Human Rights and Family Responsibilities: Family Status Discrimination Under Human Rights Law in British Columbia and Canada -- A Study Paper
BCLI Study Paper no. 5
135 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2012
Date Written: September 15, 2012
Abstract
The British Columbia Human Rights Code, like all human rights statutes, prohibits discrimination in a variety of contexts, including employment, service or facility customarily available to the public, and tenancy, where differential treatment is linked to a prohibited ground. The original list of grounds included race, creed, colour, nationality, ancestry and place of origin. The list has gradually been expanded over the years to include religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation and age. Human rights statutes have existed in Canada for about fifty years, and early anti-discrimination laws can be traced back to the 1940s; however, the appearance of family status as a prohibited ground is relatively new. This ground first appeared in a Canadian human rights statute in 1981, and was added to the B.C. Code in 1992.
To date there has been little consideration of the ground of family status. This Study Paper aims to: (1) conduct a thorough review of legislation and jurisprudence in relation to the family status ground in Canada; (2) describe the issues and problems with treatment of the family status ground in B.C.; (3) develop scholarly research and analysis of issues relating to the family status ground; (4) foster discussion regarding the purpose and function of the family status ground in contemporary law and society; and (5) identify further questions for consideration to give effect to the notion of inclusive communities and respect for diversity of family configurations in B.C.
Keywords: family status, discrimination, human rights, accommodation, equality, prohibited grounds
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