Talk About Weird

Shehbaz Saleem Gets No Love at the Ontario HRC

Ever wonder why the Ontario HRC hears some of the ridiculous complaints that come to them? Me too.

Shehbaz Saleem, a Pakistani citizen, former resident of the US, and a Muslim believes that he was discriminated against in the area of housing based on race, citizenship and disability. His case was adjudicated on November 3, 2009 and was reported here.

However, the person alleged to have discriminated against him, Muzammil Parkhani, is a recent immigrant to Canada with his family from India, and wait for it is also Muslim.

Just to make matters better, the adjudicator for the Ontario HRC was Faisal Bhabha, a vice chair of the HRTO and himself a Muslim, and a member of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association. Bhabha is a grad of Queens Law and holds a Masters from Harvard. Reading the case, I wondered why Mr. Bhabha had to sit through this one at all.

So, Shehbaz claimed as a Muslim that he was being discriminated against by a fellow Muslim. Mr. Saleem's only testimony was his own, and included such meanderings as:

"In terms of direct harassment by the landlord, the applicant testified that the respondent threw loud parties that caused a significant disturbance, played loud music and used psychotronic devices to implant noises in the applicant’s head, and forced the applicant to park on the street where parking is not allowed, resulting in parking tickets. "

Now, in that the Respondent lives with his parents in the house, the loud parties thing should be kind of moot. But, you can see into the mind (if there is one) of the Complainant when he accuses the Respondent of using psychotronic devices on him.

In his defence, the Respondent said he did not know what psychotronic devices were. Lest you think the Complainant is a nut bar, to which I would agree, you should read a little more of his testimony:

Shortly thereafter, the applicant testified he came to believe that the respondent was co-operating with security officials both inside and outside of Canada. He accused the respondent of fabricating a complaint to the police leading to the applicant’s false arrest. He also testified that the respondent colluded with the applicant’s former landlord in the United States to harass him, and took steps to prevent the applicant from obtaining employment in Canada. Further, he alleged that the respondent was involved in an attempt to steal his identity and drive him out of the rental unit.

Either the Respondent is a spy, and possibly a "00" with the authority to kill as required to defend crown and country, or the the Complainant is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. I vote for the latter, and so did the Vice Chair of the Tribunal, Mr. Bhabha.

Although his Decision is more detailed than the following, it can be summed up as Mr. Bhabha saying "Baa, baa bad seed. Get thee to a nuttery," or words to that effect.

There is no evidence of tin foil being used by the Complainant to protect himself from the psychotronic intrusions in his head, but maybe since losing the case, he had moved on to that.

What a waste of our tax dollars. I just wonder why a man as well educated as Mr. Bhabha is wasting his time on such baloney.

Just one burning question. How did Saleem ever get admitted into this country? Are we as nuts as he is?