Facts
In July of this year, The Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the
Imperial Oil Limited ("IO") pre-employment practice of
requesting that job applicants disclose whether or not they were
entitled to work in Canada permanently constituted discrimination
on the basis of citizenship, pursuant to the Ontario Human
Rights Code.
The applicant, Mr. Haseeb, was an international student pursuing
undergraduate studies in engineering at McGill University. In the
last semester of his studies, he applied for an entry-level
position as a Project Engineer with the company's Sarnia
location. He heard through the grapevine that IO had a policy of
only hiring citizens and permanent residents for the advertised
position. When questioned by IO during the hiring process, he
concealed the fact that he did not meet their "permanency
requirement". Upon successful completion of his program, the
applicant would become eligible for a 3-year work permit, under the
Federal Post Graduate
