The Search For Justice and Equality: Alberta's Human Rights History

Albertas human rights story
the
search for equality and justice
Dominique Clment and Rene Vaugeois, editors
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edited by Dominique Clment and Rene Vaugeois
Credits
Primary financial support provided by the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism fund of the Government of Alberta. Financial support also provided by the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta in honour of Gerald L. Gall.
We have made every effort to correctly identify and credit the sources of all information used in this book. The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights appreciates any further information or corrections; acknowledgement will be given in subsequent editions. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher.
Publisher: John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights Design: some production!, Edmonton, AB
The Search for Equality and Justice: Albertas Human Rights Story Albertas human rights story
ISBN: 978-0-9688905-4-7
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Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Introductory Remarks: Blair Mason, Q.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Introductory Remarks: Janet Keeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv About the Editors and Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Janice Ashcroft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix Arman Chak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx Dominique Clment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx Gerald Gall, O.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Jim Gurnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii Rene Vaugeois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Albertas Human Rights timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiv Human Rights Milestones: Albertas Rights Revolution . . . . . . . 1
Hutterites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Free Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Aboriginal Peoples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Human Rights Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Racial Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Human Rights Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Language Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sexual Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Eugenics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
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The Stories of Human Rights in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

The Alberta Legislature addresses human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Legal History of Human Rights in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Federal Protections of Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Provincial Protection of Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 The Alberta Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Significant Cases Arising in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Ombudsperson and Ombudsperson-like Legislation in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Alberta Human Rights Commission: Where does it belong? . 89

Alberta Human Rights Commission: The Chief Commissioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Indigenous Peoples: an important human rights issue in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The Role of the Commission in Albertas Human Rights Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

The Role of the Commission in Albertas Human Rights Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 The Beginnings of a Commission the Human Rights Branch, 1966-1971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 The Creation of the Commission-Strengthening the Mandate, 1972-1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 New Directions, 1980-1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Building on Success, 1989-1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 A Renewed Human Rights Movement, 1996-2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Projecting into the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Challenges and Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
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The work on the ground: Human Rights Commission and government staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Marie Riddle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Audrey Dean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Cassie Palamar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Nicholas Ameyaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Human Rights Cases: Meeting some participants . . . . . . . . . 163

Darren Lund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Ezra Levant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Donna Martyn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Denise Seeley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Community leadership and activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 The Value of Early Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 A Concluding Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
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Preface
The words forthcoming in these pages blend academic, legal and community reflections on the journey to realize human rights in Alberta. Dominique Clment launches off this important history with a concise
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has a history of struggle with human rights. The political discourse on human rights in the province has often been met with a retort. Those that may fear the language of human rights may not fully understand the core essence behind human rights and the idea that it is not about a relationship of forfeit and charity; but rather, it is a relationship of respect and reciprocity. Eleanor Roosevelt spoke of the power of human rights taking place on the streets of our communities through our every day relationships. At its very core essence, as Martin Buber, the Austrian born philosopher, stated in the 1960s: there will be peace in the world when everyone walks down the street in the morning, says hello to the first person they meet, and mean it.
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overview of the broader sociological dimensions and shifts that we have seen in Alberta prior to province-hood in 1905 and beyond. Alberta has been a leader in efforts to advance language rights and womens rights at a national level, yet has had a rocky path in embracing rights related to sexual orientation. Despite the milestone case of Vriend v Kings College at the Supreme Court of Canada, we as a province collectively continue to struggle with this change in our provincial legislation. Despite our advances, Albertas history of oppression and neglect is one that persists today. The living legacies of our shared history with Canadas First Nations, Mtis and Inuit continue to place barriers to achieving our potential as a province. Truth, healing and reconciliation, which officially lies within federal jurisdiction, needs to take a central role in our provincial efforts to foster inclusion and human rights. Our shift away from a province that forcibly sterilized and institutionalized people who experienced disabilities, still has a long road ahead as those living with disabilities in Alberta continue to struggle with belonging in our communities. Throughout the book, Jim Gurnett, a long-time community advocate, weaves together stories from people with a historical influence and an inside perspective on the provinces path towards a realization of human rights. These stories provide an opportunity to reflect on our provinces continuing commitment to human rights, commitments which have their roots in the days of the late Premier Peter E. Lougheed, and assess if our current political regime can move forward on our collective goals to build a province where we all belong and have the potential to live a life of well-being. A lofty goal mind you, but I do believe that a commitment to building a society where we all belong; where we all relate; is a worthy goal to have. Jim Gurnetts stories reflect some of the history of political and social discourse on human rights in the province while Arman Chak and Janice Ashcrofts overview of the history and evolution of the institution of human rights in Alberta takes the reader into a deeper picture that surrounds our legal context. Moving human rights beyond legal documents involves a commitment by government towards human rights education and engagement with the community. It must be a commitment to address human rights violations and provide redress but also a commitment to ensuring the public understands human rights and how they can and should support individuals.
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Again, Alberta has been a national leader in making commitments to these goals.It has funded community based education programs and fostered human rights education in the workplace alongside implementing mechanisms for redress in the creation of a Commission and Tribunal. Arman and Ashcroft articulate the shifts in this institutional environment while Jim shares the perspectives of Chief Commissioners along the way. Gerald Galls chapter adds to the books larger conversation by equipping the reader with a summary of a complex history of legislative and constitutional developments related to human rights. The legal angle explores the protection mechanisms we have in place for human rights while the institutional angle explores the public services commitment to advance human rights. The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (JHC) stands as an organization that is a legacy of our human rights history in Alberta. In 1998, a small group in Edmonton planned the largest international conference in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was an opportunity to reflect on the state of human rights and explore its value in building a just and peaceful society. It is from this event that educating about and for human rights was recognized as a fundamental pillar in the achievement of human rights. Human rights education is about transforming society through forthcoming generations that will understand notions of human dignity, freedom and equality. The John Humphrey Centre is an organization that is taking a lead in promoting human rights learning and education in our province and a legacy that all of us are proud of. This 1998 conference brought together notable international human rights leaders including her excellency Mary Robinson, the Right Honourable Antonio Lamer, and the Most Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Tutu and Robinson today are now part of the global movement of The Elders which exists to promulgate human rights at an international level and work to resolve conflict. I often wonder if conversations in the halls in Edmonton in 1998 played a role in fostering conversations across borders and among these Elders and participants in ways that we may not fully understand. One thing I do know however, after many times hearing the stories from the late Gerald Gall, was that it was in private meetings between Premier Ralph Klein and Desmond Tutu that the Convention of the Rights of the Child was ratified in our province. Another interesting piece of history is that it was the steadfast
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nature of Gurcharan Bhatia waiting onTutus doorstep in South Africa that brought this legendary advocate to Alberta. Alberta has become a meeting place for human rights and central point for conflict on perspectives of how we balance notions of freedom with responsibility and respect. We are a province where extremes exist where White Pride has undercurrents and where the diversity of our cities becomes more complex each day. When I recall the mosaic that represented Alberta when I grew up, I see how substantially it has transformed. Despite these changes, policies such as multiculturalism are facing a backlash in a time when perhaps they are most needed. In the years that it has taken to bring this collection of stories together, it was the support of many people that made this book what it is a legacy of Albertas legacies. I want to firstly thank Nicholas Ameyaw for his inspiration, support and guidance throughout this project. As someone who has been in the public service for quarter of a century, he brings a profound wisdom and perspective to the table. He has a strong commitment and belief in human rights which is passionate and tenacious. Thank you Nicholas. I also want to thank Dominique Clment for his energy and commitment to this project. It was no simple task and was delayed on many occasions. His guidance and support was incredible throughout and Im honoured to have had the opportunity to work with him. And finally, I cannot help but express my deepest gratitude to the late Gerald Gall. This represents his last piece of writing; a legal scholar that authored five editions of The Canadian Legal System and numerous other opinion and academic articles over the course of his career. Let alone his accomplishments in writing, the infinite ripple he has had through teaching as a professor in law at the University of Alberta for over 35 years grew out of his steadfast commitment to human rights. I am honoured to have worked with him on this project and over the past seven years in his role as President of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. His health did not allow him to be involved as much as he wanted with this project but I do hope that the final product does him honour. Gerry was an exemplary man, father, husband, teacher and mentor. The John
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Humphrey Centre is a piece of his legacy and feels his loss greatly. As a strong advocate for human rights education, Gerrys impact on this world, I believe, is quite substantial. His life and work are proof of the power of one individual to build a world that embraces human rights and dignity. To qualify, some of the language in this book was difficult to edit from a human rights lens. There is a power in words and labels and some language used by the authors pose challenges. However, achieving consensus on the use of language is also difficult. The use of terms such as Aboriginal does not reflect the diversity of our First Nations, Mtis and Inuit people. Disability reflects a negative label on people within the stronghold context of ableism. Understand that we are sensitive to the politics of language and identity and that we have done our best throughout the book while also trying to preserve the voices of the authors and interviewees. The language of human rights will continue to evolve as the voice of those that are marginalized are brought into the circle. The journey to realize human rights in Alberta is one hard fought by countless individuals. While this book captures the stories of many of those involved in this journey, it does not do justice in capturing the stories of the numerous people who stood up fearlessly to challenge our notions of justice, rights and freedom. The everyday heroes who act as advocates or who stand up to have their voice heard are often those that get left out of written historical accounts. While we tried to capture some of those voices, there are hundreds more that have played an important role in Alberta. People such as Leilani Muir, John Ware, Poundmaker and many more hold an important place in Albertas history of human rights. A critical area of human rights that is missing in the history of Alberta is that related to childrens rights. While Canada and Alberta have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the historical challenges and cases that work to embed childrens rights into our legislative framework is wanting. The dire conditions we see children growing up in Alberta and the level of poverty that persists is one of the leading challenges to Albertas capacity to become a province where rights are truly a reality. Children from the Lubicon who miss 40 school days due to lack of water, children who die in foster care, children who become ladled with prejudice due to their economic, social and racial status, or young girls who are found murdered in our fields, pervade us.
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The measure of our human rights can be measured in the health and wellbeing of our children. Alberta still has a long way to go. As I leave my final words to these pages, I truly do express a hope in our instruments and institutions that promote, protect and fulfill human rights. There is an uncertainty due to the economic and political climate on the commitment and capacity of the state to foster a society where we as Canadians stand, live and work together. We do have, however, movements at the community, municipal, provincial and international levels that are hopeful. Community organizations have the capacity to hold our institutions accountable through international mechanisms at the United Nations such as the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review process. We see municipalities across the country committing to addressing racism and discrimination through UNESCOs Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination. People are connecting across communities, across borders and across oceans to learn from each other and build stronger communities. In the province of Alberta, the winds are warmer under the leadership of Premier Alison Redford, a woman with a steadfast commitment to principles of justice, equality and freedom. This book would not have been possible without the financial support of the Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund, the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta. It would also not have been possible without the commitment of time and sharing of stories from many consulted and interviewed along the way. Special thanks to Mandy Siu who worked tirelessly to coordinate this project in its early stages as well as to Amy Lambe and Ana Laura Pauchulo for their support in reviewing this manuscript. A thank you goes to Janet Keeping as well as the staff at the Alberta Citizenship and Human Rights Commission and Education Fund for their feedback and engagement along the way. Human rights is not static. It is something we define and evolve in our relationships and community every day. We all deserve our place here in this amazing province. The journey continues. Rene Vaugeois
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Introductory Remarks
Blair Mason, Q.C.

