Solving complaints of discrimination to the satisfaction of the complainants, the respondents and the public interest is key to promoting and protecting human rights in Canada.

Over the last two years, the Commission has implemented a series of changes to its complaint process to make it more effective. Included is a preliminary assessment approach as a first step in complaint resolution.

Preliminary assessment occurs within 21days of the parties being notified of a complaint's acceptance. Assessments aimed at clarifying and narrowing the issues are conducted by experienced human rights specialists skilled in dealing with complaints of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act. They are experts in resolving disputes through alternative resolution processes such as mediation, negotiation, arbitration or conciliation.

The Commissions goal is to ensure the fair, efficient and timely handling of complaints since we know from experience that the sooner a dispute can be resolved the better. If a settlement is not possible, the preliminary assessment process can help parties identify issues to speed up the investigation of the complaint.

The Commission expects this approach will lead to appropriate, timely solutions by reducing investigation time, identifying broad public interest cases early, identifying those cases that could be referred to a confidential mediation process immediately, or even settling the case outright.