BCHRT Member Orders Condo Owners To Spend Cash On New Ramp

Always fun spending money…especially someone else’s money. Besides, only $1000? Those families probably don’t need that cash, anyway.

[Vancouver Sun] The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a resistant strata council to hire an architect to design a ramp that would allow a 91-year-old New Westminister condominium owner to make it up three steps in the building’s lobby.

The tribunal made the order Thursday after Mary Holowaychuk and her daughter Anne Mahoney were defeated in their attempts to have the council install and pay for the ramp.

…

The strata owners opposed to the ramp argued it would be an “undue hardship to the individual owners of the strata because  of the cost involved.”

They said the costs for the ramp – not including architectural costs  and permits – could be $63,000.

Beharrell rejected the “undue hardship” argument. She said a special levy would cost, on average, less than $1,000 a unit.

The rest.

British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal Goes Into The Health Care Business

[Vancouver Sun] The issue of foreign-trained doctors who are prevented from practising in Canada by Canadian professional bodies refusing to accept their credentials is about to be tested by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

The tribunal has accepted a complaint of discrimination against the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons and the University of British Columbia filed by an Argentine-trained physician, Paola Fauerbach.

The rest.

Panhandlers To BCHRT: Discrimination Is Worth 20 Large

[Vancouver Sun] A program to remove panhandlers and homeless people from streets and parks amounts to “systemic discrimination,” says a complaint filed Thursday with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

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The complainants ask for $20 in damages for every person affected by the Ambassadors’ conduct, to a maximum of 1,000 people.

The rest.

Supreme Court To New Brunswick Human Rights Commission: Wrong

[CTV] The Supreme Court of Canada decided Friday that it was legal for a mining company to force a New Brunswick man to retire at 65.

Melrose Scott, a former miner with the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, wanted to stay with the company beyond its mandatory retirement age so he could top up his pension. The company said no, and on Friday, the Supreme Court agreed with that decision.

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The Sussex-area man took his case to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission after being forced to retire in 2004. The commission upheld his complaint of age discrimination, but two other courts overturned it on its way to the Supreme Court.

The rest.

Government-Sponsored List Forgets First Nations

[CP] Aboriginal people have been granted the 102nd spot on a government-sponsored list of 101 things that most define Canada after online respondents pointed out that First Nations people, culture and symbols weren’t included in the original tally. The oversight and late addition reflects how the historic marginalization of First Nations people has pushed them to the fringes of Canadian consciousness, an aboriginal studies instructor said.

The rest.

160 Million Of Your Dollars. And Counting

And another $22 million/year to run the place? Peanuts. (Psst. No word yet on price of admission).

[Section 15] The Canadian Human Rights Museum has become the dream of many people. The mission – to advance the understanding and support for Human Rights in Canada and around the world – is shared by most Canadians. Many participated in consultations to offer their ideas and priorities for the exhibits. Over 2,300 Canadians have donated about $93 million to make that dream come true.

In April 2007, on behalf of all of us, Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed to cover the $22 million annual costs and have the federal government operate the museum. It has also contributed $100 million in capital costs, the province of Manitoba $40 million, the city of Winnipeg $20 million.

The rest.