Equality of the Sexes and the Canadian Human Rights Commission
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/07/06
I want to speak this morning about the relevance of human rights in the provincial, territorial, federal, and international levels.
The stipulations in some documents provide the basis for non-discrimination in civic, political, and professional life. The individual protected life through the provisions of the equality of others in group identifications remains foundational but interrelated with the concrete notion of the embedded individual. Here, we find the notion of the individual within the group but also distinct and unique and aside from it. A neat conceptualization of a person, not quite group only as in some philosophies or as an individual rugged, alone, and striving seen in others.
Rather, we find the provision for the equal life of the individual citizen with the protection of them and their standard identifications, which seems reasonable within a bureaucratic system. They need classifications for collectives and individuals, which leads to the basis of the Canadian Human Rights Commission based on the Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977.
The act is purposed for the extension of the laws in effect within Canada. The intention comes from the “matters coming within the legislative authority of Parliament.” It has a scope of all peoples and persons within Canadian society. Then these two directions come together for the equal opportunity and access for all peoples and persons within Canadian society without regard for the individual’s “race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability or conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted or in respect of which a record suspension has been ordered.”
With respect to the nature of the equality of the sexes, the equal access to the levers of the society through work becomes integral to the fundamental notion of the equality of the sexes. It does not lie in the separation of men and women or in the restriction in one and the enhancement of the other, but the recognition of the inherent equality in rights of men and women.
From this frame of mind or reference point, the equality provided for through the act becomes enforceable in various domains with the commission as one potential area in which to do it.
The work of the commission amounts to “an Agent of Parliament.” In this, the commission operates in an independent way apart from the government while also performing the function of a human rights observer: also known as a watchdog. The interest of the commission is the interest of the public with the holding of the Canadian government accountable on the matters of human rights.
In the case of work, for example, if there is an explicit mistreatment or inequality based on the sex of the individual, and if this happens with the workplace as an instance, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Act become important for the maintenance of the equality, which raises some questions about the work of the commission as the act is separate, but, granted, associated in some important ways.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission works to “research, raise awareness and speak out on any matter related to human rights in Canada.” That is, the documentation and the act of finding out what is really the case is an important aspect of the work of the commission. With the research component in place, the raising of awareness of an individual citizen’s rights is important as a function and process of the commission because this can provide individual Canadians with the ability to act on that knowledge.
If an individual Canadian citizen of any stripe of background does not know about their individual rights, then they would not have any recourse for dealing with any potential discrimination and violation of said rights because the basis of any action is information translated from knowledge into action. The awareness component is not a trivial aspect of the functions of the commission. In addition, the commission as an explicit interest and, indeed, duty to do its due diligence in acting and speaking out on the violations of the human rights of Canadian citizens.
The basis for the research, raising of awareness, and the speaking out on areas of discrimination, as provided in the act, comes from 11 grounds – one or more at once – with one including sex. While at work, the commission will receive complaints with the respondent and the complainant being responded to, in order to resolve the issue of the complaint through mediation.
In the cases where there is an inability to resolve a complaint through the mediation, the commission will further examine the complaint to see if there is a justification for further work. And in fact, if this develops far enough, the commission will then make a referral of the complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The commission works on a number of fronts including the employers who have federal regulation because there needs to be an alignment with what the company or organization does and the statements in the Employment Equity Act. Through all of these mechanisms, there is the work to look into and settle the areas of potential discrimination against Canadian citizens.
These bases protect the equality of men and women in order for further equality and fairness to exist not only in the workplace, as per one example, but also across the country.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 