The Court of Appeal upheld the decision by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal that female communications operators employed by the police department were not entitled to pay equity with their mostly male peers at fire department. The appropriate standard of review was reasonableness. The tribunal’s decision that the female communications operators were employed by the Vancouver Police Board and the fire dispatchers were employed by the City of Vancouver, and thus equity considerations did not apply as between the two groups, was reasonable.

25. October 2005 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Gender – Wage disparity – Employment law – Pay equity – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Reid v. Vancouver Police Board, [2005] B.C.J. No. 1832, British Columbia Court of Appeal, August 18, 2005, Donald, Lowry and ...

On an application for judicial review of a decision of a Human Rights Commissioner (the “Commissioner”), the court found that the Commissioner erred in law in finding gender discrimination against the complainant with respect to her rate of pay as a summer police constable. However, the court found that the Commissioner’s decision that the complainant was discriminated against in employment on the basis of gender was supported by the evidence and there was therefore no reviewable error with respect to that issue.

27. July 2004 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Commission – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Gender – Burden of proof – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness simpliciter DeWare v. Kensington (Town), [2004] P.E.I.J. No. 40, Prince Edward Island Supreme Court – Trial Division, May 28, 2004, Matheson J. The ...

The court held that the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal had erred by accepting jurisdiction to decide an issue of alleged discrimination in an application of the Income Security Act, when the legislature had confirmed exclusive jurisdiction on a different tribunal, the Commission des Affaires Sociales (CAS), to hear appeals in respect of decisions made under the Act

27. July 2004 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Jurisdiction to hear a complaint under the Income Security Act – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Gender – Judicial review – Jurisdiction of tribunal – Statutory powers Quebec (Attorney General) v. Quebec (Human Rights Tribunal), [2004] S.C.J. No. 35, Supreme Court of Canada, June ...

The Petitioners, female communications operators at the Vancouver Police Department, sought judicial review of a Human Rights Tribunal’s decision dismissing their claims that they were paid less than male communications operators doing the same work at the Vancouver Fire Department contrary to sections 12 and 13 of the Human Rights Code (the “Code”). The Tribunal concluded that for the purposes of wage discrimination under section 12 of the Code, the City, who employed the Fire Dispatchers, was not the Petitioner’s employer and therefore no wage-discrimination between employees of different sexes could have occurred.

28. October 2003 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Wage disparity – Gender – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness Reid v. Vancouver (City), [2003] B.C.J. No. 2043, British Columbia Supreme Court, September 3, 2003, Garson J. Section 12 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, ...

The Minister of Health Planning was successful in overturning a portion of the remedy aspect of a decision of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal directing the Minister to amend the birth registration form to provide an option of identifying as a parent, a non-biological parent who is the co-parent of a mother or a father. The court found that the Human Rights Tribunal was within its jurisdiction to Order that the Minister cease discriminating against same gender parents but exceeded its jurisdiction in directing that the Minister take specific steps with respect to altering the birth registration form.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Jurisdiction – Remedies – Declaratory relief – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Sexual orientation – Gender – Parent – definition – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness British Columbia (Minister of Health Planning) v. British Columbia (Human Rights Tribunal), [2003] B.C.J. No. 17552, British ...

A university professor complained that he had been discriminated against under the Universities Academic Pension Plan on the basis of gender as the pension plan provided less of a monthly pension benefit to a married male employee and his spouse than a married female employee and her spouse where the employees and their spouses are of the same age and where the employees have made the same contributions to the Plan over the same length of time. The Chief Commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission (the “Commissioner”) dismissed the complaint as being “without merit”. The standard of review with respect to the Commissioner’s decision on legal issues or matters of mixed fact and law is that of correctness while the standard for factual findings is reasonableness simpliciter. The Commissioner’s conclusion that the complaint was “without merit” was unreasonable. The Commissioner’s function is that of a gatekeeper. His role is to determine if there is sufficient evidence to justify passing a complaint on to a human rights panel. In this case, there was sufficient basis in the evidence that the Commissioner ought to have advanced this matter to the next stage.

26. November 2002 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Gender – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness simpliciter Mis v. Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission), [2002] A.J. No. 1320, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, October 29, 2002, Lee J. The applicant university professor sought to set aside a decision of the ...