This is a case that involves a nursing student at a post-secondary institution.
Student D v. Selkirk College, 2025 BCHRT 178
[2] Student D was a student in the Bachelor of Nursing program at Selkirk College. She alleges the College discriminated against her in the area of services on the grounds of mental and physical disability contrary to s.8 of the Code. She says the College failed to reasonably accommodate her disabilities which negatively affected her academic performance, and she ultimately withdrew from the program.
******
This is a dismissal application, but it’s a specific type of dismissal application. The respondents offered her a settlement offer that can be disclosed to the tribunal. It is called a “with prejudice” offer.
If you offer a settlement offer to the respondents and you don’t want it to be disclosed to the tribunal, you need to write “without prejudice” at the top of your email/offer.
If you turn down a with prejudice offer, the respondents can file a dismissal application that ultimately forces you to accept the offer. The only way to not accept it is to convince the tribunal that your case is worthy of the time and resources of the tribunal for a hearing, as it will benefit the public interest and potentially make case law advancements. Or you can just not accept it and walk away with nothing.
This case can also give you ideas on what kinds of things you can ask for in a mediation meeting.
This is an important case to read for young adults in post-secondary.
********
[7] Student D has achondroplasia, generalized anxiety disorder, and auditory processing disorder. In September 2017, she started a four-year Bachelor of Nursing program at the College. Student D says that between April 28, 2020, and July 14, 2020, during the practicum portion of her program, she made requests for accommodation to her instructors and school administrators who failed to provide her the requested accommodations. Student D withdrew from her program on September 21, 2020.
*********
This is what she was offered, which she turned down. She felt the amount was too low. And so now the tribunal has to make a decision about allowing it to continue to a hearing or not. Respondents cannot file this kind of dismissal if the hearing is within the next 4 months.
*******
[9] On February 3, 2025, the College made a with prejudice offer to settle the complaint on the following terms:
a. The amount of $20,000 for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect.
b. The amount of $24,394.30 for lost wages, less statutory deductions, representing a delay to potential graduation from the Bachelor of Nursing program by one year, less her average annual earnings as a care aide and educational assistant, and less a 30% contingency to account for the potential non-graduation from the program.
c. The College will provide Student D with a letter of regret acknowledging the distress she experienced in the program.
d. The College will provide a revised transcript replacing any “fail”, “no credit granted” or “partial credit granted” notations with a “withdrawal” notation. The College will also provide a transfer letter endorsing Student D as a candidate for any nursing programs in other post-secondary institutions.
e. The College will commit to reviewing its Accessibility Services for Students program and making any updates it deems necessary.
*********
The tribunal dismissed her human rights complaint and allowed her to accept the offer she originally rejected, if she wanted it. You can read more about how they analyzed the appropriate settlement amount in the case. I haven’t pulled any of that out for this blog. Fighting this type of dismissal is low risk because you can always accept the same offer, even if you lose the dismissal application. Sometimes these are posted publicly, and some dismissal applications are private. But this is also a great way to get a public record of your case.
*********
[10] The offer remains open for acceptance notwithstanding the filing of the application to dismiss the complaint. The offer will expire two weeks following the Tribunal’s decision on the application to dismiss.
*********
And the decision from the tribunal is….
[47] The Tribunal routinely hears and decides cases that concern disability accommodation in educational settings, and I am not persuaded that the circumstances of the present case engage broader public policy issues that warrant proceeding in the face of a reasonable settlement offer. Further, considerable resources of the parties and the Tribunal would be required for a hearing of this matter. The Tribunal encourages parties to resolve their disputes in good faith on a voluntary basis. The College’s settlement offer contains terms that the Tribunal cannot order at a hearing, such as issuing a letter of regret, providing a revised transcript, and the transfer letter. The College’s offer also includes terms to ensure the discrimination does not occur again by reviewing its accessibility policies and training its faculty. Under the circumstances, I find that allowing this complaint to proceed would not further the purposes of the Code.
