B.C. will once more have a human-rights commission, 16 years after the former government eliminated the old one. The NDP government says that next year, the province will no longer be the only one in Canada without a human-rights commission.
The government will have to make it clear to British Columbians why we need a commission again, in addition to the human-rights tribunal we already have.
We have been down this road before. In 1983, the Social Credit government abolished a human rights commission. An NDP government restored it in the 1990s. The Liberals killed that one in 2002. Now the NDP is restoring it again.
The lesson could be that if you are looking for a long-term career in B.C., don’t take a job with the human-rights commission.
Eager to save money and responding to suggestions from the B.C. Business Council and others, the B.C. Liberal government dismantled the human-rights commission in 2002, but kept the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, to which individuals could make complaints of discrimination.
Before the change, the commission had investigated and mediated complaints, sending about 15 per cent to the tribunal for a hearing. It also had the power to intervene in cases considered of public significance, as well as tackling systemic discrimination and performing advocacy work and education.
It had 47 staff and a budget of $4.1 million, although even before the hammer came down, it had been ordered to cut its budget by a third and had laid off 14 staff members.
We have a tribunal, so why do we need a commission?
Attorney General David Eby said: “That model relies on people taking the initiative and having the ability to go file a claim and wait the long period of time it takes to have a decision rendered and then to enforce it. We need a commission with the power to do more — to educate about human rights, to prevent discrimination from taking place and to support people in addressing systemic discrimination.”
In 2002, Shelagh Day, editor of the Canadian Human Rights Reporter, said a commission was needed because the tribunal would be “completely focused on individual cases, with no systemic vision at all.”
She foresaw a huge power imbalance if individuals without legal representation were pitted against lawyers for large corporations or government.
On the other hand, Doug Alley of the business council said the commission should be eliminated because “it performs no useful function and is responsible for most of the undue delay and costs of the current structure.” He supported retaining the tribunal.
In the year before it was dismantled, the commission got more than 19,000 phone, web and email inquiries about rights. It closed 903 cases with 606 dismissals, 173 settlements and 124 cases passed on to the tribunal for adjudication. It also had 569 files pending.
Of course, the commission had come in for some well-deserved criticism and mockery.
As we said in an editorial at the time: “Much of the evidence it deals with involves accusations and counter-accusations, with nothing remotely resembling a judicial-level standard of evidence. Nor are the rights of accused parties adequately protected as they would be in a courtroom.
“The agencies have sometimes looked foolish by accepting petty complaints about ‘rights violations,’ such as having to bow at judo tournaments and being forced to handle Christmas displays.”
The frivolous complaints are inevitable and can be dealt with as they deserve. However, the concerns about evidence and the rights of the accused must be addressed.
If the commission is coming back, the NDP must make sure it serves British Columbians effectively and fairly.