Chief of the Commission and Tribunals Alberta Human Rights Commission
has a long history of championing human rights, multiculturalism and equality. This publication, unique in Alberta, charts the legislative history and government action involved in human rights development. Equally as important, the book recognizes a number of Albertans, and Alberta organizations that have worked passionately and with purpose to protect and promote human rights and diversity in Alberta. These efforts have helped build an Alberta that we are proud to call home with socially cohesive communities and where a high quality of life is enjoyed by many. Communities and organizations, including the Alberta Human Rights Commission, continue to work towards the shared goal of advancing a culture of human rights in Alberta, where human rights are valued and celebrated and human rights principles are reflected in the attitudes and every day actions of all Albertans.
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Human rights legislation has and continues to play an important role in advancing our shared goals. It protects our most vulnerable citizens and is essential for a civil and just society. I am guided in my work by the words of an eminent Supreme Court of Canada Justice, which I happened upon in my first few days of office. The Justice emphasized the importance of human rights legislation as special, as it is often the final refuge of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised.it is the last protection for the most vulnerable members of society. While the legislative protections are an important foundation and provide us a legal framework for advancing human rights, it is the work of individual Albertans and Alberta organizations, many of which are profiled in this publication, that support and encourage the changes that lead to a human rights culture. This book allows us to pause, recognize and thank individuals as well as the many organizations involved in human rights protection, for their commitment to human rights and equality, and their work in assisting disadvantaged and vulnerable Albertans. The book is a compendium of many aspects of the human rights story, and the common goals and purposes of the human rights movement in Alberta. It also presents critical analysis of human rights law and development in Alberta, as related through the different perspectives and experiences of prominent Albertans. This approach conforms with the free and open dialogue necessary for the continued enlightened development of democratic human rights. While Alberta has made significant advancements in protecting and promoting human rights, we know that there is still work to be done. We know that racism and discrimination continue to perpetuate the historical disadvantage of our most socially and economically marginalized communities. I hope this publication encourages us all to reflect on how human rights in the province have evolved and progressed, but also to consider what we can each do to continue to build the type of society envisioned in Albertas human rights legislation; a society that recognizes the inherent dignity and equal rights of all persons and where the richness of our lives is enhanced through our diversity.
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Introductory Remarks
Janet Keeping
Former President, Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership
We need to know about the forms of discrimination Albertans tolerated in the past, some of which were even enthusiastically supported. For
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society needs to know its history, and Albertans certainly need to know their history on a matter as important as the evolution of human rights protections in the province. So I was delighted a few years ago to learn that the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights was in the process of preparing this book The Search for Equality and Justice: Albertas Human Rights Story. This story is not an easy one: as is true everywhere else, the struggle to protect human dignity which is what the fight for human rights is about has been a very difficult one in Alberta. And it is, of course, not over nor will it ever be.
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example, the involuntary sterilization of disabled people and the discriminatory restrictions imposed on Hutterite colonies were once thought by some to be not only justified but desirable policies. But we also need to know about successful campaigns to rectify injustices, and to know about the committed people who fought relentlessly to achieve those goals. You will learn much in this book about the wrongs of the past, as well as about the encouraging and sometimes successful efforts of Albertans to correct them. As I reflect upon the move from recognition of human rights in inspiring documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to the stories recounted in this book about what it has taken to make some of those rights an on-the-ground reality, I am struck forcibly by a deep tension between two facts. First, the apparent ease with which we can state our human rights ideals such as in the preamble to the Alberta Human Rights Act: it is recognized in Alberta that all persons are equal and second, the extraordinary difficulty of institutionalizing guarantees of those rights. Governance and government are difficult necessary in our complex, interdependent world but seldom easy. It has not been at all straight-forward to put legal mechanisms in place which seek to ensure that all Albertans are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve as human beings. I dont mean to suggest that we should refrain from criticizing when politicians and officials have failed to take protection of human rights seriously. Clearly there have been episodes in Albertas human rights history that cannot be excused simply because governing is hard. The provincial governments lengthy refusal to add sexual orientation as an illegal form of discrimination under the Alberta Human Rights Act, after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled it had to be included in that statute, is in no way excusable on this basis. We have to acknowledge what that refusal was a blatant and cruel disregard for the dignity of gay and lesbian men and women.
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Some of our political leaders have been truly committed to making progress on human rights, others have not. A real strength of this book, I think, is that it does not avoid drawing our attention to those differences. But I do think that more respect should be shown to those who have spent much of their professional lives trying to make the governmental systems devised to protect human rights work. This group includes Human Rights Commission officials. As this book reveals, rules against discrimination which are both effective in preventing discrimination and also respectful of our other human rights such as freedom of speech are neither easily crafted nor easily applied in real-life situations, which can be very complex. Cheap shots, as some high-profile critics have made in recent years, aimed at sincere attempts to make our human rights system work are not at all helpful. This book includes anecdotes which illustrate the emotional complexity around human rights activism. For example, Fil Fraser recounts being refused rental of an apartment because he is Black. When an influential friend intervened and the landlord called Fil back to offer the apartment to him, he answered in an all so human and understandable way, Screw you. Its important to understand that the struggle to advance human rights is a real struggle, which can involve hurt and anger. We are talking about gross unfairness and the wounding of dignity serious matters which evoke serious reactions. This book helps us understand this reality. I observed above that the need to improve human rights protections will never end. I say this not only because we still have a long way to go in rectifying human rights abuses, and because it is so difficult to put appropriate legal systems to correct them in place, but also because our ideals are always evolving. When womens freedom was blocked at nearly every turn, it was a great step forward when the first barriers started to fall, for example, when women got the right to vote. But once a step forward had been taken, of course women wanted more, and so with every further advancement.
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Ultimately what every marginalized group wants, and is entitled to, is genuine fairness, i.e., real equality of opportunity. And this is the key point our understanding of what counts as genuine fairness and real equality of opportunity are always evolving as our understanding of the human condition and what dignity means further develop. Knowing how that understanding has already evolved and how our laws and policies have moved, or failed to move, with that understanding can guide us as we struggle to make further progress. This book makes a significant contribution to illuminating Albertas human rights history.
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About the Editors and Authors

Janice Ashcroft
Senior Legal Counsel, Office of the Chief of Commission and Tribunals , Alberta Human Rights Commission
Ms. Ashcroft has been involved with Commission legal work since 1998 and is currently Senior Legal Counsel to the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals. Prior to this position, Ms. Ashcroft represented the Director of the Commission at tribunal hearings and all levels of Court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Ms. Ashcroft was counsel on many important human rights decisions involving issues such as the duty to accommodate, sexual harassment in the workplace, accessibility issues affecting people with disabilities, and racial discrimination. Ms. Ashcroft presents at national conferences, workshops, and seminars on human rights and employment related issues.
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Arman Chak
A Brief History of the Alberta Human Rights Commission
Arman Chak is Legal Counsel for the Alberta Human Rights Commission. His work over the past eight years has involved a multitude of legal tasks and skills in the area of Administrative Law/Civil Law. His work in human rights has been in the areas of sexual harassment, mental and physical disability as well as issues surrounding discrimination of foreign trained graduates in Canada. Arman has completed his LLM Degree (Administrative Law) through the Osgoode Professional Development Program and has been part of the Canadian Bar Association since 1996 and has participated specifically in the Administrative Law, Immigration, Media and Intellectual Property sub-sections. He is a member of the Alberta Government Civil Lawyers Association. Arman is also an active member of the Alberta Arts Community and creates short dramatic films that have been played in the United States as well as Canada. Currently, his film team is working on their next film project entitled Damsel in Distress. He was the Treasurer for the Film and Video Artists of Alberta from 1998 to 2001 and the Communications Chair from 2005-2007. He has also been a member of the Alberta Motion Picture Association (2000-2001).
Dominique Clment
Co-Editor and Author of Human Rights Milestones: Albertas Rights Revolution
Albertas human rights story Dominique Clment is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of History & Classics and Educational Policy Studies. He is the author of Canadas Rights Revolution: Social Movements and Social Change, 1937-1982 (winner of the Canadian Sociological Associations 2009 John Porter Tradition of Excellence book award), and has recently
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completed a manuscript titled I Believe in Human Rights, Not Womens Rights: The Rise and Fall of the British Columbia Human Rights State, 1953-1984. He is also a co-editor for Debating Dissent: Canada and the Sixties. Clment has been a Visiting Scholar in Australia and the United Kingdom, and is the author of numerous articles on the history of human rights, social movements and womens history. He has consulted for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Canadian Heritage Information Network, and is currently on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Association for Canadian Studies, LInstitut dtudes canadiennes de lUniversit de lAlberta, John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights and Canadian Committee on Womens History. Clment manages an expansive website, www. HistoryOfRights.com, which serves as a research and teaching portal on the history of human rights in Canada.
Gerald Gall, O.C.

The Legal History of Human Rights In Alberta
Professor Gerald Gall taught constitutional law and foundations to law. He was the author of The Canadian Legal System, in its fifth edition. Until his passing in 2012, he was the President of the Board of Directors of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation. He was also an honourary member of the Management Board of the Centre for Constitutional Studies. Professor Gall was a former member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Education Society of Alberta, the
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International Council for Canadian Studies, the Canadian Human Rights Foundation and was the former Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. Professor Gall was the recipient of several awards, including the Alberta Human Rights Award, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal and was appointed in 2001 as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Professor Galls interests encompassed constitutional law, human rights and the administration of justice in Canada.
Jim Gurnett
The Stories of Human Rights in Alberta
Jim Gurnett has worked most of his life supporting the development of stronger communities where diversity is an asset and equity is a goal. He has served as Executive Director of Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers and The Hope Foundation and as Manager of Community Services at Bissell Centre. He has also been a school principal and teacher, a Member of the Alberta Legislature, and a journalist. Currently he works as Chief of Staff for the New Democratic Party Opposition at the Alberta Legislature and does some research, writing and planning work with community organizations. He was principal author of a report on a poverty elimination strategy for Alberta in late 2009. Hes especially happy to be the grandfather of eight awesome young people.
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Rene Vaugeois
Co-Editor
Since 2005, Rene Vaugeois has served as the Executive Director of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, an organization committed to advancing the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She is also the Founding President of Ainembabazi Childrens Project, an organization focused on promoting and advancing the rights of orphans and vulnerable children in East Africa through education, health and community economic development. Rene has her Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Alberta and has worked globally in promoting good governance and human rights. She is a member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and sits on the board of the Southern Sudan Development Foundation. She has been awarded Avenue Magazines Top 40 under 40 in Edmonton in its inaugural year as well as the Good Relations Award from the Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice and the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women.
