Submissions to The Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel

In November 1999, LEAF provided submissions to the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel on possible reforms to the Act.

LEAF’s submissions to the Review Panel were informed by three fundamental principles:

1. Women as a group, compared with men as a group, experience widespread and pervasive discrimination.
2. Women who are oppressed based on, for example, their race, class, sexual orientation, religion or disability, experience inequality different in degree and/or kind, in various contexts.
3. Law can be an effective tool for egalitarian social change.

In the submissions, LEAF identified several priority areas of concern with respect to possible Canadian Human Rights Act reform, including:

1. The meaning and effectiveness of the interpretation of “adverse effect discrimination” and the understanding of “undue hardship”
2. Canadian Human Rights Act process issues
3. The under-inclusiveness of the prohibited grounds of discrimination identified in the Act, especially as relating to women’s economic inequality
4. The statutory definition of multiple grounds of discrimination

LEAF’s goal in writing the submissions was to advance recommendations for reform to make the Canadian Human Rights Act a more effective tool to challenge discrimination and achieve substantive equality.

Fiona Sampson wrote the submissions for LEAF.