REALity – Volume XXXIV Issue No.10 October 2015
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (the “Commission”) was established in 1977 to protect individuals in federal jurisdictions from discrimination. Its jurisdiction covered the public service, the armed forces, the RCMP and the national banks.
The appointed employees of the Commission were not required to apply standard legal procedures and protections, such as the presumption of innocence and the impartial weighing and interpreting of evidence, which serve as safeguards for all parties involved. It also was not a neutral agency since it was staffed by human rights activists who promoted their own favourite causes. The Commission not only investigated the complaint and determined the evidence, but also assisted the complainant in drafting the complaint and collaborated with him to argue his case before the Commission’s Tribunal.
Altogether, the Commission operated like a kangaroo court of deceit and partisan activity. It was a zealous enforcer of political correctness and played the role of conducting witch hunts against anyone who raised objections to the politically correct agenda – especially on the homosexual issue.
In 1998, the Auditor General, Denis Desautels, issued a scathing report on the Commission confirming that the Commission was a highly biased agency which failed to be neutral in dealing with complainants because of the special interest advocates sitting on the Commission pushing their own agenda.
If that were not enough to undermine its credibility, the Commission was also seething with internal problems.
In 2001, questions were raised about the exodus of workers – especially managers and investigators who were quitting the Commission in frustration. The fact that 63% of the then 200 strong staff quit, with 37% of those who remained looking for another job, made the working environment a disaster. The Chief Commissioner at that time, Ms. Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay, was absent a great deal of the time, on expensive travel abroad advising foreign officials how to implement their own human rights. Ms. Falardeau-Ramsay finally resigned in December 2002.
However, the Commission remained knee deep in controversy. Another Chief Commissioner, Jennifer Lynch, Q. C. also spent large sums of money on travel and other “necessities” and experienced revolt among her staff accompanied by low morale, back biting and huge staff turnovers.
This bizarre Commission then began to face even more problems. These included budget cutbacks; the repeal by the Conservatives in 2013 of section 13 of the Human Rights Act, which had given the Commission powerful jurisdiction over the determination of hate speech; the courts also gave to other tribunals human rights jurisdiction where the Commission had previously enjoyed it exclusively. Further, the courts removed the power of the Commission to order costs against the “guilty” party. Finally, in 2015, the courts declared that the Commission did not have the authority to review federal laws to determine discrimination. It was restricted to deciding only a private dispute. Oh, the heartbreak.
Once a glorious colossus which strode across all those who worked within federal jurisdiction, looking for signs of loathsome discrimination (as they so defined), the Commission has now been reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. On the bright side, however, many Canadians are now outside the Commission’s reach and its bizarre behaviour.N0.10 October 2015