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Albertas Human Rights Timeline

1946 1946 1929 1929
Persons Case recognizing women as persons Persons Case recognizing women as persons Calgary Board Calgary Board of Education of Education hired the the hired provinces first first provinces Black teacher Black teacher Alberta Bill of , , Alberta BillRights of Rights alsoalso known as as known An Act Respecting the the An Act Respecting Rights of Alberta Citizens Rights of Alberta Citizens
1920 1920
Three-fifths of aof Calgary neighbourhood signed a a Three-fifths a Calgary neighbourhood signed petition asking for a ban on Blacks petition asking for a ban on Blacks buying a home in the buying a home in area the area Alberta becomes the first province to establish a a Alberta becomes the first province to establish minimum wage for women and and one one of only a few minimum wage for women of only a few to introduce mothers allowances to introduce mothers allowances
1942 1942
Land Sales Prohibition Act Act Land Sales Prohibition
1919 1919
One Big Union One Big Union founded in Calgary founded in Calgary
1937 1937
Amendment of Sexual Amendment of Sexual Sterilization Act Act to to Sterilization permit the sterilization permit the sterilization of mental defectives of mental defectives without their consent without their consent Act Act to Ensure the the to Ensure Publication of Accurate Publication of Accurate News and and Information News Information
1911 1911
Canada bans the the Canada bans immigration of anyone immigration of anyone identified as Black to Canada identified as Black to Canada as aas result ofpressures a result ofpressures from Alberta residents from Alberta residents
1900 1900
1910 1910
1920 1920
1930 1930
1913 1913
Theatres Act Act Theatres
1940 1940
Petitions to ban Petitions to ban Black immigration Black immigration and and for segregation; for segregation; anti-black riot riot anti-black
1916 1916
Women gaingain right to to Women right votevote and and run run for office for office in Alberta (1918 federally) in Alberta (1918 federally)
1922 1922
Equal property rights Equal property rights enshrined for men and and women enshrined for men women
Alberta Association for the Alberta Association for the Advancement of Coloured People Advancement of Coloured People
1905 1905
Alberta becomes a a Alberta becomes province in Canada province in Canada
Sexual Sterilization Act Act Sexual Sterilization
1928 1928
Communal Property Act Act Communal Property Supreme Court strikes Supreme Court strikes down the Alberta Bill of BillRights of Rights down the Alberta
Sexual Disqualification Sexual Disqualification Removal Act Act Removal
1930 1930
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1940 1940
1947 1947
1972 1972
Alberta Bill of and and the the Individuals Rights Protection Act Act Alberta BillRights of Rights Individuals Rights Protection and and creation of the Alberta Human Rights Commission creation of the Alberta Human Rights Commission Elimination of Sexual Sterilization Act Act Elimination of Sexual Sterilization FirstFirst Alberta Board of Inquiry Frances Alberta Board of Inquiry Frances Weaselfat vs.Dennys Shell Service Weaselfat vs.Dennys Shell Service Founding of the Canadian Association of Statutory Founding of the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies in Calgary Human Rights Agencies in Calgary
1960 1960
The The barring of immigrants based on nationality, barring of immigrants based on nationality, citizenship, ethnic group, occupation, class citizenship, ethnic group, occupation, class or region of origin is ended in Canada or region of origin is ended in Canada Aboriginal peoples gaingain the right to vote Aboriginal peoples the right to vote
1968 1968
Alberta relaxed restrictions Alberta relaxed restrictions on French instruction on French instruction Alberta Human Rights Alberta Human Rights Association incorporated Association incorporated
1957 1957
Breton schools refuses to allow a a Breton schools refuses to allow Black manman to teach White children Black to teach White children Alberta Labour Act Act Alberta Labour
1954 1954
A Black woman waswas A Black woman admitted to the admitted to Alberta the Alberta Bar Bar for the timetime for first the first
1967 1967
Alberta Ombudsman Alberta Ombudsman established, first first established, in North America in North America
1950 1950
1960 1960
1959 1959
Barclays Hotel in Calgary refuses Barclays Hotel in Calgary refuses room to Black Canadian room to Black Canadian Ombudsman Act Act Ombudsman
1966 1966 1962 1962

Alberta Human Alberta Human and and Rights Act Act Rights creation of the creation of the Human Human Rights Branch Rights Branch
1969 1969
1948 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Universal Declaration of Human (drafted largely by by Rights (drafted largely Rights John Peters Humphrey is signed John Peters Humphrey is signed by United Nations Members) by United Nations Members) Japanese Canadians gaingain Japanese Canadians the right to vote the right to vote
Amendment to the Human Rights Act Act Amendment to Alberta the Alberta Human Rights prohibiting discrimination withwith respect to to prohibiting discrimination respect residential rental accommodation residential rental accommodation White Paper for the of Indian Status White Paper for elimination the elimination of Indian Status Worth Commission on Educational Planning Worth Commission on Educational Planning involving expansion of French language education involving expansion of French language education
1970 1970
1970 1970
RedRed Paper, written by Harold Paper, written by Harold Cardinal, in response to the Paper Cardinal, in response to White the White Paper
1971 1971
GayGay Alliance Towards Equality Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) founded in Edmonton (GATE) founded in Edmonton Gender and and AgeAge added to the protected grounds Gender added to list the of list of protected grounds Human Rights Act Act under the Alberta Human Rights under the Alberta
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1980
Individuals Rights Protection Amendment Act physical characteristic added as a prohibited ground for discrimination; required employers to make reasonable accommodation to permit access to those with physical disabilities
1981 Sexual harassment specifically addressed in Individuals Rights Protection Act 1990 Mental Disability added as protected ground under the Individuals Rights Protection Act; term gender was substituted for sex as the prohibited ground of discrimination Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations rally in Provost 1974
First Black City councilor elected in Calgary
1973
Lethbridge Civil Liberties Association Calgary Civil Liberties Association (incorporated in 1977)
James Keegstra was charged with the willful promotion of hate against an identifiable group under section 319(2) of the Criminal Code
1980
1976
Human Rights Curriculum developed for Grade 10 Social Studies Program Cap raised on French language instruction
1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms 1987 Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the provinces refusal to fund French minority schooling violated the constitution
1977
Womyns Collective founded in Calgary
Human Rights Act passed by the Federal Government
1979
First Race Relations Unit in a police service (Calgary) Alberta Lesbian and Gay Rights Association
1988 STE v Bertelsen (AIDS in the workplace case)
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1990
2005 UN Human Rights Committee admonishes Canada for its failure to address the human rights of Aboriginal people 2010
Alberta Human Rights Act amended to recognize sexual orientation as protected grounds; rights of parents to withdraw students from schools when educating on sexuality and religion
Calgary elected Naheed Nenshi, the provinces first visible minority mayor 2011
Edmonton Public School Board approves sexual orientation and gender identity policy Albertas Human Rights Commission reports to Ministry of Justice
2000
2010
1996 Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, creation of the Human Rights and Citizenship Commission
2012
Child and Youth Advocate Office takes on rights-based mandate Announcement of new Property Rights Advocate
Federal Government issues formal apology for the treatment Aboriginals received in Residential Schools and established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Amendment Act simplified to Alberta Human Rights Act Alberta v Hutterian Bretheran of Wilson Colony related to the provincial regulation requiring photographs on all drivers licences as contrary to the religious beliefs of the Hutterite sect
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2008 Alberta Human Rights Commission decision on Darren Lund v. Stephen Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc.
2009 Sexual orientation is written in as a protected ground in the Alberta Human Rights Act Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice established in Alberta
2020
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Human Rights Milestones:
Albertas Rights Revolution

Dominique Clment
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Clment explores the origins of Albertas post-World War II rights revolution through a series of key milestones that began emerging in the 1970s. Albertas rights revolution was driven partly by developments across the world, but also by people in communities throughout the province who were deeply committed to human rights principles. The principle of human rights has been a powerful force in challenging the worst inequalities in our community. However, Clment argues that the greatest misconception about human rights today is that weve put the past behind us. Although Albertans have long embraced the principles of equality and justice, as the milestones demonstrate, human rights is only the beginning.
It is the language used to express our distaste for inequality and restrictions on our liberties. Like any other tool, it is never completely put it away, and people reach for it to deal with social problems as they arise. Clment cautions us to be careful about taking human rights for granted. Human rights requires constants vigilance. Every day people find opportunities to ignore rights abuses or to justify attacks on human rights.
Perhaps
the greatest misconception about human rights today is that weve succeeded in putting the worst parts of our history behind us. Of course, we have come a long way since 1920 when three-fifths of a Calgary neighbourhood signed a petition asking for a ban on Blacks buying a home in the area. Women are now persons, and its hard to imagine rebuilding Albertas internment camps. But we should be careful about taking human rights for granted. Human rights requires constant vigilance. Every day people find opportunities to ignore rights abuses or to justify attacks on human rights. The formal inclusion of sexual orientation in the Alberta Human Rights Act in 2010 was a victory for human rights. But the government added a new provision making it a human rights violation for a teacher to talk about sexual orientation or religion if parents insisted on exempting their children from such discussions. No other jurisdiction in Canada has criminalized teaching in this way. That was not a victory for human rights. The milestones we explore in these pages epitomize a genuine rights revolution in Alberta that began after the Second World War, and came to fruition by the 1970s. Albertas rights revolution was driven partly by developments across the world, but also by people in communities throughout the province who were deeply committed to human rights principles. Rights transformed these communities. In each case, a human rights milestone occurred when a community succeeded in confronting its own fears and prejudices. Unfortunately, such successes were never
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permanent. We must constantly remind ourselves of human rights milestones because it is easy to revert back to old behaviour in new ways. To say that Alberta experienced a rights revolution is to identify transformations in law, politics, culture and social life. The initial stirrings of the rights revolution began in the international arena with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948), which was followed soon after by the first international human rights treaties in human history. For instance, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was passed at the United Nations on 9 December 1948 and entered force in 1951, and the European Union created a Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in 1950. A genuine transformation was underway in international politics; it was premised on the belief that citizens and governments had a legitimate interest in the human rights of people in other states. There are many examples of the international rights revolution: the Carter administrations promotion of human rights in American foreign policy; the emergence of international human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch; the first postwar international humanitarian effort (Biafra, 1969); the mobilization of transnational advocacy networks surrounding gross human rights abuses in Argentina and Chile; Soviet dissidents organizing around the USSRs international human rights obligations; the stirrings of a global campaign against apartheid in South Africa; and the proliferation of human rights policies in individual countries foreign aid programs (notably Canada). Human rights became a bedrock of international politics, and states could no longer easily invoke state sovereignty to justify domestic rights violations. Meanwhile, Alberta experienced its own rights revolution. By the 1960s it was an increasingly prosperous province, with a well-educated and secularized population, growing urban centres, an expanding industrial economy, and a new middle class. Discriminatory laws were abolished and new human rights laws were introduced. Multiculturalism and tolerance became standard political values. Alberta joined the other provinces and Albertas human rights story
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the federal government in agreeing to abide by international agreements are, in every way, affirming universal human rights. . But the metaphor Social movements dedicated to human of the foot race helps explain why, rights proliferated throughout Alberta. a generation later, women make In the immediate postwar period it far less money than men and are was common to hear stories of Jews underrepresented in politics and being denied the opportunity to rent business: two people, both equal in a cottage; landlords refusing to rent every way, run a race, but the 100 apartments to Blacks; hotels with meter head-start given to one over policies banning Aboriginals; and the other will guarantee that the first women being required to quit their person will always be ahead in the jobs when they married or became race. pregnant.1 Such values no longer predominate social life in Alberta.
