Technical Amendments
Committee received a submission from Mr. Sheldon Toner, Chair of the Human Rights Adjudication Panel, recommending technical amendments to Bill 30.
Subclause 12(2) of Bill 30 proposes a new subsection, 29(2.4), in the act. This new subsection provides that, in hearing an appeal of refusal to accept a complaint, the Human Rights Commission will adopt the adjudication panel's process with such modifications as the circumstances require. In the adjudication panel's submission, Mr. Toner argues that the proposed wording of this subclause is potentially confusing because it implies that the adjudication panel rather than the commission hears these appeals. He further suggests that the commission should be able to determine its own process rather than adopt that of the commission, which was established for a different purpose.
Committee agreed with this assessment and moved Motion 4 to amend the bill to specify that the commission will establish its own appeal process.
Subclauses 21(2) to (6) of Bill 30 deal with the matter of "carriage of complaints," which refers to who has procedural leadership for presenting evidence and arguments before the commission or the courts. The submission argues that the provisions giving the executive director carriage of complaints should appear in part 5 of the act, which is dedicated to commission hearings where carriage is exercised.
The committee again reviewed the human rights acts of other Canadian jurisdictions and learned that six of 11 human rights statutes contain provisions providing for carriage of complaints. In all of these instances, the provisions specifying carriage of complaints are set out in the part of each act dealing with parties to adjudication. This is consistent with the proposal contained in the submission from the Human Rights Adjudication Panel. For this reason, committee was persuaded that this change was appropriate and moved Motion 5 to amend subclauses 21(2) to (6) of the Bill 30. The amendments move the carriage of complaint provisions to section 53 of the act.
Further technical amendments were completed through Motion 3, which amends related references in the act, and Motion 8, which ensures the coming-into-force provisions of the act reflect this reorganization.
An additional unrelated technical amendment was made through Motion 2 to correct a drafting error in clause 9 the bill.
Evaluation Framework
Based on its reviews of the Human Rights Commission's annual reports, the committee believes the commission has undertaken a significant training directed at implementing a restorative approach in all of the work that it does. Committee is confident that this work will continue. Committee also has confidence that, to complement the extensive public relations materials it already produces, the commission will develop pamphlets and plan language materials to explain the changes to the act and the implementation of the restorative approach.
Committee supports the recommendation made by Alternatives North with respect to an evaluation framework and therefore makes the following recommendation.
Recommendation 1
The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Human Rights Commission develop an evaluation framework for assessing the efficacy of moving to a restorative process, which includes in its methodology a gender-based analysis and an assessment of the impacts on Indigenous people.
The Standing Committee on Government Operations further recommends that the findings of this review be tabled in the Legislative Assembly in the first sitting following April 1, 2021, at which time the amendments to the Human Rights Act made by Bill 30 will be fully implemented.
Clause-by-Clause Review of the Bill
The clause-by-clause review of the Bill was held on March 7, 2019. At this review, the committee moved the following motions:
Motion 1
That clause 2 of Bill 30 be amended by deleting paragraph (a) and substituting the following: "(a) in the second recital, by adding "or expression, genetic characteristics" after "gender identity"; and"
This motion was carried. However, the Minister did not concur, so the motion did not amend the bill.
Motion 2
That clause 9 of Bill 30 be amended in proposed paragraph 23(1)(c) by striking out "or by the commission" and substituting "and by the commission."
The motion was carried, and the Minister concurred. The bill will be amended accordingly.
Motion 3
That subclause 11(1) of Bill 30 be amended by deleting proposed paragraph 27(1)(e) and substituting the following: "(e) have carriage of complaints on behalf of the Commission in accordance with subsections 53(4) to (6);"
The motion was carried, and the Minister concurred. The bill will be amended accordingly.
Motion 4
That subclause 12(2) of Bill 30 be amended by deleting proposed subclause 29(2.4) and substituting the following: "(2.4) The commission shall establish a process for conducting an appeal under subsection (2.3)."
The motion was carried and the Minister concurred. The bill will be amended accordingly.
Motion 5
That Bill 30 be amended by (a) deleting subclause 21(2) and renumbering subclause 21(1) and clause 21; (b) and adding the following after subclause 23(2):
"(3) The following is added after subsection 53(3):
(4) The commission has carriage of a complaint before the adjudication panel.
(5) The commission may elect to have carriage of complaint in a proceeding before a court.
(6) For greater certainty, the commission has carriage of a complaint for the purposes of representing the public interest and upholding the principles of the act."
The motion was carried, and the Minister concurred. The bill will be amended accordingly.
Motion 6
That paragraph 24(b) of Bill 30 be amended by deleting proposed subparagraph 62(3)(a)(ix) and substituting the following: "(ix) to do anything that the adjudicator considers appropriate for the purpose of preventing the same or any similar contravention in the future; and"
The motion was carried and the Minister concurred. The bill will be amended accordingly.
Motion 7
That clause 25 of Bill 30 be deleted and the following substituted: "25. Subsection 72(1) is repealed and subsection 72(2) is renumbered as section 72."
The motion was carried and the Minister concurred. The bill will be amended accordingly.
Motion 8
That clause 29 of Bill 30 be amended by (a) deleting paragraph (2)(d) and substituting the following: "(d) section 21;" and (b) deleting subclause (3) and substituting the following: "(3) Subsections 11(1) and 23(3) come into force April 1, 2021."
CONCLUSION
During the clause-by-clause review of the bill, committee moved Motion 1 to add "genetic characteristics" as a prohibited ground for discrimination. The Minister declined to concur with this motion, setting out his views in remarks made during the discussion on Motion 1 and providing committee with a letter solicited by the Department of Justice from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association.
Committee is well aware, through its research and through Canada's experience with Bill S-201, that the insurance industry does not support the prohibition on discrimination based on genetic characteristics. Committee notes that the Minister did not solicit input from organizations supporting the interests of those with genetic diseases.
On the day following the clause-by-clause review, the chair of the standing committee tabled documents supporting the committee's position. The Minister tabled the letter that he provided to the committee from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association. The committee looks forward to further debate on this matter in House.
For those motions moved during the clause-by-clause review with which he did concur, the committee thanks the Minister of Justice for his concurrence. Committee also thanks the public for their participation in the review process and everyone involved in the review of this bill for their assistance and input.
Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act, as amended and reprinted, as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.
This concludes the Standing Committee on Government Operations' Review of Bill 30.
