Media Room

A Matter of Rights

A Special Report of the Canadian Human Rights Commission on the Repeal of Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act

On October 26, 2005, the Commission released a report calling for the immediate repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Our Chief Commissioner, Mary Gusella, has called section 67 a hole in the fabric of human rights protection in Canada that needs to be fixed and a situation that is a national and international embarrassment for Canada. The section excludes First Nations people living in on-reserve communities from filing human rights complaints relating to any action arising from or pursuant to the Indian Act. As a result, they are the only group of Canadians who cannot turn to the Commission for assistance when they feel they have been discriminated against.

This is not the first time the Commission has asked for section 67 to be repealed. In fact, it has done so repeatedly since the section was included in the Canadian Human Rights Act 28 years ago. In issuing A Matter of Rights: A Special Report of the Canadian Human Rights Commission on the Repeal of Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Commission wants to highlight the fact that First Nations people, like all other residents of Canada, are entitled to the full range of fundamental rights, including protection from discrimination. After 28 years, it is high time this gap in human rights protection be closed.
  
One day before the Commission announced the release of A Matter of Rights at a news conference held in Ottawa, Senator Noël Kinsella introduced a bill in the Senate to repeal section 67.  And on November 1, the United Nations Human Rights Committee called on Canada to repeal the section, after reviewing Canada’s Fifth Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and pointing to section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act as one of several outstanding issues related to Aboriginal rights in this country. The Committee noted that section 67 in effect allows discrimination as long as it can be justified under the Indian Act.

The Commission is encouraged to see that its concern for this important issue is shared by others, both in Canada and abroad. In bringing the matter to the attention of the public and Parliament, we hope that urgent action will be taken without any further delay to correct a long-standing and unacceptable situation.