Women legal equals
Albertans cannot escape their shared history. The past has a profound impact on how we act and view the world today. Women are, in every way, legal equals. But the metaphor of the foot race helps explain why, a generation later, women make far less money than men and are underrepresented in politics and business: two people, both equal in every way, run a race, but the 100 meter head-start given to one over the other will guarantee that the first person will always be ahead in the race. As the following milestones demonstrate, the principle of human rights has been a powerful force in challenging the worst inequalities in our community. Yet human rights is only the beginning. It is the language we use to express our distaste for inequality and restrictions on our liberties. Like any other tool we never completely put it away, and we reach for it to deal with social problems as they arise.
Hutterites
Percy Davis, a lawyer representing a Hutterite colony in the 1950s, perfectly captured the feelings of many Hutterites living in Alberta when he noted that: Although Canada as a nation has long since made peace
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Provincial Archives of Alberta
Hutterite Colony, MacLeod AB (1938)
with the German Reich, Alberta remains at war with its Hutterites.2 Hutterite communities were first established in Alberta around 1918, and by the 1960s Hutterites numbered over 6500 scattered across 65 colonies. Hutterites are an Anabaptist Christian sect who reject personal ownership and communally own land; they are strict pacifists and refuse to vote or hold public office.3 Each colony is established on a huge tract of land comprising thousands of acres, as isolated as possible from more highly populated centres Each colony is highly coordinated and based on core Hutterite values that include co-operation, consensus, frugality, non-violence, self-discipline, and the deference of the will of the individual to the will of the community.4 Restrictions on the rights of Hutterites are rarely mentioned in histories of Canada, and yet they rank among the worst human rights abuses in Albertas history. Hutterites became the target of bitter recriminations during the two world wars for refusing to serve in the armed forces. The federal
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government removed their exemption from military service and temporarily banned Hutterite immigration. In Alberta, newspapers, school boards, politicians and others spoke of the need to place Hutterite children in public schools to further their assimilation.5 The provincial government appointed two committees, one in 1947 and one in 1959, to report on the Hutterite problem. Both committees encountered widespread hostility to Hutterites among farm, municipal, school and community groups. Hutterites were accused of refusing to assimilate, not contributing to the economic and social life of rural communities, and controlling large tracts of Alberta farmland.6 Both committees sought ways to further assimilate them. Among the most blatant discriminatory pieces of legislation in Canadian history were Albertas Land Sales Prohibition Act (1942-1947) and the Communal Property Act (1947-1973)7 which restricted Hutterites abilities to purchase land. The latter required new Hutterite colonies to be at least 40 miles from other colonies, and to also seek permission to purchase land from a provincial Communal Property Control Board. The justification for the regulation was ostensibly that farmers could not fairly compete with Hutterites to purchase land (due to Hutterites corporation tax status as well as their supposed low standard of living). The regulation also aimed to prevent Hutterites from taking control of vast expanses of farmland.8 Both laws were tailored to Hutterites communal property practices. The statutes were clearly discriminatory pieces of legislation directed at an unpopular religious sect. But the courts turned a blind eye. The Alberta Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to recognize that the legislation violated Hutterites freedom of religion.9 Albertas rights revolution opened a new space for Hutterites. The Communal Property Act was at odds with the spirit of Albertas new human rights legislation of the 1970s, and the Act was quickly eliminated. Provincial laws no longer singled out Hutterite land acquisition. Grant Notley, the leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, described the legislation as having placed Hutterites civil liberties in a state of limbo. According to Notley, the time had long since past when the Communal Properties Act should be repealed pure and simple.10 A
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1972 government committee rejected the previous committees concern for assimilation, and instead insisted that Hutterites contribute significantly to local and provincial economies. The committee called for cooperation and respect.11 Meanwhile, the former director of the Communal Property Control Board, who had characterized the Act as a potential instrument of discrimination, spoke in 1971 of a noticeable change in public attitude.12 The provinces major newspapers, the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal, no longer supported restrictions on Hutterites; instead they characterized the law as intolerant and discriminatory.13 Community groups stopped flooding the government with demands to assimilate Hutterites. Rather than support the legislation as a necessary tool to restrict the spread of a foreign peoples, Albertans increasingly saw the law as discriminatory and as a violation of Hutterites rights to own property.14 Yet this milestone did not represent the end of an era. Albertas superior courts struggled with several cases in the 1990s involving discriminatory application of municipal bylaws against Hutterites.15 The most notorious case involved the Starland Colonys attempts to establish a sister colony near Calgary. Starland challenged the Municipal Districts restrictive zoning laws, which were a transparent attempt to specifically prevent Hutterites from settling in the area. The courts had no difficulty reaching the conclusion that the laws discriminated against Hutterites. As recently as 2000, legislators debated Bill 204, the Agricultural and Recreational Land Ownership Amendment Act, which would have restricted Hutterites abilities to purchase land. The struggle continues.
State-imposed censorship manifests itself in a myriad of ways. Limits on speech are incorporated in laws prohibiting treason, sedition, blasphemous and defamatory libel, disruption of religious worship, hate propaganda, spreading false news, public mischief, obscenity, indecency, and defamation. In a more extreme form, censorship can be imposed through the War Measures Act (now the Emergencies Act) and the Official Secrets
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Free Speech
Act, so as to protect the integrity of the state.16 Provincial and municipal governments also have the power to restrict gatherings, performances, exhibitions, demonstrations, public speeches, displays of texts, and pictures on billboards. Censorship in any form is subjective, and is often a stateimposed restriction on citizens right to free speech. The first, and perhaps most famous, legal case in Canadian history on free speech emerged from Alberta. The Social Credit government, as part of a major legislative package to regulate the provincial economy, passed the Act to Ensure the Publication of Accurate News and Information (1937). In essence, the law would have required newspapers to publish corrections from the government of any critical coverage, disclose sources and identify writers. Any violation of the law could include a large fine and a ban on publishing restricted information.17 It was, unquestionably, the most blatant peacetime attempt to censor the press. In finding the law ultra vires, or beyond, the powers of the Alberta legislature, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled for the first time that provinces could not unilaterally restrict fundamental freedoms. Justice Lawrence Cannon accused the provincial government of imposing a doctrine which must become, for the people of Alberta, a sort of religious dogma of which a free and uncontrolled discussion is not permissible.18 Justice Lyman Duff, writing one of the most cited legal decisions in Canadian history, argued that even within its legal limits, it [public discussion] is liable to abuse and grave abuse, and such abuse is constantly exemplified before our eyes; but it is axiomatic that the practice of this right to free public discussion of public affairs, notwithstanding its incidental mischiefs, is the breath of life for parliamentary institutions.19 The case was a milestone in entrenching the right to free speech in Canada. Such blatant attempts to censor speech, however, have been rare in Alberta. A more common restriction on speech is laws regulating film and literature. The Catholic Womens League, womens farm unions, and the University Womens Club, in conjunction with the Government of Alberta, established an Advisory Board on Objectionable Publications in 1954. The Board
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convinced the four main wholesalers of magazines to submit to the boards decisions regarding the publication of unacceptable material. Within ten years the board had censored 168 magazines.20 Alberta also introduced a Theatres Act in 1913, which required all films to receive approval from a censor board, and in the late 1920s it was one of the first provinces to adopt a film classification system.21 The province banned films depicting female prostitution (White slavery) and the seduction of women; drunkenness; violence (whipping, torture, lynching); people in delirium, and mental illness. In some cases film producers had to remove images of women smoking or wearing underclothes, as well as films with lewd and immodest dancing.22 By 1963, the average serious film circulating in Canada would be classified Restricted with a few minor incisions in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. In Alberta, it would be chopped to pieces or banned.23 Alberta was prolific in censoring films in the postwar period. In 1946 [the Social Credit government] extended film censorship laws to cover 16 mm. films in order to prevent the showing of what it termed communist propaganda films. Within a year, it had banned several films, including a British Information Office film which warned against race hatred and supported unreservedly the United Nations Over the years the Alberta Board of Censors would ban several films which featured mild social criticism, including The Wild One and The Blackboard Jungle. The government decried the CBCs decision in the early 1960s to air both of these subversive movies.24 Albertas censors insisted on eliminating the word floozie from a movie titled Shadows in 1959; banned Marlon Brandos classic The Wild One in 1953 for being a revolting, sadistic story of degeneration; and, was the only province to ban Andy Warhols Frankenstein in 1974.25 By the 1970s, however, restrictions on film and literature had become the target of increasing criticism. The provincial literature board dissolved in
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the late 1970s when wholesalers began refusing to deal with restrictions. Public complaints had also declined to the point that a literature board had become unnecessary.26 Film censorship continued under various guises but the banning of films was on the decline. Today, most provincial boards focus on classification and placing warning on movies rather than banning them outright.27
Eugenics
Alberta shares a dubious distinction with British Columbia: they are the only provinces where, for a number of years, the government would sterilize, without their consent, men and women who were mentally ill. The elimination of this brutal rights violation in 1972 was a milestone in Albertas human rights history. The science of eugenics, which came into prominence during the late 1800s, was concerned with improving the human race.28 Eugenicists believed that natural selection was insufficient, and they sought to influence human evolution by weeding out undesirables. A combination of heavy immigration and a fear that undesirables were reproducing at a high rate contributed to the popularization of eugenics in Canada. Such well-known figures as Emily Murphy and J. S. Woodsworth were avowed eugenicists. The United Farm Women of Alberta, which was at the forefront of lobbying for sterilization laws, embraced the ambitious goal of remodeling society through social improvements The group emphasized well-raised and genetically superior children as the hope for a future utopian society.29 The 1928 Sexual Sterilization Act created a Eugenics Board that was empowered to recommend sterilization as a condition for release from a mental health institution. The purpose was to ensure that the danger of procreation with its attendant risk of multiplification of the evil by transmission of the disability to progeny were eliminated.30 An amendment in 1937 permitted the sterilization of mental defectives without their consent.
