Expanding Knowledge

The Commission’s Knowledge Centre provides legal advice and creates knowledge, policies and research papers to be used by the Commission, key stakeholders and the Canadian public to help foster understanding of, and compliance with, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Employment Equity Act.

Policy Development and Outreach

The Program’s policy analysts and legal advisors provide the Commission with support in ensuring effective dispute resolution, prevention of human rights complaints and progress in representation of the designated groups. This work includes:

• providing policy and legal advice to grounds-based investigation teams and intake services so as to support efficient and effective complaint processing;
• providing operational legal and policy advice to the Commission and staff;
• developing a framework for the Commission’s regulatory and guideline-making authority; and
• policy development.

The Knowledge Centre also works with external stakeholders by providing advice to employers and employees on a wide variety of human rights and employment-related issues. Employers often seek the advice of the Commission when creating policies, such as on drug testing and accommodation, and when implementing special programs such as an Aboriginal preference program, to ensure that their policies and practices are consistent with human rights principles. Knowledge Centre staff may also be called upon to review an employer’s policies as part of a tribunal order or a term of a settlement. Ensuring that organizations have effective human rights policies is one way to prevent future complaints. Finally, we are also informing our domestic policies by reaching out to national and international stakeholders to share best practices.

Following are some examples of the Commission’s policy development and outreach activities in 2006:

Policy on Alcohol and Drug Testing

Recent jurisprudence on the issue of drug testing has delayed the release of a revised policy on alcohol and drug testing. In 2007, the Commission will provide an update on the state of the law relating to drug and alcohol testing in the workplace.

International outreach

At the international level, the Commission engaged in a range of activities that support its three international program priorities: i) strengthening human rights institutions abroad; ii) monitoring domestic implementation of international human rights obligations; and iii) advancing human rights priorities. The Commission actively participated with the United Nations as a member of the International Coordination Committee (ICC) of National Human Rights Institutions by leading efforts to strengthen the ICC accreditation process and promoting a new approach focused on rigour, transparency and independence. This strengthened process will be essential for accredited national institutions and the ICC to play a more active and credible role in international fora, such as the UN Human Rights Council.

The Commission also participated in meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee established to negotiate the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention promises to be an important tool for the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities. It covers a number of key areas including accessibility, personal mobility, health, education, employment and non-discrimination. The Plenary of the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on December 13, 2006. The Convention will be open for signature and ratification beginning March 30, 2007. Twenty of the 192 member states of the United Nations need to ratify the Convention for it to come into force.

National Aboriginal Program

The Commission established an Aboriginal Program in September 2006 to coordinate Commission activity relating to First Nations and Aboriginal issues to prepare for the expected repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Section 67 is a provision which denies First Nations people access to the same human rights redress system available to other people in Canada. The Commission has called on Parliament to repeal section 67 for years, most recently in its October 2005 report entitled A Matter of Rights. The new program ’s long-term objective is to strengthen relations with Aboriginal groups and foster a dialogue on how to incorporate the unique context of First Nations communities in human rights protection mechanisms.

In December 2006, the government introduced legislation, Bill C-44, to repeal section 67. At year-end, it was expected that the legislation would be considered by a House of Commons Committee early in 2007. At that time, the Commission plans to reinforce its recommendations to Parliament and to suggest ways that this important legislation could be strengthened.

The Commission anticipates that the repeal of section 67 may lead to complaints about systemic issues. To avoid a system which relies on prolonged and litigious complaint processes to deal with discrimination issues, the Commission’s implementation plan envisions early emphasis on knowledge development, prevention and alternative dispute resolution. Through discussion with and guidance from First Nations, the Commission will seek to introduce modifications to its programs to make them more accessible and culturally sensitive to First Nations people and communities.

In the coming year, the Commission plans to work with First Nations communities and key stakeholder groups to ensure that the introduction of full access to human rights redress available under the Canadian Human Rights Act is accomplished in a manner consistent with the unique constitutional status of First Nations, the inherent right of self-government, and the diverse cultures and modes of decision making of Canada’s First Nations. The Commission intends to engage in discussion on specific areas such as traditional or culturally sensitive dispute resolution techniques, and ensure relevant information is available on its website. The Commission also hopes to identify possible pilot projects to develop community capacity at a grassroots level to deal with human rights disputes. These are the preliminary steps in a process of engagement which aims to support the development of a First Nations human rights model.

Research and Publications

The Knowledge Centre completed several research projects and issued several publications during the year. Each one is designed to give effect to the Canadian Human Rights Act’s principle that "every person should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated." Ongoing and completed projects are described below.

