecting the arrest," the decision reads.

"The mocking, says Mr. Nelson, is because he has an acquired brain injury, the effects of which are apparent to those with whom he interacts."

Nelson declined to be interviewed, but confirmed to CBC he is in the process of proceeding with the complaint.

After the arrest, Nelson filed a complaint to the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission.

It investigated and ruled the officers did not fully understand the Residential Tenancies Act and took "improper action" in his arrest, but that didn't warrant disciplinary action for the officers.

2nd complaint

In August 2016, Nelson filed a second complaint, this time with the Human Rights Commission.

According to the commission's rules, complaints need to be filed within a year of the incident in question in order to ensure issues are dealt with in a timely matter, said commission spokesperson Darrell Seib. However, the chief commissioner can choose to extend the deadline at their discretion.

Nelson submitted his complaint late, Kalmakoff writes, citing the fact he didn't understand he could proceed with two public complaints at the same time.

The decision said a letter was submitted to the commission by a psychologist seeing Nelson at the time, advocating for an extension. The letter points out Nelson's brain injury makes multi-tasking, managing paperwork and emotional stress difficult for him to handle.

It also states there was no reason for him to assume the first public complaint would take as long as it did, and he would have been "disadvantaged" by trying to manage both processes at the same time.

"Mr. Nelson was unfairly disadvantaged by his brain injury from making use of the [human rights complaint] complaints process in a timely manner," it reads.

'Unreasonable' refusal

Kalmakoff rules that although the chief commissioner acknowledged the impact of Nelson's brain injury, the decision not to extend the deadline and accept the complaint was "unreasonable."

In fact, the decision says the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code protects against discrimination on the basis of mental or intellectual disabilities.

That means because the chief commissioner used Nelson's procedural error and "poor-decision making on the part of a brain injured person," as grounds to refuse an extension, Nelson's disability was essentially used against him, the decision says.

Regina police spokesperson Elizabeth Popowich said in an email to CBC on Thursday the service is aware of the judge's ruling, but has not yet been served.

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