by Colin Perkel
Canadian Press
Sunday February 20 7:21 PM ET
TORONTO (CP) - It was supposed to be a college graduate's introduction to the work-a-day world of paycheques, coffee breaks and 9-to-5. Instead, all Nicole Curling got out of her first job was constant sexual harassment, frequent intimidation, a whopping bill for legal costs and the distinct impression there isn't much justice being handed down against abusers of human rights in Ontario. "It's a gruelling, gruelling experience," Curling, 29, says of her ongoing fight to see Alexander Torimiro, her former boss and sexual harasser, receive some measure of punishment for the way he treated her when she joined his Toronto-based Victoria Tea Company and Torimiro Corp. in the summer of 1993.
"It is nights of crying," she says from New York, where she's pursuing a master's degree in architecture.
The ability of Ontario's Human Rights Commission to punish and deter people like Torimiro has been crippled by constant government cuts, say Curling and her lawyer.
"You are talking about a right with no meaningful remedy," says lawyer Geri Sanson, who blames the Ontario government for the commission's inability to track down deadbeat debtors like Torimiro, twice found guilty by the commission.
Curling says she worries he'll simply ignore the decision.
He's done it before.
What Curling didn't know when she launched her complaint in 1993 was that it would become the first time in Canada that a human-rights commission would be acting against someone previously found to have sexually harassed a young female employee.
"He's been found guilty before," Curling said. "He had a history. But nothing is being done."
In 1989, the tribunal ordered Torimiro, 45, to pay his 21-year-old victim $2,000.
To this day, the woman hasn't seen a dime.
The commission says it has tried everything to collect but is powerless in the face of Torimiro's vow never to pay because he believes he's been shafted.
"He can be very elusive when it comes to collecting money from him," says the commission's Grant Brock. "Some people seem to be judgment proof."
The commission found Torimiro guilty again in December on the allegations brought forward by Curling.
The commission is powerless to force him to pay.
"They have cut, cut, cut the funds from the commission," Sanson said.
"What's the message to people like Mr. Torimiro? What kind of enforcement message is that?"
Curling, whose father Alvin is a Liberal member of the Ontario legislature and a former cabinet minister, was 23 when the harassment began.
In her complaint to the commission, Curling says Torimiro kissed her on the mouth, fondled her buttocks and pressed himself against her despite her insistence she wasn't interested.
Torimiro vigorously denies the allegations.
"I'm a very nice guy," he said in an interview. "I treat all the girls who work for me very nice (although) you guys think I'm some kind of barbarian."
The commission is now seeking a Canadian record of $40,000 in damages for Curling's emotional distress.
It's a tough sanction by usual standards and the Ontario commission is optimistic it will set a standard for others to follow across the country.
"I hope we will be leading in this area for Canadian human-rights cases," said commission counsel Ena Chadha.
The commission also wants its adjudicator to force Torimiro to submit to random audits of his business, both of which are still operating, to identify his financial institutions, and to face possible criminal contempt charges if he defaults.
What's more, it is seeking an order preventing him from using government employment agencies to recruit young female employees.
Curling fears the sanctions may never be enforced.
"The government has to step in and enforce stronger rules," she said.
For his part, Torimiro has slapped Curling with a $1.5-million libel suit, issued a threatening letter to the commission and launched an ad campaign in a local newspaper seeking other agency "victims" as he contemplates a class-action suit.
"I will not be railroaded by anybody," Torimiro said.
Some facts about Ontario's Human Rights Commission:
Active cases: 2,386Source: OHRC Annual Report 1998/1999
Complaints opened: 1,850
Complaints resolved: 2,218
Complaints referred for hearing: 92
Sexual harassment complaints: 164
Sexual harassment complaints sent to hearing: 5
Sexual harassment awards: Average $4,114 to 48 complainants
Total Budget $11.1 million