On November 21, 2025, a Divisional Court judge ruled that the Black Legal Action Centre could intervene in a case before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The only problem? Twenty-four hours earlier, a different judge had made the opposite ruling.

How did that happen? How was the situation resolved? And what can we learn from it about different approaches to third-party intervention in Canadian courts?

Demar Hewitt is Executive Director and General Counsel of the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC), a community legal clinic that is intervening at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in Dosu v. York University.

Claire Boychuk practices labour, employment, and public law at RavenLaw in Ottawa. She is the author of Intervening in Canadian Courts.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

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