Month: December 2014

I was a bit surprised by Minister Bennett’s statement that I was 100% wrong when I suggested in a CBC radio interview that BC Hydro didn’t need to start on Site C right away.  He emphatically disputed the suggestion that the decision and start of construction on Site C  could be deferred three to five… View Article

The latest poverty statistics were released by Statistics Canada last Wednesday, and the data once again shows that British Columbia has one of the highest poverty rates in Canada. Using the Low Income Cut-Off – After Tax (LICO-AT) as the poverty line, 1 in 10 British Columbians are living in poverty. That’s 469,000 people struggling… View Article

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Harper declared that, given oil prices plummeting to $60-70 a barrel, now would be a “crazy” time to introduce regulations on the oil and gas sector. This comes after promising nine years ago that the federal government would bring in new GHG regulations on the oil and gas sector (but… View Article

By Lynell and Melanie Anderson Our understanding of rights evolves along with society, yet the required and corresponding evolution in government policy in BC is stagnant. Re-establishing the Human Rights Commission, as recommended in a new report, could change this reality. We’re passionate about women’s and children’s rights, and concerned about the rights of mothers… View Article

Today, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Poverty and Human Rights Centre released a report on the need for a human rights commission in British Columbia. Yes. You read that right. British Columbia has no human rights commission. It is the only province in Canada without a publicly-funded independent agency that works to… View Article

In BC the human rights of people experiencing mental illness are routinely violated through the use of Section 28 under the BC Mental Health Act which is implemented when a person is thought to be a danger to themselves or others. A recent Globe and Mail article indicated that these apprehensions in BC (frequently initiated… View Article

Human rights are everyone’s business. The social climate we live in affects us all. When people are subjected to prejudice and discrimination because they are aboriginal or because of their gender or because of their sexual orientation or for some other reason, it creates a society that is more ugly, less safe and less human… View Article

Let me explain BC’s strategy for addressing discrimination. First, we ask someone to experience it. Then we ask that person to understand a complex area of law, investigate the facts and engage in a legal proceeding against their employer / landlord / service provider to enforce their rights. We ask many people to do this… View Article

The human rights process starts with the filing of a complaint of discrimination. In BC, the complaint is filed with the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Filing an effective complaint requires a good deal of time and effort. It can be hard to devote that time and effort if, for example, someone has been fired because… View Article

British Columbia is the only province in Canada that does not have a Human Rights Commission. That makes us the weakest province when it comes to fostering human rights awareness and preventing discrimination. Currently BC only has a Human Rights Tribunal, which mediates and adjudicates complaints about discrimination after it has occurred. The Tribunal does… View Article