Each year, thousands of people contact the Commission looking for help. Whether by phone or by mail, or by email, we provide members of the public with help and relevant information on a variety of human rights related issues, quickly and informally. We are able to help most of the people who contact us without them having to file a formal discrimination complaint.
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Screening complaints
As a federal human rights screening body, the Commission helps people figure out if they have the basis for a human rights complaint, and if so, where to go — whether through our federal system, or through another mechanism like a union grievance or a provincial or territorial human rights commission or tribunal.
The Commission can only accept discrimination complaints that meet the requirements outlined in the Canadian Human Rights Act.
A discrimination complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act requires:
- One or more grounds of discrimination, listed in the CHRA
- One or more discriminatory actions, listed in the CHRA
- The name of the federally regulated organization where this happened
- Describing how this has had a negative impact on your life
For many of the people who file complaints with the Commission, this is their first time interacting with the legal system. Most of them are doing this without legal representation. Our screening process helps complainants articulate their experiences in a way that shows the necessary criteria under the CHRA.
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Mediating and resolving disputes
Access to justice is more than just a day in court. In fact, most complaints the Commission screens are handled without a hearing, through early resolution either in mediation (participation is voluntary) or conciliation (participation is required). The Supreme Court of Canada has made it clear that this is an essential part of the Commission’s role: to help parties find meaningful resolutions efficiently.
Spending years in a court proceeding, like a Tribunal hearing, can be expensive, long, and emotionally taxing. Even in the most seemingly impossible situations, we have seen meaningful results from mediation and conciliation. By coming together and simply talking about what happened and the impact it has had — with no costs and with short timeframes — people are often able to find resolutions that address the harm they experienced and put in place measures to ensure others don’t experience that same harm.
Commission mediators and lawyers work to bring resolution in a wide range of discrimination cases, at various stages of the process — in mediation and conciliation at the Commission and in mediations before the Tribunal. Some of them are high profile, with the potential for systemic remedies that will impact the lives of many. Others are more individual, touching only the lives of only the parties involved. Every case matters. Every case is important.
Learn more about the benefits of our mediation services in our video "Mediation: A smart path to human rights justice".
Recent highlights:
In 2024, the Commission's team of mediators, working with the parties, successfully resolved approximately 200 human rights disputes, whether through mediation or conciliation. We saw several common themes this year in the cases the Commission mediated. For example:
- complaints involving the human rights of trans prisoners in Canada's federal prison system
- complaints about federal funding in First Nations communities for essential services
- complaints alleging a lack of adequate accommodation from the airline industry for both passengers with disabilities and employees with disabilities (Note: This type of complaint is normally under the purview of the Canadian Transportation Agency, but at the discretion of the Commission.)
- complaints of systemic anti-Black racism in the banking sector, also known as "banking while black.” (Read more about it in our 2024 Annual Report to Parliament.)
The majority of these settlements are confidential. However, in some cases, as part of the settlements, the parties agree to go public. Read more under our Settlement statements.
Referring complaints to Tribunal
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (Tribunal) is entirely separate and independent from the Commission. It works like a court — with full hearings where testimony and evidence are presented. Only the Tribunal can decide whether or not discrimination has taken place.
The Commissioners can decide to send a complaint to the Tribunal for a more in-depth inquiry and a hearing.
This decision, like all decisions on all human rights complaints, is made by the executive committee that includes the Chief Commissioner, and the Commission’s full-time and part-time Commissioners. Together, they are often referred to as “the Commission.” They are each appointed by The Governor in Council to make informed, impartial and independent decisions on human rights complaints.
Recent highlights:
In 2024, the Commission referred 95 cases to Tribunal.
- 38% were related to service
- 61% were related to employment
- 28% involved allegations of harassment
Note: these figures are not meant to add up to 100%, but to show the various issues involved in the cases, often with overlapping, intersecting issues at play
Race-based complaints
Since 2021, the Commission has been dedicated to improving the way we handle race-based complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Changes to our complaints process —including training and expert recommendations on understanding the way in which systemic racism manifests in society and how we used evidence to assess referrals —are making a meaningful difference.