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Why was Alberta among the only provinces to legislate sterilization? [It had a government] based in populist and grassroots ideology, which was linked to restrictionist policies and anti-immigration sentiments, strong opposition to federalism, heavy government reliance on experts (including mental health experts), and a comparative weak Catholic presence in the province. [The subsequent] Social Credit government became complacent and stagnant; led by charismatic leaders who were also fundamentalist religious leaders, the populace also seemed to accept the status quo with little question.31 Between 1928 and 1972, the Eugenics Board approved 99 percent of its 4,785 cases.32 Over time, a greater number of their decisions involved people who did not give consent. And there was a clear bias against young adults (20 to 24 years old), women, and Aboriginals (Aboriginals were also more likely to be diagnosed as mentally defective). Even in cases where consent was given, it is impossible to know, especially in the case of women (who bear the burden of carrying children and more often the responsibility for childrearing), how many were coerced into consenting. The forced sterilization of mentally ill people was clearly inconsistent with the principles of the rights revolution. It is no surprise that the Lougheed government, which had already introduced wide-ranging human rights legislation and was preparing to remove restrictions against Hutterites, eliminated the Sexual Sterilization Act in 1972. Premier Lougheed, speaking before the legislature, explained that we feel very, very strongly that the bill is offensive and at odds with the proposed Bill of Rights. David King, as he introduced the bill in second reading, put it succinctly: I come finally to the last [reason] which, for me personally, is the most compelling. That is, simply, that the act violates fundamental human rights. We are provided with an act, the basis of which is a presumption that society, or at least the government, knows what kind of people can be allowed children
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and what kinds of people cannot. It is our view that this is a reprehensible and intolerable philosophy and program for this province and this government.33 Years later, victims of the sterilization laws achieved another milestone. Leilani Muir sued the Government of Alberta in 1995. When she was ten years old, Muir was admitted to the Provincial Training School for Mental Defectives in Red Deer as an abused child. She was held for over a decade against her will (despite later testing that showed she was not ill) and eventually discovered that she had been sterilized during an appendectomy. The judge awarded her $1 million. Within three years, the province faced hundreds of additional lawsuits. In a move that shocked the entire country, the government introduced a bill to apply the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms notwithstanding clause to impose a $150,000 cap on all lawsuits. The ensuing public outcry led the government to withdraw the bill within 24 hours (the government later agreed to an out-of-court settlement of $80 million). The Edmonton Journal suggested that it took either cavalier disregard for basic civil rights or casual incompetence in preparing legislation for the bill to even be introduced, and described the entire incident as a 24-hour lesson in basic human rights.34 The recognition that people with disabilities have rights is in itself a milestone of the rights revolution. The first human rights laws did not recognize discrimination against those with disabilities. When the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was initially proposed, it made no reference to disability. By the mid-1980s however, the rights revolution had reached this population. Litigation surrounding section 15 of the Charter established the rights of persons with disabilities to equality. Human rights laws in Alberta and across Canada now ban discrimination on the basis of disability, and numerous laws recognize the duty to accommodate. Today, more than 50 percent of human rights complaints in Alberta deal with disability, which suggests that those who experience disability continue to face discrimination every day.
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Aboriginal Peoples
The language of rights is a powerful tool for asserting demands for equality. But rights language is contested. People can sincerely disagree over the meaning of rights. This tension was at the heart of the most famous milestone in the history of Aboriginal-state relations in Canada: the 1969 White Paper. In 1969 the federal government introduced a White Paper that proposed to eliminate Indian status: The policies proposed recognize the simple reality that the separate legal status of Indians and the policies which have flowed from it have kept the Indian people apart from and behind other Canadians. The Indian people have not been full citizens of the communities and provinces in which they live and have not enjoyed the equality and benefits that such participation offers.35 The federal government sought to surrender responsibility for Aboriginal Peoples to the provinces, repeal the Indian Act, and transfer control of lands to individual Aboriginals.
Indian Gathering (ca. 1920)
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But the policy was fundamentally flawed: it ignored more than a century of discrimination and handicaps that the state had imposed on Aboriginal Peoples. The approach was, moreover, profoundly assimilationist and a threat to Aboriginal collective rights.36 Individual ownership over land, for instance, would have undermined Aboriginal collective land ownership. The Indian Chiefs of Alberta were at the forefront of Aboriginal resistance to the White Paper. The organization published a powerful critique in 1970 titled Citizens Plus (the Red Paper). They argued that the policy offers despair instead of hope, and would condemn future generations of Aboriginal Peoples to the despair and ugly specter of urban poverty in ghettos.37 Citizens Plus played a critical role in the governments decision to retract the White Paper. The White Paper vs Red Paper controversy was also a milestone because it led to the mobilization of the contemporary Indigenous rights movement. Four national Aboriginal associations and thirty-three separate provincial organizations emerged in the aftermath of the debate. Many of these groups were pioneers in organizing Aboriginal Peoples beyond the local level for the first time. The Alberta Native Federation, Alberta Native Youth Society, Treaty Voice of Alberta and the Native Human Rights Association alone were formed between 1968 and 1972. Native Friendship Centres multiplied across the province and the country. Central to this Aboriginal activism was the expansion of the term Aboriginal rights, which by 1981 had been revised from its original focus on land rights to include the right to selfgovernment.38 A key figure in this new vibrant social movement was Harold Cardinal. Cardinal was elected Chief of the Indian Association of Alberta in 1968 and was later instrumental in creating the National Indian Brotherhood (known today as the Assembly of First Nations). His 1970 best-selling book Unjust
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Society helped articulate Aboriginal Peoples grievances and offered a vision for the future. The White Paper, he wrote, was a tool for cultural genocide. Cardinal decried Aboriginal Peoples poor living conditions, lack of educational opportunities and constant unemployment. He wrote eloquently of an uncaring government, language barriers, bigotry, ignorance and a cruel double-standard on issues like alcohol: Let a White man get drunk and miss a day of work his boss may fire him, but he gets another White man for the job. If the Indian misses a day, the entire race is condemned and categorized as no good; the next worker hired is not likely to be an Indian.39 Albertas history of Aboriginalstate relations is certainly mixed. A Let a get drunk and Canadian anthropologist visiting miss a day of work his boss may southern Alberta in 1921 noted fire him, but he gets another White that farmers around Calgary paid man for the job. If the Indian misses Polish and Ukrainian immigrants a day, the entire race is condemned $4.00 a day, but Aboriginal Peoples and categorized as no good; the next only $2.50. Decades later, cases of worker hired is not likely to be an discrimination against Aboriginal Indian. Peoples dominated the early work of the provinces Human Rights Commission, and indeed, the first human rights Board of Inquiry involved a small business refusing to fairly serve Aboriginals. A disproportionate number of Aboriginal Peoples were also sterilized as a result of the provinces eugenics policies. The Alberta government fought against the inclusion of an Aboriginal rights clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982.40 And in 1998, in a powerful reminder of the continued tension between police and Aboriginal Peoples, Connie Jacobs and her nine year old son Ty were killed by an RCMP officer on 24 March at the Tsuu Tina Reserve. The incident sent a chill throughout the Aboriginal community.
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Despite these setbacks, Aboriginal Peoples in Alberta have organized to secure the right to vote (1960), constitutional recognition of their rights, greater control over natural resources on their lands, the right to organize their own schools and health services, and redress for rights abuses committed in residential schools. Canadas first Aboriginal senator, James Gladstone, was from Calgary. Nonetheless, as Cardinal noted in his recent preface to the new edition of his 1969 book: While there have been discernible changes in the Canadian political landscape since 1969, so far regrettably these remain no more than promises yet to be fulfilled. Unfortunately, at the core, the issues this book identified in the late 1960s are issues still unresolved today.41
Human Rights Activism

It is impossible to talk of a rights revolution in Alberta without considering social movements. The first human rights groups in Canada emerged in the 1930s, and Alberta saw five chapters of the League for Democratic Rights founded in the 1950s. But they were all defunct within a handful of years.42 During the 1960s, the rights revolution inspired the formation of more than 40 human rights organizations across Canada.43 The proliferation of social movements was a key milestone in bringing human rights to the fore of public debate. The Alberta government created a provisional committee in 1967 to work with voluntary organizations to promote human rights. It was part of the nation-wide effort to prepare celebrations for International Year for Human Rights in 1968. To recognize the twentieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the government also hired a full time human rights officer to promote awareness of provincial human rights legislation.44 The committee evolved into the Alberta Human Rights Association, which was incorporated in 1968 under the leadership of F. C. Brodie, secretary of the Alberta Federation of Labour. The organization, which was centred in Edmonton, struggled in its early years with only a
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handful of dedicated members.45 Having virtually no money, it was forced within a few years to fire its secretary, but in 1971 the association secured enough funds from the Secretary of State and the provincial government Keenooshayo addressing the Treaty to stay afloat. Soon afterward, Commissions, Lesser Slave Lake (1899) they mobilized 200 members as well as elected a new president who had special interests in issues of discrimination and the creation of an independent review board for complaints against the police. The organization was later renamed the Alberta Human Rights and Civil Liberties Association.46 The association established its first chapter in Lethbridge, in 1973 (a previous attempt in Calgary had failed). As was often the case, it was a local issue that spurred the creation of this new group. Lethbridge was one of the few school districts in Canada still practicing corporal punishment, and the Lethbridge Civil Liberties Association successfully lobbied for the school board to end the practice.47 Thanks to government funding, the Lethbridge chapter was also able to operate a downtown office for screening and referral services. It spent most of the 1970s organizing education programs funded through government grants. It remained active until 1982 when Ed Webking, a political science professor and the driving force behind the organization, left Lethbridge.48 Human rights associations were also formed during the 1970s in Fort McMurray and Grand Prairie, but they were only active for a handful of years and never mobilized more than a couple of dozen members. The most enduring human rights organization to emerge from Alberta appeared in 1973 as the Calgary Civil Liberties Association. Its founder was Sheldon Chumir, a tax lawyer and former Rhodes scholar who was independently wealthy thanks to a small oil and gas company. The group began meeting informally every second Friday to discuss issues of interest, and in 1977 they decided to incorporate themselves into a
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formal organization.49 Its founders included Gary Dickson (lawyer), David Cruickshank (law professor, University of Calgary), Ed Wolfe (Calgary oil patch worker) and Joan Ryan (anthropology professor, University of Calgary). Most of their early work involved drawing media attention to local human rights abuses, writing letters to the provincial government, and occasionally litigating cases in court. They were especially interested in free speech, bylaws regulating parade permits and public signs, discrimination against Aboriginal Peoples by Calgary landlords, breaches of privacy access regulations, and prayers in public schools (they opposed religious practices in schools).50 Today, only a handful of the human rights organizations founded in Canada during the 1970s still exist. One of these groups is in Alberta. After the Alberta Human Rights and Civil Liberties Association became defunct in the mid-1980s, the Calgary group changed its name to the Alberta Civil Liberties Association. It founded the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre in 1982 to receive donations and conduct civil liberties educational programs and research. The association has made a name for itself on various issues, including forced treatment of drug addicted youth and intervention in the Vriend case on sexual orientation.51 Given its role in spurring the creation of the first civil liberties groups in Canada, the International Year for Human Rights remains a milestone in Alberta history.
