Reform of HRCs Arrested in Alberta... for now

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Head of Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Stress Leave The working atmosphere of the CHRT begs the question - if it needs to be investigated for harassment among other things, how can it be in charge of determining "human rights" offenses for the nation? Selection from the Vancouver Sun, April 23 2012: The Ottawa Citizen has also learned that the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commis... Read more

Did tribunal exceed its authority? Supreme Court of Canada will decide Thursday if human rights decision should be upheld Vancouver Sun, March 21 2012: On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal of Moore v. British Columbia Ministry of Education. Among other things, this case will decide whether the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has the authority to dictate what services the B.C. government provides. Jeffrey Moore started grade school in... Read more

A right to special treatment Pamela Howson clearly knows how the human rights system works. First, claim membership of a “protected” group. In Ontario, their Human Rights Code includes protection on the basis of “family status”, which has been interpreted by the provincial tribunal as granting privileged status to mothers with children. Ms. Howson has three children... Read more

Press Release For Immediate Release – November 23, 2011 (Ottawa, ON): Stand Up For Freedom Canada calls on all members of Parliament to support Bill C-304, “An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act”. Last night, Bill C-304 was read and debated in the House of Commons. The bill, introduced by MP Brian Storseth, seeks to ensure greater protection of free... Read more

Support Bill C-304! Use our Easy Mail Technology Today It only takes a few minutes to use this site's Easy Mail technology to send a letter to your MP, along with the Justice Minister, in support of a much-needed law to reform the Canadian Human Rights Act. It is free, customizable, and you won't get any unwanted newsletter or donation requests. We provide this for the sake of FREEDOM. Click ... Read more

Policing Hurt Feelings The various Canadian human rights codes were not necessarily designed to protect hurt feelings of designated groups. The intention was to prevent a situation in which an person was denied basic goods and services on the basis of some prejudice or another. Yet we hear again and again from editorials critical of the rights racket that... Read more

Non-Muslims Need Not Apply The National Post recently ran a story about housing advertisements in Ontario that are clearly running afoul of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s policy. Specifically, the reporter was able to find several ads in which it was stated, “non-Muslims need not apply” or some variation thereof. When the reporter called the OHRC to ask abo... Read more

The Absurd is Commonplace at the Tribunal A police officer who smokes crack while on duty. A public-school teacher who calls in sick, works for a private company, and collects both paychecks. What do both of these individuals have in common? They have complaints currently before a human rights tribunal in which they are trying to escape the natural consequences of their reprehens... Read more

Human Rights Laws are Eroding our Democracy By John Carpay Should a man be forced to pay $17,500 to four individuals who felt offended by the flyers he distributed? The Supreme Court of Canada will decide this question in October, when it hears the case of Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission versus William Whatcott. In 2001 and 2002, Whatcott peacefully distributed flyers in ... Read more

Freedom from Discrimination: A not-so-universal Human Right A "human right" is generally understood to be a claim or entitlement that every human being posesses against his fellow man. The right to life, for example, should not apply differently to people on the basis of their age, race, sex, or marital status. Yet many so-called rights under the federal Human Rights Act do indeed apply differentl... Read more

Saskatchewan Eliminates Their Human Rights Tribunal A little while ago, we informed our readership of Saskatchewan's push to abolish their Human Rights Tribunal and refer all human rights complaints to real courts, heard by real judges. This is a step in the right direction, but there are cons to this approach as well. Derek From, from the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) explains th... Read more

Dodging Precedent It is already well known that the human rights tribunals take liberties with definitions to suit their own ends. For the most egregious example of this, I refer to a previous post that highlighted the OHRC’s approach to definitions: 1) Definitions should be interpreted as broadly as possible when establishing that discrimination has take... Read more

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Reform of HRCs Arrested in Alberta... for now

Friday, 01 July 2011 21:12

Back in 2009, Alberta’s minister for Culture and Community Spirit, Lindsay Blackett, said that the province’s Commission and Tribunal shouldn’t be in the business of regulating speech. He also mentioned that the AHRC was “operating like a kangaroo court.” That was quite something, considering the human rights agencies fell under his portfolio. He pledged to kick-start reforms with the repeal of the speech provisions of the human rights act.

Two months later, the promise never materialized. Instead, the Commission received expanded powers and a bigger budget. An obviously frustrated Blackett said he didn’t have consensus from his caucus for the repeal, and wasn’t interested in pursuing something so divisive. Premier Ed Stelmach even defended the restrictions to freedom of expression, noting that “recognizing the responsibilities that come with freedom of expression is also important.”

Fast forward to 2011. Just this week, in an interview with Ezra Levant, Blackett revealed that it wasn’t so much a divided caucus that opposed reform – it was Stelmach himself. And any such reforms appear to be off the table, as far as the Alberta Progressive Conservatives are concerned.

The Wildrose party (formerly Wildrose Alliance) has stepped into the void, nailing a plank into their platform by passing a resolution to abolish the Human Rights Commission and strengthen protections for freedom of expression. Saskatchewan is already in the process of doing similar reforms, disbanding its Tribunal and sending human rights cases to the courts.

If any province is ready to demonstrate that the Commissions and Tribunals are an obsolete appendage of a bygone era, it’s Alberta. There is considerable popular support for reform, reducing the political risk of moving in this direction. All of Alberta’s provincial political parties could benefit from a pledge to constructively reform the Human Rights Code, beginning first and foremost with a repeal of 3(1)(b).

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