Although my Motion to Dismiss under rule 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (“CJA”) wasn’t heard today, it’s going to be rescheduled as a long-form hearing. Unfortunately, it’s probably not going to be heard until July 2025 but at least Barrie Housing can’t silence in the meantime.
Justice M. McKelvey was the motion judge today and after speaking with him, I do feel like my materials were at least read. He asked me if I thought I had enough time today to argue my motion—I was allotted half-hour— and admittedly, half-hour wouldn’t have been long enough. After Justice McKelvey explained to me what a case conference was, I agreed to it as well.
Here's a copy of the endorsement Justice McKelvey issued:
As you'll see in this endorsement, it doesn't include any of Barrie Housing's lawyer's two-cents in it.
The Fraud Scheme
In preparation for today’s motion hearing, though, I put together a 28-page “speech” I guess you could call it.
When I was putting this together, I realized that the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (“CCSS”) did indeed start paying housing services providers directly on behalf of its Ontario Disability Support Program (“ODSP”) beneficiaries living in social and affordable housing, exactly two days after the first Covid lockdown was issued.
Here's a screenshot of Barrie Housing’s Statement of Claim, paragraph 21 a and b:
And if you look at my ODSP ledger, you’ll see that ODSP did indeed re-start paying my rent directly to Barrie Housing on March 19th, 2020, two days after the premier of Ontario ordered a state-of-emergency, which is when the first lockdowns in Ontario started. And ODSP continues to pay my rent directly to this day.
The thing is, no one bothered to tell us tenants that the CCSS started paying our rent for us, and now we’re all paying that money back while Barrie Housing pockets the extra money.
And to make matters even worse, the County of Simcoe is helping Barrie Housing cover this all up.
In the Service Manager Delegation Agreement between Barrie Housing and the County of Simcoe, Barrie Housing is required to maintain all of its reviews, documents, financial records and information which it produces in respect of the services provided pursuant to this Agreement for a period of seven (7) years.
Yet on November 1st, 2024, Barrie Housing told me my audit/review document doesn’t exist and apparently that’s why I can’t have it.
Furthermore, on October 29, 2024, the County of Simcoe told me they’d review my rental calculations. I responded and thanked them, and emphasized the need to review the audit / review document in Barrie Housing’s sole possession. Two months later, the County gave me and Barrie Housing a two-pager reciting a bunch of numbers I already had with no financial breakdown whatsoever.
Does the above document titled, 'County's Review.pdf' look like a financial breakdown to you? The County’s “review” is not a review of my file at all. It’s simply a reiteration of Barrie Housing’s lies and cover-up. The only thing that's going to "shut me up" is the financial breakdown that clearly shows how Barrie Housing calculated my overcharge, which will also reveal which parts of the overcharge was from double-paying my rent, and which parts of the overcharge was from receiving too much "income supplements".
The County of Simcoe is aiding Barrie Housing in covering-up this mass-scale fraud scheme.
Constantly Breaking the Rules
Pursuant to section 137.1 (6) of the CJA, unless a judge orders otherwise, the responding party shall not be permitted to amend his or her pleadings in the proceeding.
Despite this rule, Barrie Housing amended its materials and was permitted to file more materials, such as the County of Simcoe’s “review of my rental calculations”, which is clearly not a review at all. And so much for the County not getting involved. They just got involved by attempting to help Barrie Housing pocket the extra money they've been getting from the CCSS on behalf of its disabled tenants, in which these disabled tenants are still paying for.
Here's a copy of the 'supplementary materials' I tried to file yesterday. It's simply a copy of the Service Agreement between Barrie Housing and the County of Simcoe, as well as my response to the County's "offer" to review my calculations:
If you're reading this, and you think there's something you can do to help, such as request an investigation from an agency that actually has jurisdiction, please do. Your voice could be the voice that gets through.
Sincerely,
Leah Dyck
Social Justice Advocate
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