Human-rights commissions are getting a bad rap – Sure, there are some excesses, but the commissions still do a lot of good work
“Disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind… (A) world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration…”
- 1948 Universal Declaration of Human rights
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So far, it has not been a banner year in Canada.
Articles and editorials slam human-rights commissions’ work. Fights are being picked between communities of Canadians who should be working together. The free-speech debate has become a Trojan horse for attacking commissions in particular and several human-rights issues more broadly.
Some argue that commissions wield too much power. Others accuse them of wasting time on bizarre cases. Some complain that they are redundant and should be abolished.
Rights and freedoms are better protected today in Canada than ever. But even today, more than 10,000 people file complaints annually with human-rights agencies in Canada. Employment cases like these account for more than half:
An Ontario taxi company that hired only white drivers a few years ago did not advertise its preferences, but excluded non-whites quietly. South Asian drivers filed human-rights complaints and won.
Only a few weeks ago, the Quebec human-rights commission reached a landmark settlement to resolve the claims of 3,000 women whose jobs were underpaid at the Université de Montréal.
Such problems represent the vast majority of commission business, but are generally ignored. The ones that preoccupy the media – the free-speech cases for example – are a tiny percentage.
Alan Borovoy has observed that commissions should stick to their knitting and that they should not limit free speech. Forty years ago, he argues, commissions dealt with things like employment and housing – so that is all they should do today.
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