We have fully operationalized the changes we made, are expanding on them, and are allowing them to change our organizational culture.
Decreasing the number of complaints we dismiss
The percentage of race-based complaints being dismissed has decreased significantly.
It has also been consistently lower than the overall dismissal rate since 2021.
In 2018, when we first began taking a concerted look at this issue, the dismissal rate was 26% versus the dismissal rate for all complaints which was 22%.
As the changes we had made became embedded in our processes and governance structures, positive change was apparent in the data. In 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, the dismissal rates for race-based complaints remained lower at 7%, 9%, 12%, and 13% respectively compared to all complaints in the same period, which were 10%, 13%, 16%, and 18% respectively.
Increasing the number of complaints we refer to Tribunal
Prior to 2020, the Commission referred between 6% and 10% of complaints (including race-based complaints) to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The proportion of race-based complaints being referred to the Tribunal has increased and has been consistently higher than the overall rate since 2020.
Since 2020, the referral rate for race-based complaints was 38% in 2020; 18% in 2021; 21% in 2022; 27% in 2023; and 23% in 2024. This compared to all complaints in the same period, which were 26%, 19%, 16%, 15%, and 12% in these respective years.
The referral rate can vary from year to year depending on a variety of factors. For example, it was much higher in both 2020 and 2023 —when large groupings of similar complaints were submitted at the same time. There were nearly 100 such complaints in 2020 and more than 50 in 2023.
Strategic litigation
The Commission uses strategic litigation to advance anti-racism jurisprudence and legal precedents in race-based discrimination cases.
Strategic litigation, also known as impact litigation, is the practice of pursuing specific cases to create social change. In recent years, the Commission has prioritized our role in race-based discrimination cases. We do so to push for systemic anti-racism change, and to strengthen jurisprudence for anti-racism cases in Canadian law, which will make it easier for people to access justice in cases of racial discrimination.
Over the past year, race-based complaints represented an average of 58% of our Tribunal caseload. Of the complaints we referred to the Tribunal in 2024, we participated in 83% of the race-based cases.
This includes making legal arguments and presenting evidence in many of the cases, as well as participating in mediation and case management.
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Our complaints data
In 2024, the Commission accepted over 540 new complaints.
At the start of 2024, the Commission had:
- over 2,200 inquiries and potential complaints in our system
- over 1,400 accepted complaints in our inventory
Over the course of 2024, the Commission:
- Received over 4,200 new inquiries and potential complaints.
- Resolved over 3,800 inquiries and potential complaints.
- Accepted over 540 new complaints that met the requirements under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
- Rendered 644 final decisions in complaints in our inventory.
- 223 complaints were settled.
- 119 complaints were dismissed.
- 224 final decisions were rendered at the preliminary issues stage.
- 95 complaints were referred to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for adjudication.
At the end of 2024, the Commission had:
- over 2,600 inquiries and potential complaints in our system
- over 1,360* accepted complaints in our inventory
*In some cases, complaints are closed without the need for a formal Commission decision. For example, the person chooses to withdraw from the process, or resolves their issue on their own.
Proportion of accepted complaints by grounds of discrimination cited:
Race-Colour-National or Ethnic Origin*
- Accepted in 2024: 46%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 36%
*Includes complaints citing any of the three grounds of race, colour, or national/ethnic origin as these grounds of discrimination are typically cited together.
Disability
- Accepted in 2024: 45%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 51%
Sex
- Accepted in 2024: 26%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 21%
Religion
- Accepted in 2024: 18%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 13%
Family Status
- Accepted in 2024: 16%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 12%
Age
- Accepted in 2024: 10%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 11%
Sexual Orientation
- Accepted in 2024: 6%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 4%
Gender Identity
- Accepted in 2024: 6%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 3%
Marital Status
- Accepted in 2024: 2%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 3%
Pardoned Conviction
- Accepted in 2024: 0%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 0%
Genetic Characteristics
- Accepted in 2024: 0%
- Accepted from 2020 to 2024: 0%
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Learn about your human rights
To learn about your human rights, what is discrimination, what is harassment, what is the duty to accommodate, and how our discrimination complaint process works, consult these resources: