Like all Canadians, everyone at the Canadian Human Rights Commission is grieving and grappling with the shocking attack on innocent pedestrians, men and women, in what appears to be in the name of misogyny.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is concerned by Quebec’s recent adoption of Bill 62, the Religious Neutrality Law, which prohibits public workers, as well as those receiving public services from covering their faces.
Tomorrow, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) will appear before the Supreme Court of Canada to argue on behalf of the people of Canada—that they be allowed to use the human rights system to fight discrimination when it results from a federal law.
Remarks to House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Bill C-65, Marie-Claude Landry, Chief Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission
“It is widely acknowledged that our aging and elderly populations are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, and these vulnerabilities are all the more acute during and after a period of incarceration,” said Marie-Claude Landry, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. “Our organizations are uniquely placed to assess these vulnerabilities and provide a way forward.”
Looking back, I believe 2017 will be remembered as a pivotal year for the advancement of equality in Canada – a tipping point. It was a year when the invisible became visible. When the tolerable became intolerable. People across Canada joined the chorus of voices around the world speaking out against discrimination and harassment in ways we have not seen in decades.
Ten years ago today, the United Nations adopted a declaration that affirmed to the entire world, the rights of Indigenous peoples as equal members of the human family. For Canada, it meant that the rights of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples were now given due recognition by international human rights law.
These changes come in the wake of Parliament’s recent change to the Canadian Human Rights Act, which added “gender identity or expression” to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.
“Late in December, the Quebec Court of Appeal gave its opinion that the criminal sanctions in the federal law prohibiting genetic discrimination, which was passed in 2017, are unconstitutional and beyond the power of the federal government.
Canada must do more to address hate, Marie-Claude Landry, Ad. E., Chief Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission