Human Rights Act

Significance: Canada’s Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, age, sex, marital status, or conviction for an offense for which a pardon has been granted.

Canada’s Bill C-25, the Human Rights Act—first read in the House of Commons November 29, 1976, and first read in the Senate June 6, 1977—received the Royal Assent July 14, 1977, and was proclaimed to be in force August 10, 1977. The act was revised and expanded in 1985 to provide for those with physical disabilities and to clarify issues involving sexual harassment, the elderly, and women on maternity leave.

Provisions of the Act

The Canadian Human Rights Act extends the laws that proscribe discrimination and that protect the privacy of individuals. The law is premised on the notion that every person should have an opportunity equal to that of other persons to make for himself or herself the life that he or she is able and wishes to have, consistent with his or her duties and obligations as a member of society, without being hindered in or prevented from doing so by discriminatory practices based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, age, sex, marital status, or conviction for an offense for which a pardon has been granted. The privacy of individuals, and their right of access to records containing personal information concerning them for any purpose, including the purpose of ensuring accuracy and completeness, should be protected to the greatest extent consistent with the public interest.

Part 1 of the Canadian Human Rights Act defines discrimination as the denial of goods, services, facilities, or accommodations customarily available to the general public. In employment, it is discriminatory to refuse to employ, to refuse to continue to employ, or to differentiate adversely in the course of employment. Part 1, Section 11, requires that equal wages be paid to men and women for equal work value, based on skill, effort, and responsibility.

Part 2 of the act created the Canadian Human Rights Commission to administer the Canadian Human Rights Act and to ensure that the principles of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination are followed within the areas of federal jurisdiction. This commission is composed of two full-time and six part-time commissioners. The commission is authorized to investigate complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services, and complaints alleging inequities in pay between men and women based on equal work. The commission monitors annual reports filed by federally regulated employers under the Employment Equity Act, and programs, policies, and legislation affecting women, aboriginal peoples, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities, to ensure that their human rights are protected. It also develops and conducts information programs to promote public understanding of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the commission’s activities.

Part 3 of the Canadian Human Rights Act explains the procedures to be used when a complaint is filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Upon receipt of a complaint, the commission first determines whether or not its agency is the correct one to handle the complaint. The complaint is either accepted for investigation by the commission or sent to another federal agency for appropriate action. If the commission accepts the complaint for investigation, every effort is made to reach an early settlement between the two parties. If the complaint cannot be settled, the commission prepares an investigative report requesting the appointment of a conciliator to arbitrate the dispute.

If conciliation cannot be reached, the case is returned to the commission for a decision either to dismiss the case or to refer it to a human rights tribunal. A tribunal hearing results in a written decision, binding on all parties. Tribunal decisions may be appealed to a review tribunal or to the federal courts. In some discrimination cases, Canada’s Supreme Court makes the final decision. Remedies for complainants include reinstatement and/or compensation for lost wages, letters of apology, or the issuance of antiharassment policy by an employer. The Canadian Human Rights Act provides for fines of up to fifty thousand dollars for threatening, intimidating, or discriminating against an individual who has filed a complaint, or for hampering the investigation process.

Administrative Structure

The act authorized the Canadian Human Rights Commission to create an administrative structure to administer the Human Rights Act. By 1994, the Canadian Human Rights Commission had delegated to the Office of the Secretary General of the Human Rights Commission the authority to oversee staff at headquarters and regional offices that investigate discrimination complaints throughout the country, except those dealing with employment and pay equity.

The secretary general’s office provides support to the Canadian Human Rights Commission and its seven specialized branch agencies: the Legal Services Branch, which represents the commission before tribunals, review tribunals, and the courts; the Anti-Discrimination Programs Branch, which handles all complaints filed with the commission, except employment and pay equity complaints; the Employment and Pay Equity Branch, which advises the Human Rights Commission on employment and pay equity matters, offers educational programs to employers and community groups, and investigates and conciliates equal pay complaints; the Policy and Planning Branch, which monitors and researches domestic and international human rights issues of interest to the commission; the Communications Branch, which explains the role and activities of the commission, discourages discriminatory practices, and fosters public understanding of the act; the Corporate Services Branch, which provides headquarters and regional operations with support services; and the Personnel Services Branch, which provides headquarters and regional operations with support services in pay, benefits, staffing, resource planning, and health and safety.

Complaints and Recommendations

Between 1985 and 1994, the Canadian Human Rights Commission received 464,535 inquiries. Actual complaints filed between 1991 and 1994 totaled 4,852, including all referrals to alternate redress. For the years 1991 to 1994, based on the number of discrimination complaints filed, the types of complaints were ranked in the following order: disability, sex, national or ethnic origin, race or color, family or marital status, age, religion, and discrimination after being pardoned. In the same years, the ranking order of methods of disposition of complaints was dismissal, settlement approved by all parties and the commission, sent to conciliation, no further proceedings, and early resolution.

The 1995 Canadian Human Rights Commission’s annual report recommended the following changes: that amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act be adopted to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, to protect the human rights of Canada’s aboriginal population, and to allow anyone present in Canada, not just those lawfully present, the right to file a discrimination complaint; that the commission report directly to Parliament instead of the Department of Justice and the Treasury Board; that a permanent appeals tribunal be established to replace the existing system of ad hoc tribunals and review tribunals; that a mandatory retirement age be considered a discriminatory action; and that employers under federal jurisdiction be required to take the initiative in eliminating sex-based inequities from their compensation systems. These recommendations would enable the Canadian Human Rights Act to provide the same protection against discrimination currently institutionalized in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, international practice, and provincial legislation.

Bibliography

Acts of the Parliament of Canada. Vol. 2. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1976–77. Print.

Canadian Human Rights Commission. Annual Report, 1994. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Service Canada, 1995. Print.

Eliadis, F. Pearl. Speaking Out on Human Rights: Debating Canada’s Human Rights System. Montreal: MQUP, 2014. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

House of Commons Debates, Official Report. Vol. 3. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1976–77. Print.

Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985. Vol. 5. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1985. Print.