Landlord fined over denying religious rights

Wouldn’t respect prayer times, remove shoes

TORONTO • A landlord who repeatedly ignored his tenants’ requests to respect their prayer times and remove his shoes in their prayer space violated their religious rights, Ontario’s human rights tribunal has ruled.

John Alabi is facing a $12,000 fine after the decision, which found he discriminated against his tenants on the grounds of their Muslim faith.

The decision handed down from tribunal adjudicator Jo-Anne Pickel outlines a turbulent tenancy for Walid Madkour and Heba Ismail, who rented a unit from Alabi for less than three months after moving to Toronto from Montreal. the accommodation of their religious practices.”

Between late January and late February, 2015, Alabi had agreed to give the couple 24-hours notice if someone was planning to view the apartment, in accordance with Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act.

Madkour and Ismail, however, asked for additional notice up to an hour before Alabi planned to enter the apartment.

While they did not disclose the religious grounds for their request at first, they eventually explained that they wanted to be certain the visits did not coincide with prayer times designated by the Qur’an, the tribunal heard. As practising Muslims, both Madkour and Ismail pray five times a day during designated time periods.

Ismail also wanted to have enough time to ensure she was wearing her hijab and other “modest attire” in order to comply with another tenet of her faith, the tribunal heard.

Alabi frequently denied these requests or provided only momentary notice via text message before entering the apartment, the tribunal heard.

Once inside, another bone of contention often arose when Madkour or Ismail would request that people remove their shoes before walking through the unit.

Alabi told the tribunal that he ignored the request about shoes in order to avoid making a scene in front of the tenant and because he felt it was propaganda designed to make him look bad.

But Pickel said, “I fail to see how such a request would make the respondent look bad if he complied with it. If anything, it was the respondent’s non-compliance with the request that made him look bad in front of prospective tenants.”

She ordered Alabi to pay Madkour and Ismail $6,000 each, as well as to take an online course on human rights and rental housing.