Racial Equality
From restrictive immigration laws to denying minorities the right to vote, the governments of Canada and Alberta sought throughout the 1800s and first half of the 1900s to create a White nation. Daily life in Alberta was saturated with discrimination. Black Canadians, in particular, struggled for racial equality. Between 1910 and 1912 there was a small surge of Black immigration from Oklahoma to Alberta, but rejection and harassment ensured that the movement was brief.52 Near the Black settlement of Amber Valley, for instance, Black residents experienced difficulties securing bank credit,
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joining the army, attending dances (or other social functions), and obtaining employment or accommodation in the nearby town of Athabasca.53 White Albertans responded to Black residents with petitions to ban Black immigration and for segregation, and in at least one case, an anti-Black riot in 1940.54 Boards of trade, labour
Black Children at Athabasca AB (1920s) councils, newspapers, womens groups, and chapters of the United Farmers of Alberta vociferously insisted in keeping Black Canadians out of the province.55 Pressure from Alberta residents led the federal cabinet to pass an order-in-council on 12 August 1911 temporarily banning the immigration of anyone identified as Black to Canada.56
Attitudes began to change thanks in part to the efforts of organizations such as the Alberta Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples, which was founded in 1947. The Calgary Board of Education hired the provinces first Black teacher in 1946, and a Black woman was admitted to the Alberta Bar for the first time in 1954.61 Black professional athletes in the 1950s challenged the colour barrier, especially football players, whose
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Discrimination was rampant. Reflecting their parents and teachers values, children in the 1920s dressed up as darkies in plays and parades. Few White Albertans would associate with non-Whites.57 Nova Scotia and Ontario passed laws in the nineteenth century to segregate Black and White school children; similar informal policies existed during this period in Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.58 Moreover, Alberta hospitals refused to admit blacks into nurses training programmes; many landlords would not rent to blacks, and, numerous businessmen would not hire them. Proprietors of dance halls, beer parlors, swimming pools and skating rinks made it clear that they did not welcome blacks (sic).59 As late as 1957, a school in Breton received some notoriety when it refused to allow a Black man to teach White children.60
star status did much to change attitudes towards urban blacks (sic).62 But it was a constant struggle. One Calgary resident recalls Joan Armstead and Black Porters (1920s) her husband Alge, who, as Calgarys first Black bus driver, was forced to make practice runs before he was hired, so his employers could determine whether White Calgarians would accept him.63 On 13 May 1959, Ted King attempted to rent a room at Barclays Hotel in Calgary but was informed that the hotel did not serve coloured people. A year later the Alberta District Court ruled that the hotel was within its rights to refuse service despite provisions in the Hotelkeepers Act prohibiting innkeepers from refusing to serve travelers. The court, which based its decision on a technicality (the law prohibited an Inn from refusing to serve an individual but, according to the court, because the hotel did not serve food, it was not by definition an Inn and could thus refuse to serve Blacks), acknowledged that King had been discriminated against. The effect of this decision was essentially to sanction discrimination. Soon afterwards, however, the legislature removed the food requirement from the law to ensure that hotels would serve Blacks. A milestone was thus achieved in spite of the courts.64 Around the same time the provincial government passed anti-discrimination legislation banning racial discrimination. Meanwhile, in the 1960s as the rights revolution was transforming all aspects of life in Alberta, newspapers began to publicize incidents of discrimination against Blacks. The Alberta Federation of Labour organized anti-discrimination campaigns, and the Calgary and District Labour Council established the provinces first committee to combat racial
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intolerance.65 Calgary elected the provinces first Black City Councilor in 1974. Other milestones also emerged, albeit slowly. In the early 1980s only 2 percent of the Calgary police force, and 1.7 percent of the Edmonton police force, were visible minorities.66 To address this imbalance, the City of Edmonton hired civilians from minority communities to liaise between the police and their communities; the Calgary Police Services had established the provinces first Race Relations Unit in 1979.67 In the same year the Alberta Tribal Police project was established to provide better policing services for, as well as to respond to, the unique needs of Aboriginal Peoples on reserves.68 In 1983 the provincial human rights commission initiated its first province-wide anti-racism education campaign.69 In 2010, Calgary residents, of whom more than 25 percent are visible minorities, elected Naheed Nenshi, the provinces first visible minority mayor. At the time of writing, eight municipalities in Alberta more than any other province in Canada have joined the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination. Racial equality in the province, however, has not yet been achieved. Visible minorities constitute almost 25 percent of Edmontons population, for example, but only 1 percent of Edmontons current police force are visible minorities.70 Overall, few visible minorities are represented in Albertas police forces, city councils, or legislature. Although Albertans have long embraced the notion of a multicultural and multilingual community, the lack of minorities in key social and political institutions in Alberta is a testament to the legacy of racism in the province.
Human Rights Law

Albertas human rights story One of the products of the rights revolutions was the introduction of laws banning discrimination in Canada. Alberta, and Canada in general, created the most sophisticated and progressive human rights legal system in the world. Albertans, like most other Canadians, initially resisted implementing antidiscrimination laws. True, the Social Credit government in 1946 introduced
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the countrys first Bill of Rights. But it was, in reality, a poorly disguised attempt at regulating the economy, and the Supreme Court of Canada immediately struck it down.71 Premier Ernest Manning (1943-1968) was skeptical of anti-discrimination law: There are no conditions existing such that would require a restrictive codification of human rights ... The Government prefers to rely upon those individual rights and privileges as established by the Common Law of England and the British Commonwealth and adopted by the Dominion of Canada under the British North America Act of 1867, rather than to attempt to restrict their application by codification.72 Despite the Premiers skepticism, the province introduced equal pay provisions in the Alberta Labour Act in 1957, and an Alberta Human Rights Act in 1966. The latter was similar to laws passed by other provinces in the 1950s to ban racial, ethnic and religious discrimination in employment and accommodation. The laws were notoriously ineffective, but at least they were milestones that set the stage for implementing more effective legislation in the 1970s Peter Lougheeds Progressive Conservative Party toppled the Social Credit dynasty in 1971. The first two bills introduced by the government (among 243 passed in the first two years) were the Alberta Bill of Rights and the Individual Rights Protection Act.74 These new laws expanded the scope of human rights law and established an enforcement mechanism. The Human Rights Commission was the first government agency in Albertas history with a mandate to promote and enforce human rights. The Alberta model was similar in design to other human rights legal systems across Canada. Despite the proliferation of equality commissions in Europe and the United States,75 and the more recent spread of human rights laws in Eastern Europe,76 few of these models incorporated all the strengths of the Alberta/Canadian model, which included professional human rights investigators, public education, research and lobbying for legal reform, representing complainants before formal inquiries, jurisdiction over public and private sector, a focus on conciliation over litigation, independence from the government, and an
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adjudication process independent of the courts.77 Alberta was one of the first jurisdictions to make its human rights law paramount over other provincial laws. Considering the lack of any effective statutory recognition of human rights before 1966 in Alberta, it is clear that the impact of the rights revolution in the province was truly transformational.78 The Alberta Human Rights Commission was responsible for several human rights milestones. It drew the publics attention to issues such as the Ku Klux Klans activities in Alberta, discrimination against Aboriginal Peoples and Black Canadians, sex discrimination in school textbooks, insurance premiums based on gender (higher auto insurance rate for young males),79 discrimination in the Edmonton taxi industry (for example, customers requesting White drivers),80 and sexual harassment. If human rights complaints could not be resolved informally they would be sent to a Board of Inquiry. The first Alberta Board of Inquiry was held in March 1972. An Aboriginal woman, Frances Weaselfat, filed a grievance against Dennys Shell Service which required all Indians to pay in advance before pumping gas. The complaint was sustained and the gas station owner was ordered to publish an apology and end the practice. In the same year, the Canadian Association for Statutory Human Rights Agencies, a coordinating body for human rights commissions, was founded in Edmonton. At a time when, as the former editor of Chatelaine magazine Doris Anderson suggested, some men simply assumed sexual harassment was a perk of being boss, human rights law were truly revolutionary.81 And yet, the struggle surrounding human rights laws in Alberta exemplifies the need for vigilance. Alberta was the last jurisdiction to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Even when the courts forced the province to protect the rights of gays and lesbians, the law was not formally amended to recognize their rights until 2010. Even then, the government included an additional section in the law empowering parents to ban teachers from speaking to their children about sexual orientation, sexuality and religion. Alberta remains the only jurisdiction in Canada, and perhaps the only one in the world, to make teaching a human rights violation.
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Women
The ways in which women have historically been marginalized in Alberta are numerous. No single milestone could possibly capture the entire struggle for womens human rights. Thousands of small and large victories over a long period of time instead constituted the rights revolution in gender equality in Alberta. Women have mobilized over successive generations to fight for social, political and legal change. By the 1930s women in Alberta had spearheaded numerous progressive state policies, including child labour laws, better working conditions in factories, and generous dower and mothers allowances. The Sexual Disqualification Removal Act (1930) eliminated many restrictions on womens participation in government, commissions and the judiciary. Women secured the right to vote and run for public office provincially in 1916 and federally in 1918; the first equal pay law was introduced in 1957 with an amendment to the Alberta Labour Act; and Alberta was the first province to appoint an inquiry into implementing the recommendations of the 1970 Royal Commission on the Status of Women. Although not all of the Commissions recommendations were followed, funding for daycare alone increased from $400,000 to $4 million by 1975.82 Alberta has been at the forefront of setting precedents in the struggle for womens equality. Agriculture has historically been a critical component of the provincial economy, and the United Farmers of Alberta formed the government between 1921 and 1935. Given the central importance of women on a family farm, it is not surprising that women in Alberta achieved so many early human rights milestones. The Alberta government, decades before other provinces, legislated equal property rights for men and women in 1922. The first female judge, female Member of Legislative Assembly and female cabinet minister in Canada all served in Alberta. Alberta was the first province to establish a minimum wage for women and one of only a few to introduce mothers allowances by 1920.83 Two of the leading human rights milestones in Canadian history emerged from Alberta. When Emily Murphys appointment as the countrys first
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Now That We Are Persons article by Nellie McClung (Jan 2, 1930)
police magistrate was challenged on the basis that women did not constitute persons under the Constitution, Murphy and four other women from Alberta instigated the most famous legal case in Canadian
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history: the Persons Case. The British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council concurred in 1929 with the Alberta Supreme Courts decision that women were indeed persons, despite a negative decision from the Supreme Court of Canada. In a subsequent case in 1975, Irene Murdoch claimed that she was entitled to half of her husbands assets following their divorce. The Supreme Court of Canada, however, rejected her claim on the basis that her 20 years of labour simply constituted the expected obligations of a farm wife.84 This case of an abused Alberta farm wife however, galvanized a nation. The case mobilized activists across the country and ultimately resulted in legislative reforms that liberalized divorce laws affecting all women in Canada. A few years later, organized Albertan women, fighting alongside their counterparts across Canada, secured another human rights victory when they defeated the Alberta governments attempts to have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms notwithstanding clause apply to the section on the equality of men and women. Meanwhile, following its creation, the Alberta Human Rights Commission played a key role in a further milestone for women in Alberta: equal pay. Following a 1975 Board of Inquiry appointed under the human rights statute, in which the board concluded that female nurses were paid less than male orderlies doing the same work, the government agreed to adjust the pay scales and provide retroactive pay.85 The decision sent a powerful warning to employers who paid women less than men. Still, despite the legal requirement for equality, equal pay was far from a reality. A 1979 report from the Human Rights Commission found that the average salary for women in the public service was 65 percent of a male wage, and only 6.5 percent of management were women.86 Albertas human rights story By the 1990s women had secured formal legal equality with men. Still, there is no doubt that the legacy of discrimination continues to affect womens lives. By 1985, Alberta had the highest labour force participation rate for women in the country (60 percent of the workforce).87 Yet as late as 1993, farm women in Alberta still required their husbands to co-sign loans because lending agencies considered them dependants.88 Moreover, two-
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thirds of minimum wage earners in Alberta in 1991 were women. Today, women still earn substantially less money on average than men. Single mothers are disproportionately represented among welfare recipients and women are often ghettoized in low-paying careers such as clerical work. Securing womens human rights was hence only the beginning. Genuine equality remains to be achieved for many women in Alberta.
