Opening remarks for the Chief Commissioner - Day of dialogue: Canadian ministers, human rights commissions, and stakeholders

20 May, 2026

Regina (Saskatchewan)

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Thank you Karen, and thank you as well for your leadership as Chair of CASHRA.

I want to echo your words about how encouraged you were by Minister Miller's invitation to this event today. We see this event today as an important signal that this government values human rights as a key component of Canada's way forward.

Building on those reflections, I would like to briefly touch on three ideas that may help frame our dialogue today:

First: the unique role human rights commissions play in helping our various governments advance human rights commitments
Second: some examples of key human rights issues on our radar right now
And third: some human rights best practices and solutions that we invite Canada's governments, and our Honourable Ministers to consider

So to that first idea — a guiding idea for today: human rights commissions offer a unique value to governments that few other institutions can.

We offer independent, evidence-based expertise. Many of us use our expertise to advise governments on new laws, new programs, current gaps, and human rights-based solutions.

Across the country, we use different tools to cultivate this expertise:

...through analysis of the case law;

...through new research;

...through close engagement with advocacy groups and civil society;

...through complaints;

And through dialogue with people with lived experience.

We serve as a bridge between these expert communities.

It gives us a unique vantage point on the issues — allowing us to recognize not only what is happening, but why it is happening, and what can be done about it.

A great example of this is the work human rights commissions across Canada have undertaken on the issue of racial profiling.

There is a growing recognition that this remains a significant and systemic human rights concern across multiple sectors and jurisdictions.

For example, Ontario and British Columbia at the provincial level and Nova Scotia and Quebec at the municipal level, have conducted research and consultation on the issue of racial profiling in Canadian policing.

The use of AI tools in policing further raises human rights concerns about how human bias and over-policing of certain groups are becoming entrenched in the system.

This poses a serious threat to the right to privacy, freedom of expression, equality and liberty. It also risks diminishing trust in public institutions, ultimately undermining their effectiveness and authority.

Another way that human rights commissions are uniquely positioned to serve governments, is as early warning systems.

There is an inherent prevention side to our work. It allows us to help governments act sooner, and more cost-efficiently.

This positions us to translate international recommendations and legislative commitments into tangible, real-world outcomes across all jurisdictions.

First, at the federal level, the Canadian Human Rights Commission is recognized internationally as Canada's National Human Rights Institution. In that capacity, we:

Hold Canada to account on its international human rights obligations, including through submissions to UN treaty bodies and engagement with international review processes.
We raise new and emerging human rights concerns identified through complaints, compliance work, and engagement with people with lived experience.
And we use UN recommendations to advance federal domestic implementation, including legislative, policy, and systemic change.

Then at the provincial and territorial level, human rights commissions:

operationalize human rights through provincial and territorial human rights legislation, ensuring that equality rights are meaningfully enforced in key areas such as housing, services, employment, education, and healthcare. Two examples on this.
- First —the BC Government's implementation of their Anti- Racism Data Act. It is in large part due to recommendations from BC's Human Rights Commissioner in her “Grandmother Perspective Report” on the collection and use of disaggregated demographic data.
- And second —the Manitoba Human Rights Commission's participation in the governance of race, ethnicity and Indigenous identity data in Manitoba's health care system, ensuring its collection and use complies with human rights objectives.
Provincial and territorial commissions also help identify gaps and unintended impacts of laws or policies that are directly relevant to Canada's ability to meet its international commitments.
- For example, the advice of PEI's Human Rights Commission, alongside civil society's advocacy, led to the province expanding the list of procedures covered under its gender-affirming care policy, improving access to care for gender-diverse people. And all of this without the need for a formal complaint.
A finally, provincial and territorial commissions provide early insight into how systemic issues are experienced on the ground, in the daily lives of people in Canada, often before they become visible at the federal or international level.

That brings me to my second point to frame our discussions today: The emerging human rights issues on our radar.

For specifics, I will turn to my CASHRA colleagues to highlight particular issues they are following closely.

Overall, what we are seeing is that human rights issues in Canada are growing in both scale and complexity, with rising demand for Commission services, including complaints.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission alone saw a five-year high in both inquiries and accepted complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act in 2025.

Across jurisdictions, disability has historically been the most cited ground of discrimination in complaints.

Several jurisdictions have also reported increases in race-based complaints:

British Columbia and the Canadian Human Rights Commission reported that race-based complaints surpassed the number of disability complaints received in their jurisdictions for the first time in 2024.
And Nova Scotia, Quebec and Northwest Territories also saw an increase in race cases nearing the number of disability complaints they receive.

Federally, nearly one quarter of the complaints we are accepting now cite multiple grounds.

And we are seeing people use the human rights system to address historical wrongs and complex systemic issues, such as underfunding for government programs and services, and cases pushing for systemic anti-racism change.

These pressures on our services are unfolding amid a broader rollback in human rights progress, declining diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and an increase in hate and intolerance.

At the same time, the cost-of-living crisis is deepening inequality. It is not just an affordability crisis, it's a human rights crisis. And the people it is hitting the hardest are the same people who have long experienced systemic barriers.

An urgent example is how the rising cost of living is disproportionately impacting people with disabilities, as they face higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and homelessness.

A lack of adequate and accessible housing continues to force them into unsafe and unacceptable living situations.

The UN has raised concerns about a troubling trend that some people with disabilities in Canada are turning to Medical Assistance in Dying because they feel they do not have any other options.

Manitoba also recently highlighted concerns related to the discriminatory impact of laws and policies — such as forced treatment, detention or incarceration — impacting people with a substance use disability.

Across the country, human rights commissions are seeing how economic insecurity, inaccessible systems and discrimination intersect, and how quickly rights become fragile when people lack the basic conditions for dignity.

Because the measure of a rights-respecting society is not only the rights it recognizes on paper, but whether people can actually exercise them in practice.

And this is why our discussions today are so important.

A strong Canada depends on strong human rights protections.

And so, as we think about human rights solutions today, here are just a few to keep top of mind.

First: A shift toward proactive compliance
Proactive compliance is about taking the onus off individual complaints and putting it where it belongs—on Canadian institutions to create lasting change. We know that most human rights commissions in Canada are engaged in proactive activities that could be enhanced and supported with funding commensurate with the need.

At the federal level there are proactive human rights programs under the Accessible Canada Act and the Pay Equity Act. Provincially, my colleagues around the table may wish to raise their efforts underway.

Second: Using human rights commissions as early ‑warning partners
Use us! Use your human rights commissions' insights and expertise to help identify emerging risks before they escalate into litigation or UN findings.

Third: Embed human rights earlier in policy and systems design
Build a human rights approach into the front-end of major reforms (e.g. disability supports, housing, corrections, digital services, and AI) to reduce downstream harm and cost.

Fourth: Improve data for implementation and accountability
One of the best ways to guard against human rights violations is to ensure that law, policy and government practices are evidence-based. Human rights progress is made more meaningful when there is strong data to track it and monitor it.

And lastly: Create space for sustained FPT learning and coordination
Today is a perfect example. Forums just like this are ideal for sharing promising practices, systemic findings, and lessons learned on cross ‑cutting issues that no single jurisdiction can address alone.

And on that final note, on behalf of the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies, thank you for in this Day of Dialogue.

With so many from Canada's strong human rights community with us, I know it will be insightful and productive.

Thank you.