Accommodating differences is one way to ensure fairness.

Dawn applied to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to have her property removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve. Her application was declined because she submitted it in paper form. Pursuant to section 15 (1) of the Agricultural Land Reserve General Regulation, the ALC can determine what an acceptable form of submission is and only electronic applications were accepted.

Feeling that this policy was unfair, Dawn contacted us.

Our investigation determined that the ALC did not have an accommodation policy with respect to what was an acceptable method to submit applications. The ALC explained the electronic submissions process was relatively new and Dawn’s complaint was the first. As a result of our investigation, we recommended that the ALC:

• develop an accommodation policy to consider non-electronic submissions in certain circumstances; and,
• allow Dawn to submit her application in paper form, given a policy was not yet in place to assess whether her circumstances merited accommodation.

The ALC agreed to develop an accommodation policy and Dawn’s application was accepted for consideration.