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HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
The Concept of "human rights" in the legal context refers to particular protections provided by statute. It does not refer to your "constitutional rights", nor a right to be protected from all adverse behaviour. The human rights protections in British Columbia are set out in the BC Human Rights Code. Good information on the code can be gleaned from the BC Human Rights Coalition web site.
That code protects employees from discrimination on the basis of:
race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, political belief, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation or age of that person or because that person has been convicted of a criminal or summary conviction offence that is unrelated to the employment or to the intended employment of that person.
It protects tenants from discrimination on the basis of:
race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, age or lawful source of income of that person or class of persons.
It protects property purchasers from discrimination on the basis of:
race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or sex of that person or class of persons.
It protects people wishing to use facilties "customarily available to the public" from discrimination on the basis of: race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex or sexual orientation of that person or class of persons. This will include restaurants, night clubs, stores - any operations the public can typically use.
But the BC Human Rights Code has no power in federally regulated places of employment, tenancies or facilities. The Canadian Human Rights Act must be consulted to see if a remedy exists under that statute for matters in the federal jurisdiction. Please use this link to review its protections: Canadian Human Rights Commission
Naturally, there are exceptions and defences relating to the prohibitions contained in these pieces of legislation. Leginsky Consulting Counsel would be pleased to discuss potential human rights issues with you.
The services of Leginsky Consulting Counsel has typically been to advise employers in respect of their responsibilites under either the BC Human Rights Code or the Canadian Human Rights Act. Victor Leginsky has experience at both, and has served an an officer to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Leginsky Consulting Counsel can, if necessary, litigate your human rights complaint.
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News
A British Columbia school board was found liable for failing to provide a harassment-free learning environment to a former student, Azmi Jubran. His school years were "a living hell", according to the Supreme Court. He was continually called "homo", "queer" and "gay", along with other non-homophobic taunts. However, he was not gay. The Human Rights Tribunal found that Jubran was discriminated against based on sexual orientation, and that whether he was homosexual or his harassers believed him to be was irrelevant. While the decision of the Tribunal was overturned by the BC Supreme Court, the BC Court of Appeal has recently re-instated the decision of the Tribunal against the school board. To read this decision, please click this link.
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