Language Rights
Today, there are strong pockets of francophone communities scattered across the province but most Albertans rarely encounter French speakers in their daily lives. Despite this, Francophones played a key role in Albertas early history. French-speakers accounted for three-quarters of the regions non-Native population in the 1870s, but less than one-fifth by 1885.89 Controversies surrounding the rights of French-speaking Albertans have a long and bitter history. As one historian puts it, French language education in Alberta would remain under constant siege until the 1960s.90 It was not until the rights revolution that there was any recognition of the rights of Franco-Albertans. The official language of the new province of Alberta in 1905 was English. French-language instruction in public schools was restricted to grades one and two; for senior grades, French was restricted to one hour per day. Private French language schools were permitted, but communities were still required to pay property taxes for English schools while French schools were denied any recognition or funds from the Department of Education.91 The situation remained virtually unchanged for another two generations, although by the 1960s Franco-Albertans could have up to half a day of French instruction in schools. Albertas children were among the lowest number of participants in French language education in Canada in the 1960s: 25.3 percent of elementary school students and 32.2 percent of high school students. Government officials were openly hostile to the 1969 federal Official Languages Act. Premier Ernest Manning rejected the theory of Confederation as two founding nations; instead, he presented
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an image of Alberta as multilingual and multicultural. The provinces top priority was to promote English language.92 By the late 1960s Albertas language programs were among the least developed in the country.93 Nonetheless, the federal Official Languages Act was a powerful symbol of minority language rights. Alberta relaxed restrictions on French instruction in 1968, and school boards began to take advantage of federal funding to offer more bilingual education. By the early 1970s French language education began to develop as communities in Red Deer and Lethbridge established new programs. Within a few years the number of children learning French increased markedly, to 36.5 percent of elementary students and 39.2 percent of high school students.94 The provincial government remained hesitant to embrace official bilingualism, but it allowed local communities to chart their own direction. The Worth Commission on Educational Planning (1969) recommended an expansion of French language education and the prioritization of French above other second languages. Immersion programs were soon expanded in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. In 1976, the Minister of Education raised the cap on French language instruction; public schools now had the option of offering French education for 80 percent of the day. The new policy, after generations of repressive language education policies against Francophones, was a milestone in French language minority rights.95 By this time there seemed to be an almost inexorable movement towards securing greater recognition for minority language rights in Alberta. The Association canadienne dducation franaise and Canadian Parents for French successfully lobbied for new French language education programs in Calgary and Edmonton, which proved popular and received national attention.96 Their campaign soon achieved another milestone. For nearly a century the province had refused to provide substantial financial support for French language education. The Minister of Education announced in 1978 that the government would provide more than $2.5 million dollars to expand French programs, and to provide funding for rural schools.97 In 1980, the province committed for the first time to top up federal grants for
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French language programs and to provide funding to transport children to school districts offering French programs.98 A genuine cultural shift was underway. Middle class urban Anglophones, who for generations had been the bedrock of pursuing a unilingual Anglophone Alberta, were now allies in demanding state funding for French language education. Albertans were increasingly convinced of the practical benefits of bilingualism and the need to recognize official minority language rights. Another milestone was achieved in 1987, when the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the provinces refusal to fund French minority schooling violated the constitution.99 In 1993 the province went so far as to introduce legislation to provide for minority school boards to administer all aspects of minority education in the district.100 Language rights have indeed been a continual struggle throughout Albertas history. The Northwest Territories Act (1875), which legislated Alberta prior to its founding as a province in 1905, established official bilingualism in the region, but the government illegally abolished bilingualism in 1892.101 English and French co-existed in the Northwest Territories but, beginning in the 1890s, the local government embraced unilingual assimilation. The government imposed English in all aspects of community life, from business practices to government, courts, policing and municipalities. It is true that the rights revolution transformed Albertans attitudes towards language education, but there were notable limits. Today more than 58 percent of Albertans support bilingualism and 69 percent support providing more resources for promoting bilingual education.102 Despite these accomplishments, barely 2 percent of Albertas population speaks French as their first language and less than 7 percent are bilingual.
Sexual Orientation
Not too long ago, discrimination against homosexuals in Canada rarely engendered opposition. When John Damien, a racing steward with the Ontario Racing Commission, was fired in 1975, his employers publicly acknowledged that they fired him for being gay.103 In Newfoundland, debates
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surrounding the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Human Rights Code were vitriolic; the Minister of Justice, speaking in the legislature in 1990, associated all homosexuals with pedophilia.104 Today, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited throughout the nation, and Canada is one of the only countries in the world to have legalized same-sex marriage. The struggle for gay rights in Alberta is epitomized in two milestones. The first is the creation of the modern gay rights movement, which was deeply linked to the rights revolution. As one historian has suggested, the 1970s are hailed as the decade of gay rights in North America.105 Several small gay rights groups appeared in Canadas largest cities in the early 1970s, including the Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) in Edmonton in 1971. GATE organized the first campaigns to have sexual orientation included as a prohibited ground for discrimination in the provincial human rights law.106 Both GATE and the Calgarys Peoples Liberation (founded in 1973) operated phone lines and offered peer counseling, and in some cases held social events or hosted drop-ins.107 The Womyns Collective, founded in Calgary in 1977, held its first all-woman dance that year and organized meetings, dances, consciousness-raising groups, barbecues, and other activities, such as womens drop-ins. It later also established the Lesbian Information Line.108 A Lesbian Mothers Defence Fund was launched in Calgary in the 1980s and, in 1983, Calgary held the provinces first lesbian conference. Meanwhile, the first lesbian organization in Edmonton, Womonspace, was underway by 1982. In the 1990s, similar organizations had emerged in Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge.109 The proliferation of gay and lesbian rights organizations was a testament to the transformations surrounding the rights revolution. There were no organized gay or lesbian rights groups before 1970 but, within two decades, there was a flourishing movement in Alberta. Virtually every success in the fight for equal rights for sexual minorities can be attributed to the efforts of social movement activists in Alberta. Certainly the provinces political leaders were unwilling to follow other provinces in legislating equal rights for gays and lesbians. Although the newly elected
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Progressive Conservative government in 1971 was at the forefront of several human rights milestones, it adamantly refused to address sexual orientation, despite a 1976 recommendation from the Alberta Human Rights Commission to amend the law. Nonetheless, activists wrote briefs, mounted letter-writing campaigns, held meetings with members of the legislature and formed a provincial organization in 1979 called the Alberta Lesbian and Gay Rights Association. Undeterred, the government appointed a new chairman to the Human Rights Commission who was openly hostile to gays and lesbians. The minister in charge of the commission defended the appointment with the claim that sexual orientation is voluntarily chosen, and therefore less deserving of protection from discrimination than involuntary characteristics such as race. Persons disclosing their sexual orientation, he contended, should expect discrimination because by flaunting their sexuality they may violate the rights of others.110 Another cabinet minister declared in 1989 that the province would never ban discrimination if it meant allowing homosexuals to teach in schools, and another insisted that two homosexuals do not constitute a family.111 Ten years later the government even went so far as to introduce legislation restricting common law marriages to only heterosexual couples.112 Politics aside, the social context in Alberta was also an obstacle for the gay and lesbian rights movement. In Calgary, for example, the 1995 lesbian and gay film festival (which received a $4,000 federal grant) was attacked on national television by religious fundamentalists for being a pornographic film orgy. One evangelical minister insisted: Im not after the homos or the bis, Im after the fact theyre showing porno movies in a tax-funded situation.113 Two years later, a group of evangelical Christians convinced the chief superintendent of the Calgary Public School Board to ban two books from school libraries that dealt with homosexuality because they were pro-gay.114
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Given such a hostile political and social climate, it was inevitable that the second milestone in securing human rights for sexual minorities in Alberta would arise from the courts. Homosexuality was a criminal offence in Canada until it was decriminalized in 1969. Still, it would take another eight years before a province (Quebec) banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and another ten years after that before other provinces followed suit. By 1998 Alberta was the only place (except for the Northwest Territories) where discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment, services and accommodation was still legal. However, developments were already underway that would force the Alberta government to change its policies. Delwin Vriend, a professor, was fired from Kings College in Edmonton for being gay because, according to the college, homosexual practice goes against the Bible, and the colleges statement of faith.115 The Human Rights Commission initially refused to hear his case, but a new commissioner and a vigorous campaign waged by activists in Alberta led the Commission to change its position and to begin investigating cases involving sexual minorities. Meanwhile, Vriend convinced the Alberta Supreme Court that the Commissions initial refusal to consider his case violated his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Although the Alberta Appellate Court overturned the ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1998 that Albertas human rights laws omission of sexual orientation violated section 15 of the Charter. In practice the human rights legislation applied to sexual minorities as of 1998, but the government did not formally amend the law to recognize this change until 2010.Despite these achievements, and as has been the case with all human rights milestones in Albertas history, the success was not without setbacks. The Supreme Courts ruling led to an outpouring of what one author describes as a venomous torrent of homophobic hatred, including attacks on radio shows to protests in front of the Legislature. Stockwell Day, the provincial Treasurer, called on the provincial government to invoke the Charters notwithstanding clause.116 A decade after the Supreme Courts ruling, Albertans continue to struggle with discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 2008, Alberta
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resident Darren Lund successfully pursued a complaint before a provincial human rights tribunal against Reverend Stephen Boissoin of the Concerned Christian Coalition. Boissoin had written a letter, published in the Red Deer Advocate, condemning homosexuality as wicked and dangerous. The tribunals decision was a victory for human rights, not only because it ruled in favour of homosexual rights, but because Lund had the support of both the commission and the provincial government. However, in 2009, the Alberta Court of Queens Bench overturned the decisionon the basis that Boissoins hate speech constituted free speech.Lunds appeal to the Alberta Court of Appeal was dismissed in October 2012, and he was ordered to pay Boissoins legal expenses.
Notes
1 For a history of the rights revolution, see Dominique Clment, Canadas Rights Revolution: Social Movements and Social Change, 1937-1982 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008), chapter 2. 2 Douglas E Sanders, The Hutterites: A Case Study in Minority Rights, Canadian Bar Review, no. 42 (1964): 226. 3 All property within a Hutterite colony is church property; there is no distinct church organization in a colony because the community is the congregation. Professor Esaus description of a colony is especially evocative: from the Hutterite perspective, a colony may be thought of as a communal ark of salvation that leads to eternal life in heaven, while the rest of the world is drowning in the flood of temporary selfish pride and pleasure leading to death. Jonette Watson Hamilton, Space for Religion: Regulation of Hutterite Expansion and the Superior Court of Alberta, in The Alberta Supreme Court at 100: History & Authority, ed. Jonathan Swaigner (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2010), 160. 4 Ibid., 162. 5 William Janzen, Limits on Liberty: The Experience of Mennonite, Hutterite, and Doukhobor Communities in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990), 144-53. 6 David Breen, The Making of Modern Alberta, in Alberta Formed? Alberta Transformed, ed. Michael Payne, Donald Wetherell, and Catherine Cavanaugh (Calgary: University of Calgary, 2006), 551-53.
