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Category: Human Rights Page 17 of 32

Blind Justice? Accommodating Offenders with Disabilities

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On November 18, 2013

In Constitutional, Criminal, Human Rights

PDF Version: Blind Justice? Accommodating Offenders with Disabilities

Case commented on: R v Myette, 2013 ABCA 371

To what degree should courts accommodate the circumstances of persons with disabilities whose crimes attract jail sentences? The Alberta Court of Appeal recently divided on this issue in R v Myette, 2013 ABCA 371. At the original sentencing hearing, Judge Heather Lamoureux found that a jail sentence would be “unduly harsh” in light of Myette’s visual impairment, and ordered a suspended sentence of 18 months for sexual assault and common assault (2013 ABPC 89 at para 16). A majority of the Court of Appeal (Justices Constance Hunt and Jack Watson) found her approach to be erroneous, and substituted a sentence of 90 days in jail, to be served intermittently on weekends.  Justice Peter Martin, writing in dissent, would have dismissed the Crown’s appeal. This post will review the various decisions in this case with a focus on whether sentencing decisions are the proper forum for accommodating the circumstances of offenders with disabilities.

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Supreme Court of Canada May Finally Clear up Issue of “Employment” in Human Rights Cases

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On November 4, 2013

In Human Rights, Labour/Employment

PDF Version: Supreme Court of Canada May Finally Clear up Issue of “Employment” in Human Rights Cases

Case commented on: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP v British Columbia (Human Rights Tribunal) 2012 BCCA 313; leave to appeal granted, Michael McCormick v Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, 2013 CanLII 11313 (SCC).

I have written a number of posts (see for example here and here) about the narrowing interpretation given to “employment” in discrimination cases under the Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000 c A-25.5. Since the Act protects individuals from discrimination in five areas (employment, notices, tenancy, services and accommodation, and trade unions), on several grounds (e.g., age, gender, race, colour, place of origin, ancestry, source of income, religious beliefs, family status, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, or sexual orientation), if the discrimination does not occur in an area defined as “employment” (or any of the other four areas) then the complainant cannot obtain a remedy under the Act. Consequently, one way that respondents seek to counter human rights complaints is by establishing that they do not fit within the current definition of “employment”, and hence the Commission does not have jurisdiction to deal with the complaint. As noted previously, the narrowing interpretation of “employment” seems to counter the overarching educational and remedial purpose of human rights law, and the “large and liberal interpretation” that is supposed to be given to provisions in the Act.

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The Vriend Case 15 Years Later

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On October 18, 2013

In Constitutional, Human Rights

By: Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: The Vriend Case 15 Years Later

Case and Legislation Commented On: Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 SCR 493; Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 SCR 493 [Vriend] in which the Court unanimously held that the lack of protection for discrimination based on sexual orientation in Alberta’s human rights legislation was an unconstitutional violation of Charter equality rights (for a previous post on the Vriend decision by Linda McKay Panos, see here). To celebrate the anniversary Delwin Vriend visited Alberta this week, and his visit included participation in a public forum organized by the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, as well as a visit to my human rights class at the law school.

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End? of a “Twenty-two-Year Odyssey” for Delorie Walsh

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On July 30, 2013

In Human Rights, Labour/Employment

PDF version: End? of a “Twenty-two-Year Odyssey” for Delorie Walsh

Case commented on: Walsh v Mobil Oil Canada, 2013 ABCA 238.

While several blogs have been written on the Walsh v Mobil Oil Canada case (see here, here and here), I was hoping not to have to write yet another one, and I really hope that the matter has come to a final conclusion, but I almost hesitate to so state. As noted by the majority of the Alberta Court of Appeal (Justices Paperny and McDonald, with Justice O’Ferrall concurring in the result), Ms. Walsh could not have known that when she filed her discrimination complaint against her former employer in 1991, it would lead to the termination of her employment and to a “22-year odyssey” to seek a remedy for her situation. As noted by the Court, Walsh appeared before the Human Rights Tribunal four times, the Court of Queen’s Bench twice, and this current case is Ms. Walsh’s second time before the Alberta Court of Appeal.

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Arbitration, Disability and Human Rights Cases

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On July 27, 2013

In Arbitration, Human Rights

PDF version: Arbitration, Disability and Human Rights Cases

Case commented on: AUPE v Alberta, 2013 ABCA 212.

This case involves the fairly technical issue of whether, in Alberta, a grievance involving a human rights issue should be resolved by an adjudicator who is entirely independent of the employer, who is a party. In this case, the collective agreement provided for the complaint to be resolved before a Designated Officer who was an employee of one of the parties, although not subject to the collective agreement. The Labour Relations Code, RSA 2000, c L-1 (Labour Code), section 135, provides that every collective agreement must include a dispute resolution mechanism, but does not contain any direct statement requiring that the arbitration mechanism must operate in circumstances absent a reasonable apprehension of bias (as is the case in some other provinces). There had been some prior cases involving section 135, but none of these involved a potential breach of both the collective agreement and the Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5 (AHRA).

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