TORONTO, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that the Ontario Divisional Court will hear Philip Anisimov’s application for judicial review on Monday, October 5, 2026. Mr. Anisimov is challenging a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario decision that dismissed his complaint against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology over its refusal to exempt him from its Covid vaccine policy on religious grounds.

Lawyers funded by the Justice Centre represent Mr. Anisimov, a Baptist Christian and former engineering student. In August 2021, he requested a religious exemption from the university’s Covid vaccine requirement. His religious beliefs prohibited him from receiving the vaccines because they had been tested using cells derived from fetal tissue.

Mr. Anisimov offered to take other precautions, including regular testing and wearing a mask. The university permitted him to complete his fall term exams online but later removed him from two courses with in-person components. One was a mandatory, full-year Capstone course. As a result, he could not graduate in 2022 as planned and graduated instead in June 2023.

Mr. Anisimov said, “I was ready to take regular tests and wear a mask so I could finish my degree. Instead, I lost a year because the university would not accommodate my religious beliefs.”

The Tribunal heard Mr. Anisimov’s discrimination complaint in April 2025 and dismissed it in September. Although the Tribunal accepted that Mr. Anisimov’s religious beliefs were sincerely held, it found that he had not established that his objection to the vaccines was protected as a creed under Ontario’s Human Rights Code.

Mr. Anisimov argues that the Tribunal applied the wrong legal test to his religious beliefs and made errors in assessing the evidence about possible accommodation. He is asking the Divisional Court to set aside both the original decision and the reconsideration decision, find that the university discriminated against him on the basis of creed, and return the matter to the Tribunal to determine damages. The Court has not yet ruled on those arguments.

Constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir said, “The Tribunal accepted that Mr. Anisimov’s beliefs were sincere, but found they were not protected under the Human Rights Code. We’re asking the Court to review whether the Tribunal applied the right legal test and properly assessed the university’s ability to accommodate him.”

The Justice Centre is Canada’s leading civil liberties organization defending Charter rights and freedoms in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion. Founded in 2010, the Justice Centre funds lawyers across Canada, relies entirely on voluntary donations to carry out its mission, and issues official tax receipts to donors.