Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal

This article discusses a qualitative interview project where twenty tenants shared their experiences about having hearings at the Office of Residential Tenancies [the ORT], Saskatchewan’s housing law tribunal.  The interviews provide insights into housing problems faced by tenants, their experiences...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sarah Buhler, Rachel Tang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Windsor 2020-09-01
Series:The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice
Online Access:https://wyaj.uwindsor.ca/index.php/wyaj/article/view/6421
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author Sarah Buhler
Rachel Tang
author_facet Sarah Buhler
Rachel Tang
author_sort Sarah Buhler
collection DOAJ
description This article discusses a qualitative interview project where twenty tenants shared their experiences about having hearings at the Office of Residential Tenancies [the ORT], Saskatchewan’s housing law tribunal.  The interviews provide insights into housing problems faced by tenants, their experiences with self-representation at the ORT, and their reflections about the outcomes of their cases.  We analyze how tenants prepared for their hearings, their experiences of the hearing process, and their perceptions of fairness throughout the process.  We then discuss participants’ assessments of whether they received “justice” at the ORT. The interviews illuminate the ways that the same patterns of power and inequality that produce housing problems in the first place persist but are also occasionally interrupted and exposed in the housing tribunal process.  They show also that tenants use the ORT to make important claims about justice and to resist landlord power in the face of larger patterns of inequality and exploitation.
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spelling doaj.art-7269e66709384662b4557895f6f0c4e72023-09-02T04:42:02ZengUniversity of WindsorThe Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice2561-50172020-09-013610.22329/wyaj.v36i0.6421Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law TribunalSarah Buhler0Rachel Tang1University of SaskatchewanUniversity of SaskatchewanThis article discusses a qualitative interview project where twenty tenants shared their experiences about having hearings at the Office of Residential Tenancies [the ORT], Saskatchewan’s housing law tribunal.  The interviews provide insights into housing problems faced by tenants, their experiences with self-representation at the ORT, and their reflections about the outcomes of their cases.  We analyze how tenants prepared for their hearings, their experiences of the hearing process, and their perceptions of fairness throughout the process.  We then discuss participants’ assessments of whether they received “justice” at the ORT. The interviews illuminate the ways that the same patterns of power and inequality that produce housing problems in the first place persist but are also occasionally interrupted and exposed in the housing tribunal process.  They show also that tenants use the ORT to make important claims about justice and to resist landlord power in the face of larger patterns of inequality and exploitation.https://wyaj.uwindsor.ca/index.php/wyaj/article/view/6421
spellingShingle Sarah Buhler
Rachel Tang
Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal
The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice
title Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal
title_full Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal
title_fullStr Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal
title_full_unstemmed Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal
title_short Navigating Power and Claiming Justice: Tenant Experiences at Saskatchewan’s Housing Law Tribunal
title_sort navigating power and claiming justice tenant experiences at saskatchewan s housing law tribunal
url https://wyaj.uwindsor.ca/index.php/wyaj/article/view/6421
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahbuhler navigatingpowerandclaimingjusticetenantexperiencesatsaskatchewanshousinglawtribunal
AT racheltang navigatingpowerandclaimingjusticetenantexperiencesatsaskatchewanshousinglawtribunal