Human rights legislation across Canada has similarities and differences. Most legislation covers discrimination in specific contexts (such as services customarily available to the public) and membership in professional associations or trade unions, or relationships (such as employment or landlord and tenant). Many also cover statements made in public. People are often protected from discrimination on […]
About Linda McKay-Panos
Linda McKay-Panos, BEd. JD, LLM is the Executive Director of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre in Calgary, Alberta.
Charter of Rights and Homeless Persons
March 6, 2018 By Linda McKay-Panos
Many Canadians are living in poverty, and people from certain groups are overrepresented in those who are suffering poverty’s adverse effects, no matter how we measure or define “poverty”. For example, a 2015 study by the Edmonton Social Planning Council revealed troublesome statistics: one in eight Edmontonians lives below the poverty line; Alberta has the […]
Age Discrimination in Alberta Human Rights Legislation: New Developments
January 5, 2018 By Linda McKay-Panos
Alberta will be amending its Alberta Human Rights Act RSA 2000, c A-25.5 (“Act”), to expand protections for age discrimination and include improved program protections. Bill 23, which introduced amendments to the Act, was passed on November 14, 2017. These amendments were scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2018. The changes were prompted […]
Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act: Canada Seeks to Hold Foreign Officials Accountable for Human Rights Abuses
November 1, 2017 By Linda McKay-Panos
On October 4, 2017, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, announced that the House of Commons passed a Bill that originated in the Senate: the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law) (as the “Magnitsky Act”). The Bill must be approved again by the Senate before it becomes law. It is […]
Interveners in Human Rights Cases
September 8, 2017 By Linda McKay-Panos
Canadian courts, even though they are not litigants, third parties may have an interest in intervening in court proceedings because the court’s judgment may affect them or others whom they represent. They often have information that they believe may be relevant to the courts in making their decisions. In Canada, interveners usually appear in appellate […]
