The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal () is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the ''
Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...
and is independent of the
Canadian Human Rights Commission which refers cases to it for adjudication under the act.
The tribunal holds hearings to investigate complaints of discriminatory practices and may order a respondent to a complaint to cease a practice, as well as order a respondent to pay compensation to the complainant.
Decisions of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal are reviewable by Canada's
Federal Court. Federal Court decisions can then be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. The Federal Court can also issue and enforce decisions made by the tribunal if violations continue and imprison an offender for
contempt of court if a decision continues to be disregarded. This has happened in the cases of
John Ross Taylor in 1981 and
Tomasz Winnicki in 2006.
Justice
Anne Mactavish was appointed Chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in 1998. On November 9, 2003, J. Grant Sinclair succeeded Mactavish as the Chair of the Tribunal. On September 10, 2009, Shirish P. Chotalia was appointed as his successor and served to 2012. Chotalia implemented Access to Justice through customized hearing procedures focussed on restorative justice; parties reported 94 per cent satisfaction. On September 2, 2014, David L. Thomas was appointed the Chair of the Tribunal for a seven-year term.
Previously its Vice-Chairperson, Jennifer Khurana was the Tribunal's acting Chairperson from September 2, 2021 until March 24, 2022.
On March 25, 2022, Khurana was appointed the Tribunal's Chairperson for a seven-year term.
In June 2018, the
Supreme Court of Canada found that the tribunal's determination that the ''
Indian Act'' did not violate the
Canadian Human Rights Act was reasonable due to
judicial deference.
See also
*
Shiv Chopra
*
Freedom of expression in Canada
*
Human rights in Canada
*
Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act
*
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
References
Access to Justice for Canadians—Customized Procedures
External links
Human rights enforcement agencies in Canada
National human rights institutions
Federal departments and agencies of Canada
Human rights organizations based in Canada
1977 establishments in Canada
Canadian tribunals
Courts and tribunals established in 1977
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