Best To Be Prepared

Use of gendered language, such as nouns like chairman and fireman or in the use of personal pronouns like he, has created an atmosphere of exclusion in some workplaces. Certainly, there are no laws requiring people twist their syntax beyond recognition in order to meet human rights in Canada. However, a gentle reminder to staff to write their policies and mass communications in gender-neutral prose can go a long way to establishing the good intentions of an employer if ever brought before a human rights tribunal. In any event it makes good sense to try and include everyone in your communications.

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Only $600 To Hear Public Servants Speak? Bargain.

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Update: Maybe the cash is going towards new posters. Marilou McPhedran, Chief Commissioner of the SHRC, quit a while back. She found an even better paying gig at a university. Total time spent as Chief Commish of the SHRC: 6 months. Thanks for stopping by, Marilou.

Today, Kamloops. Tomorrow, The World!

Back on Dec 10, 2007 (International Human Rights Day):

Jennifer Lynch, Chief Commissioner, CHRC.

As recently appointed chair of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, my goal is to reinforce human rights commissions around the world. Together, we can make a difference: one right earned strengthens a community; one right shared strengthens a community of nations.

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Give Me A Raise, Bigot

Submission from CHRC to Pay Equity Task Force:

Pay Equity is a Human Right 

The starting point is the principle that pay equity is a human right. In fact, it is one of the earliest human rights recognized as an international standard.

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Renowned Scientist? Nope, Just Another Lawyer

Case studies

This session was chaired by John Strawson, reader at the University of East London, and analysed case studies of particular business sectors, countries, and new actors:

“Human rights and hydrocarbons: what lies ahead?” by  Dr. Christopher Waters, University of Reading

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Geneva To Ottawa: Smarten Up

From:

Briarpatch Magazine
December 2005/January 2006

ON OCTOBER 17, representatives of the Lubicon Cree delivered a formal complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva. The delegation sought the UN’s help to pressure the Canadian government on two demands: to return in good faith to land claim negotiations, and to cease its support for the systematic destruction of Lubicon land through illegal resource extraction for narrow corporate interests. Reiterating a similar ruling handed down 15 years ago, on November 2 the Human Rights Committee reported concern that “land claim negotiations between the Government of Canada and the Lubicon Lake Band are at an impasse” even as abuses of the Lubicon’s rights continue. The Committee insists that the government must return to negotiations and further stipulates that the government “consult with the Band before granting licenses for economic exploitation of the disputed land.”

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Fat Chance

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta - The Christian Heritage Party of Canada (CHP) and its Leader Ron Gray are being investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission after a homosexual activist complained of material published on the Party’s website he claims is offensive to homosexuals.

…

Gray says he wants to win the case but not by compromise but in a way which affirms freedom of religion, thought and political rights in Canada. Rather than arguing before the human rights tribunals, Gray would prefer the case moves to the courts where the burden of proof is more stringent.

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Don’t Worry, We’re On It

From Law Is Cool:

We have tried to provide some exchange on this site, and hope that more members of the general public investigate the issue further.

Despite declining to hear the issue, the Commission issued a strong condemnation of Maclean’s…

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Musher Dad: Dog Sledders Are Bigots

The Yukon Junior Mushers Association lost its bid Friday to have its legal expenses covered after a long and bitter court fight with a coaching parent known for his loud public outbursts.

A territorial court judge dismissed the Haines Junction-based group’s case, meaning it will have to pay its own costs of defending itself against a human-rights complaint filed by parent Michael Salvisberg, who was suspended from the association because of his aggressive outbursts.

…

Salvisberg countered with a complaint to the Yukon Human Rights Commission, claiming the association was prejudiced against Europeans and recent immigrants from Europe.

He eventually dropped that complaint, but not before the group had spent more than $3,000 on legal fees, which it had hoped to recoup in small claims court on Friday.

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At Least They Got A Free Lunch

CANADIANS AS CITIZENS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

9:00 a.m.	Applying International Law in Domestic Courts
	Chair:  Associate Chief Justice Michael MacDonald, Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Halifax, NS   Speakers:  Professor Hugh Kindred, Faculty of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS  Professor Stephen Toope, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Montreal, QC

10:15 a.m.

Break

10:30 a.m.	Applying International Law in Administrative Boards, Tribunals and Agencies
	Chair:  Ms. Anne L. Mactavish, Chair, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, Ottawa, ON   Speakers:  Professor Audrey Macklin, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON  Professor William A. Schabas, Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland)

12:00 p.m.	Closing Luncheon Address
	Introduction:  Justice Constance D. Hunt, Alberta Court of Appeal, Calgary, AB   Speaker:  Mr. Mark Kingwell, Author of “The World We Want: Virtue, Vice and the Good Citizen”, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Scarborough, ON The rest.