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- Environmental Sensitivities
- Return to Work
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- Sexual Orientation
- Social Condition
| National Security | |
 HTML PDF | The Effectiveness of Profiling from a National Security Perspective March 2009 The purpose of this report is to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of profiling as identified in empirical literature on the subject. More precisely, the aim of this project is to evaluate, with the help of a critical review of the literature, whether various profiling methods are sufficiently developed and sophisticated to justify their application to national security. |
Human Rights Issues in National Security: An Inventory of Agency Considerations June 2008 Since September 11, 2001, the security-consciousness of governments and citizens has intensified and national security institutions have been given increased powers. Critics have highlighted the potential of rights-infringements in this climate of security awareness. The Canadian Human Rights Commission commissioned this research to examine the extent to which national security agencies and their monitoring entities are directed to consider human rights issues in fulfilling their obligations, have publicly stated that they have considered such issues, or have reported on human rights issues in their activities. | |
| National Security and Human Rights October 2006 The September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States gave rise to a new security environment. Canada, like other nations, has been forced to consider the language of domestic and international security and to worry about the extent to which new realities might alter norms enshrined in the Charter of Human Rights and the Canadian Human Rights Act. This report examines the nature of the national security responses that have occurred in Canada since 2001 and explores some of the human rights implications of these responses. It is a systematic survey that identifies key problems and challenges in the post-9/11 security environment. The objective is to identify current and potential points of friction between national security practices and human rights protection. | |
| Environmental Sensitivities | |
Accommodation for Environmental Sensitivities: Legal Perspective May 2007 Environmental sensitivities are a group of poorly understood medical conditions that cause people to react adversely to environmental triggers. This report establishes, from a human rights standpoint, the legal status of issues related to environmental sensitivities. The researchers examined case law, consulted experts and examined secondary sources on accommodation of people with environmental sensitivities in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The report answers several questions including: What is the status of the case law in these jurisdictions? Do building codes act as barriers to people with environmental sensitivities? What best practices emerge from the case law? How are conflicting interests reconciled? How can third parties be involved in the accommodation process? Where is the threshold of undue hardship? How are conflicts regarding accommodation preferences resolved? See also: Policy on Environmental Sensitivities | |
The Medical Perspective on Environmental Sensitivities May 2007 Approximately 3% of Canadians have been diagnosed with environmental sensitivities, and many more are somewhat sensitive to traces of chemicals and/or electromagnetic phenomena in the environment. People experience neurological and numerous other symptoms, and avoidance of triggers is an essential step to regaining health. This report summarizes scientific information about environmental sensitivities. It addresses issues such as the definition and prevalence of environmental sensitivities; recognition by medical authorities; education and training within the medical community; origins, triggers and symptoms of sensitivities; impact of environmental sensitivities in the workplace; government policies and standards for building codes, air quality and ventilation as they affect individuals with environmental sensitivities; and guidelines for accommodation within the workplace. See also: Policy on Environmental Sensitivities | |
| Return to Work | |
| Managing the return to work: the human rights perspective October 2006 In many complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, a dispute arose between employer and employee when the employee returned to work after a prolonged absence such as sick leave, a workplace accident or maternity leave. Management of a return to work poses many challenges for the parties involved – a fragile balance must be maintained between the management rights of the employer and the employee’s rights to equality, privacy, dignity and physical integrity. This report describes how matters stand in relation to employees returning to work after a prolonged absence. The issues raised in the research may be used to develop guidelines for employers to facilitate efficient management of absences that respects the fundamental rights of employees. | |
| A Guide for Managing the Return to Work The Canadian Human Rights Commission receives many complaints based on disputes regarding the transition back to work after a prolonged employee absence. The Commission is committed to helping employers manage these cases so that employees can return to work safely, quickly and efficiently. This booklet of guidelines has been developed to support managers and supervisors in handling return-to-work situations. It includes an outline of key legal principles that apply to return-to-work situations, step-by-step procedures to guide the case management approach, and a series of case studies that demonstrate how to deal with different hypothetical scenarios. | |
| Aboriginal Research | |
| Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Aboriginal Contexts: a Critical Review April 2007 This paper examines several common challenges in Indigenous and Western paradigms including issues of power, cultural differences, language barriers and the effects and impacts of colonialism. It examines differing worldviews in relation to dispute settlement and conceptualizes the Indigenous paradigms and Western paradigms based upon these worldview differences. By so doing, this paper adds to the literature that distinguishes between Indigenous paradigms of dispute resolution and the "indigenization" of Western paradigms. In particular, it informs ADR theorists and practitioners of ways in which Indigenous and Western ADR paradigms may work cooperatively together while simultaneously protecting and respecting worldview and cultural differences. | |
Research report prepared by Bradford W. Morse, Robert Groves & D’Arcy Vermette In 2008, Bill C-21 was passed. The Bill amended section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which prevented individuals from filing complaints under the Act should the complaint be based on a provision under the Indian Act or any provision made under or pursuant to the Indian Act. The Bill included an amendment that called for “giving due regard to First Nations legal traditions and customary laws, particularly the balancing of individual rights and interests against collective rights and interests, to the extent that they are consistent with the principle of gender equality.” The question of how best to implement Bill C-21, and more specifically how to implement the concept of giving due regard and of balancing is the subject of this report. This report looks at both legal and academic literature to answer these questions as well as to explore how the Indian Act regime has impacted Aboriginal populations and how Bill C-21 may impact the Indian Act in the attempt to ameliorate past discrimination. | |
| Sexual Orientation | |
June 2008 Canadian Public Administration This article examines the capacity of human rights commissions to foster public policy change by focusing on the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and its role in advancing sexual orientation equality rights in Canada. The case study is informed by commission annual reports, speeches by past chief commissioners, presentations by the commission to parliamentary committees, and an examination of 442 sexual orientation complaints closed by the commission by 2005. The study shows that, from its inception, the commission had a simple and consistent message: sexual orientation should not be the basis for denying individuals employment, services or benefits. Using a variety of strategies, the CHRC facilitated the incorporation of this message into the Canadian Human Rights Act by promoting the designation of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Subsequently, the commission became actively involved in securing equal access to employment-related benefits in the federal sphere for same-sex couples and also added its voice in support of legal recognition of same-sex marriage. The authors conclude by discussing how the unique position of human rights commissions gives them the potential to play an important role in public policy development, even when there may be a lack of political will or public support. | |
| Social Condition | |
Adding Social Condition to the Canadian Human Rights Act March 2009 Almost a decade ago, in June 2000, the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel conducted a comprehensive review of the Canadian Human Rights Act [CHRA] and recommended that "social condition" be added as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Since then, no action has been taken to implement this recommendation, despite calls for action from international bodies, political actors, human rights agencies and organizations, and academic commentators to provide protections from discrimination for those suffering from social and economic disadvantage. The authors analyze the experiences at the provincial level with socio-economic grounds of discrimination, jurisprudential developments under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms related to claims based on socio-economic disadvantage, the broader proposal of incorporating justiciable social and economic rights into Canadian law, and the range of arguments both for and against recognizing social condition as a prohibited ground of discrimination. In the end, the authors recommend a feasible and practical means for adding social condition to the Canadian Human Rights Act so that it will provide predictability for administrators, adjudicators and respondents, as well as sufficient flexibility to reflect the multi-faceted and intersectional experience of discrimination of human rights claimants. While socio-economic inequality continues to be a significant and pressing problem in need of a multi-pronged and comprehensive solution, the addition of the ground of social condition to the CHRA will be one more tool in advancing the rights and interests of those on the very margins of Canadian society. | |