No Answer II

No Answer II is a study that follows up on the 2005 Commission report, No Answer. The first report found that the Government of Canada was failing to adequately accommodate the needs of Canadians who, as a result of a disability, cannot use the regular government telephone system. No Answer II focuses on the federally regulated private sector and has similarly discouraging results. It found, for example, that people who want to make a TTY call have about a one-in-four chance of finding a TTY number listed.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Commission and the Treasury Board Secretariat offered some encouraging progress, however. This MOU commits the Treasury Board to resolving the issues identified in the 2005 No Answer report in consultation with the Commission and organizations representing people who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing. The Treasury Board submitted a progress report in late 2006 indicating that corrective actions were underway.

Hate on the Internet

In 2006, the Commission published the proceedings of its December 2005 conference on hate on the Internet. The conference brought together experts and government officials from Canada, the United States and abroad to discuss how civil society, governments and the Commission could network with each other and coordinate their efforts to combat hate on the Internet. The proceedings were published in cooperation with the Association of Canadian Studies, in a special issue of the Association’s magazine, Canadian Issues. Throughout the year, the Commission continued to meet with groups interested in issues relating to combatting hate, including a number of groups targeted by hate messages.

International Best Practices in Universal Design: A Global Review

In June, the Commission released an important new publication on how to ensure that built environments are accessible to all. Entitled International Best Practices in Universal Design: A Global Review, this report highlights the latest trends in universal design, providing architects and designers with the tools and options to design buildings that are accessible to all users. It also documents accessibility criteria in building codes and standards in Canada and around the world.

The report, which received funding support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada (Office for Disability Issues) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, has received world-wide attention and has been presented at international fora on disability.

National Security and Human Rights

Since September 11, 2001, Canada has engaged in new and significant national security measures. Several commentators have indicated that these measures could violate human rights principles. A 2006 Commission report, prepared by Wesley K. Wark of the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, explores this matter in detail and identifies key issues in the field of national security and human rights. The report highlighted the following areas as warranting further research:

• study Canadian security and intelligence agencies to assess the extent to which such agencies have paid attention to human rights issues;
• review the report of the Arar Commission to identify issues that fall within the mandate of the Canadian Human Rights Commission; and
• conduct a comprehensive review of the various approaches that governments can use to establish people’s identity and the human rights implications of each of these approaches.

Managing the Return to Work: The Human Rights Perspective

Several complaints filed with the Commission deal with employees returning to work after an extended leave, such as sick leave, work injury, or maternity leave. This research report, prepared by Marie-Claude Chartier, a lawyer and independent researcher, reviews the legal issues involved in return-to-work situations, and is available on the Commission’s website. The Commission undertook this project with the aim of developing more specific guidelines to support managers and supervisors in handling return-to-work situations. These guidelines will be available in 2007.

Environmental sensitivities

The Commission is also carrying out an in-depth examination of environmental sensitivities as they relate to human rights. The Commission has completed a review of environmental sensitivity issues from a legal perspective and has a similar review underway from a medical perspective.

Sexual orientation

The Knowledge Centre uses a research model focused on mapping obstacles to equality. The goal is to develop an inventory of obstacles in order to better understand and develop strategic approaches to remove them. The sexual orientation project follows from this model and includes two ongoing research projects.

The first project creates an historical overview of how sexual orientation became a human right in Canada, and the role the Commission played in this regard. Compared to other forms of discrimination that the Commission deals with, major progress has been achieved in recent years in eliminating obstacles to equality with respect to sexual orientation. The lessons learned from this research will therefore be used to design corrective actions for other prohibited grounds of discrimination.

The second project deals specifically with identifying the obstacles encountered by persons protected by the ground of sexual orientation. The Commission reviewed all complaints in the Commission’s database, and compiled a list of obstacles already dealt with and removed, most of them legislative. The next step will be to analyze policies, programs and benefits in the public and private sectors under federal jurisdiction to identify continuing obstacles to equality on the basis of sexual orientation.

Report Card on Human Rights in Canada

The Knowledge Centre is also developing research that will allow for comparative assessments of human rights in Canada over time. This initiative involves considerable research, and the substantial progress to date includes the development of a conceptual framework and the identification of some indicators.

Tackling emerging systemic issues

The Commission will continue to develop its capacity to deal with emerging and broad systemic issues. It will identify the need for other studies by examining information gathered from monitoring complaints investigations, results of environmental scans, stakeholder consultations and any new key events that negatively affect the advancement of human rights in our country.