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03/05/2006

The Canadian Human Rights Commission Tables its 2005 Annual Report

Ottawa – May 3, 2006 – The Canadian Human Rights Commission tabled its 2005 Annual Report today in the House of Commons. The report describes significant improvements to the Commission’s productivity over the past four years and changes to the organization’s structure. After thoroughly modernizing itself, the Commission begins a new phase with a clear focus on prevention and research.

"Improvements to the Commission’s processes have had clear results and created a solid foundation for continuing its important work on behalf of Canadians," said Mary Gusella, who will retire as Chief Commissioner on May 30th. "While continuing to address complaints, we can now tackle human rights issues through other means, such as prevention and research."

Since 2002, the Commission has increased its productivity substantially. By the end of February 2006, it had reduced the number of active cases by 44%, and virtually eliminated a backlog of cases. The average age of cases at the Commission is now 9.5 months, compared to 25 months in 2002, and the Commission is making steady progress toward a service standard by which 85% of cases will be resolved within one year’s time.

In 2005, the Commission continued to refine its complaint process. "We know from experience that it is better to resolve problems sooner rather than later," said Ms. Gusella. "That is why we have directed more resources to the early stages of the complaint process, so that we can give the parties every opportunity to resolve their differences before they grow into damaging and lengthy disputes."

Because the Commission strongly believes in the transformative potential of alternative dispute resolution processes, it continues to offer mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution at every stage of a complaint, including preventive mediation before a complaint is even filed. Disputes are being resolved this way at a steady rate from year to year.

At the same time, the Commission is focussing efforts on preventing discrimination from occurring in the first place. Through a new Discrimination Prevention program, the Commission works with employers and service providers to put in place information, training and workplace policies that may prevent many abuses and disputes. As Ms. Gusella points out: "After just one year, there is already evidence that the Commission is receiving fewer complaints from organizations which are part of our prevention strategy, and we will monitor this impact closely."

As part of its new focus on research, the Commission completed three special projects aimed at promoting systemic change:

• It issued a report called No Answer that found that the Government of Canada is failing to adequately accommodate the needs of Canadians who cannot use the regular government telephone system because of a disability. As a result of this report, the Commission and the Treasury Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding which commits the two organizations to work together to quickly resolve this issue.
• In another report, A Matter of Rights, the Commission called on Parliament to repeal section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which denies First Nations People living on reserves access to protection under the Act. Under section 67, First Nations people living on reserves are still treated as second class citizens, a situation that must be addressed immediately by Parliament.
• The Commission also held a conference to discuss how different organizations could coordinate their efforts to combat hate on the Internet. The Commission has a mandate under section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act to combat hate on the Internet. Section 13 is a unique provision in human rights law that gives the Commission the power to investigate complaints regarding the use of the Internet to transmit hate messages.

Other research reports and prevention initiatives are in preparation to be released and implemented in 2006.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission is committed to continually improving its management practices, and to using its resources in the most effective and efficient way possible to promote and protect human rights.

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For more information: Kathrin Stokes-Bonhomme : (613) 943-9119