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7 Land Sales Prohibition Act, Statutes of Alberta, 1942, c.59; Communal Property Act, Statutes of Alberta, 1947, c. 16. 8 Sanders, The Hutterites, 225-28. 9 Walter et al. v Attorney General of Canada 54 Dominion Law Reports (1965). 10 Alberta Legislature, Hansard, v.3, n.32 (1972) 28 (page 32-28). 11 GDL Hetland et al., The Hutterites and Social Policy, ed. Alberta Department of Agriculture (Edmonton: Alberta Department of Agriculture, 1972), vi. 12 Hamilton, Space for Religion, 168. 13 Janzen, Limits on Liberty, 73-74. 14 Hamilton, Space for Religion. 15 Ibid., 177-83. 16 War Measures Act, Statues of Canada 1914, c. 2. 17 Dale Gibson, Bible Bill and the Money Barons: The Social Credit Court References and Their Constitutional Consequences, in Forging Albertas Constitutional Framework, ed. Richard Connors and John M. Law (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2005), 201-02. 18 Alberta Press Bill, Supreme Court Reports 100(1938). 19 Ibid. 20 By meeting with the wholesalers before the publications reached the province and coming to an informal agreement to not bring certain publications into Alberta, the censor board was able to avoid any legal actions contesting ban on literature in Alberta. Bruce Ryder, Undercover Censorship: Exploring the History of the Regulation of Publications in Canada, in Interpreting Censorship in Canada, ed. Klaus Petersen and Allan C Hutchinson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), 138-40. 21 Malcolm Dean, Censored! Only in Canada: The History of Film Censorshipthe Scandal Off the Screen (Toronto: Virgo Press, 1981), 109-10. 22 David C. Jones, The Dance of the Grizzly Bear: Boom to Bust, 1912-1913, in Alberta Formed Alberta Transformed, ed. Michael Payne, Donald Wetherell, and Catherine Cavanaugh (Calgary: University of Calgary, 2006), 377. 23 Dean, Censored! , 74. Classification simply means that films deemed unacceptable must be re-submitted with further cuts until they can be approved by a provincial board. The difference between classification and censorship is simply that boards which classify films do not provide their own editing services for distributors. , Censored! , 94. 24 Alvin Finkel, Social Policy and Practice in Canada: A History (Waterloo: Wilfried Laurier University Press, 2006), 131. 25 Dean, Censored! , 113, 15. 26 Ryder, Undercover Censorship, 148.
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27 Dean, Censored! , 115-16. 28 For a study on eugenics in Alberta, see Jana Grekul, The Right to Consent?: Eugenics in Alberta, 19281972, in A History of Human Rights in Canada, ed. Janet Miron (Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 2009). 29 The United Farm Women of Alberta was an auxiliary of the United Farmers of Alberta. Ibid., 138. 30 As quote in Ibid., 138-39. 31 Ibid., 138. 32 However, 40% of approved sterilizations never took place due to difficulties surrounding how to secure consent. Ibid., 140. 33 Alberta Legislature, Hansard, v.4, n.58 (1972) 37 (page 58-37). 34 Editorial. Quick reversal a credit to Klein: Use government power cautiously. Edmonton Journal, 12 March 1988. 35 Canada, 1969. Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 5. 36 Full and equal access for individuals of aboriginal descent to the democratic rights and economic opportunities of the mainstream society the integrationist approach- was not something to be spurned. This approach, however, held the promise of being part of a postcolonial relationship only if it could be combined with an autonomist approach recognizing the collective right of Aboriginal peoples to survive and develop as distinct, self-governing communities on or in connection with traditional lands and waters...The inadequacy of the liberal, civil-rights approach as the basis for reaching a consensual accommodation with Aboriginal peoples became crystal clear in Canada in 1969. Peter Russell, Colonization of Indigenous Peoples: The Movement toward New Relationships, in Parties Long Estranged: Canada and Australia in the Twentieth Century, ed. Margaret MacMillan and Francie McKenzie (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003), 76-6. 37 Indian Chiefs of Alberta. Citizens Plus, 1970. 38 David Long, Culture, Ideology, and Militancy: The Movement of Native Indians in Canada, 1969-91, in Organizing Dissent: Contemporary Social Movements in Theory and in Practice, ed. William K. Carroll (Toronto: Garamond Press, 1997), 121. 39 Harold Cardinal, The Unjust Society (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999), 5. 40 Premier Lougheed relented on the condition that the constitution would simply recognize existing Aboriginal rights. 41 Cardinal, The Unjust Society, viii. 42 Human rights organizations in this context refers to self-identified human rights or civil liberties organizations. For a history of human rights activism
in Canada before 1960, see Ross Lambertson, Repression and Resistance: Canadian Human Rights Activists, 1930-1960 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005). 43 For a history of rights associations from 1960 to the 1980s, see Clment, Canadas Rights Revolution. 44 NAC, Franks Scott Papers, vol.103, list of events and plans undertaken by various organizations for International Year for Human Rights, 15 December 1967. 45 NAC, Kalmen Kaplansky Papers, MG30, A53, vol.7, f.3, A Brief Historical Analysis of the Development of Human Rights and Civil Liberties Associations in Canada, 6 June 1972. 46 National Bulletin, Vol.1, No.2, August 1972. 47 Interview, Ed Webking, 26 August 2003. 48 Rights and Freedoms, No.25, March 1977; Rights and Freedoms, No.32, September-October 1979. 49 Interview, Gary Dickson, 4 April 2003. 50 Interview, Gary Dickson, 4 April 2003; Interview, Janet Keeping, 19 March 2004. 51 Jeremy Patrick, Civil Liberties Advocacy Organizations in Canada: A Survey and Critique, Oklahoma City University Law Review 32, no. 2 (2007). 52 James Walker, Race, Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada: Historical Case Studies (Toronto: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1997), 125. For further details on Black immigration to Alberta, see Robin Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History, 2nd ed. (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 1997), 305-07. 53 Howard Palmer and Tamara Palmer, The Black Experience in Alberta, in Peoples of Alberta, ed. Howard Palmer and Tamara Palmer (Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1985), 380. 54 Ibid., 365. 55 R. Bruce Shepard, Plain Racism: The Reaction against Oklahoma Black Immigration to the Canadian Plains, Prairie Forum 10(1985): 369-73. 56 Although the order was quickly rescinded, it was indicative of the depth of opposition to Black immigration , Plain Racism: The Reaction against Oklahoma Black Immigration to the Canadian Prairies, Prairie Forum 10(1985): 379; Palmer and Palmer, The Black Experience in Alberta, 365. 57 Bradford J. Rennie, From Idealism to Pragmatism: 1923 in Alberta, in Alberta Formed Alberta Transformed, ed. Michael Payne, Donald Wetherell, and Catherine Cavanaugh (Calgary: University of Calgary, 2006), 449. 58 Walker, Race, Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada, 25.
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59 Palmer and Palmer, The Black Experience in Alberta, 384. 60 Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History, 305. 61 Robert M. Stamp, Suburban Modern: Postwar Dreams in Calgary (Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2004), 171-72. 62 Palmer and Palmer, The Black Experience in Alberta, 389. 63 Cheryl Foggo, Delicious Moments: Uncovering the Hidden Lives of Western Canadas Black Pioneer Women, in Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Womens History, ed. Sarah Carter, et al. (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2005), 272. 64 Although the decision was based on the fact that King lived in Calgary (and was thus not technically a traveler) and the hotel did not qualify as an inn because it did not serve food. Walker, Race, Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada, 176-77. 65 Library and Archives Canada. Canadian Labour Congress fonds, MG28 I 103, H-315, f.R2, Convention committee on human rights: report to the Canadian Labour Congress, n.d.; Palmer and Palmer, The Black Experience in Alberta, 388. 66 John McDonough, The Protection of the Rights of Visible Minorities, ed. Legislative Research Services (Edmonton: Legislative Library, 1984), 11. 67 Alberta Human Rights Journal 2, 1 (1983): 6. 68 Within five years at least 15 bands employed special band constables with the authority to enforce specific provincial statutes. McDonough, The Protection of the Rights of Visible Minorities, 10-11. 69 Denis St. Arnaud to John McDonough, 29 June 1984. Memorandum from the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Source: Ibid. 70 Edmonton Police Services and the Edmonton Police Commission. 2009 Annual Report. 71 Alberta, The Bill of Rights Act, Statutes of Alberta, 1946, c.11; Reference re Alberta Bill of Rights Act [1946], 3 Western Weekly Reports (Alberta Court of Appeal). 72 Ernest Manning to Michel Gouault (United Council for Human Rights), 8 June 1964, Library and Archives Canada, Jewish Labour Committee fonds, MG28 V75, volume 36, file 14. See also: Maureen Riddell, The Evolution of Human Rights Legislation in Alberta, 1945-1979, (Edmonton: Government of Alberta, 1978-9), 6. 73 On the history of human rights legislation in Canada, see Brian Howe and David Johnson, Restraining Equality: Human Rights Commissions in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000); Dominique Clment, Human Rights Law and Sexual Discrimination in British Columbia, 1953-1984,
in The West and Beyond, ed. Sara Carter, Alvin Finkel, and Peter Fortna (Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2010); , Rights without the Sword Are but Mere Words: The Limits of Canadas Rights Revolution, in A History of Human Rights in Canada, ed. Janet Miron (Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 2009). 74 The Alberta Bill of Rights dealt with fundamental freedoms, whereas the Individual Rights Protection Act prohibited discrimination in accommodation, employment and services. 75 Equality commissions in the United Kingdom and the United States, for example, had far more restrictive mandates and arguably less effective enforcement mechanisms. According to the former Chairman of the Canadian Human Rights Commission and member to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Canadian model had few peers. See Maxwell Yalden, Transforming Rights: Reflections from the Front Lines (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2009), 143. 76 Linda Reif, Building Democratic Institutions: The Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Good Governance and Human Rights Protection, Harvard Human Rights Journal 13(2000): 24. See also Julie A. Mertus, Human Rights Matters: Local Politics and National Human Rights Institutions (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008). International Council on Human Rights, Performance and Legitimacy: National Human Rights Institutions, (1999). 77 In addition, the province of British Columbia set a new standard in 1974 when the government introduced a new law banning discrimination on the basis of reasonable cause; most human rights laws ban discrimination on certain grounds (e.g. race), but the provinces legislation required any form of discrimination to be justified on the basis of reasonable grounds, opening the door to precedents in areas of sexual harassment, pregnancy, sexual orientation and others. Dominique Clment, I Believe in Human Rights, Not Womens Rights: Women and the Human Rights State, 1969-1984, Radical History Review 101(2008). 78 For studies on human rights law in Canada, see Walter Surma Tarnopolsky, Discrimination and the Law in Canada (Toronto: De Boo, 1982); Howe and Johnson, Restraining Equality; Clment, Human Rights Law and Sexual Discrimination in British Columbia, 1953-1984.; , True North Strong and Free?.; , I Believe in Human Rights, Not Womens Rights. 79 Alberta Human Rights Commission. Brief to the Government of Alberta: Contravention of the Individuals Rights Protect Act in Setting Insurance Premiums ad Annuities Based on Sex. 1 June 1969.
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80 William Nichols and John Gartrell. Discrimination in the Edmonton Taxi Industry (Edmonton: Population Research Laboratory, University of Alberta), 6 November 1989. 81 Doris Anderson, Rebel Daughter: An Autobiography (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1996), 173. 82 Alberta Status of Women Action Committee. Joint Initiatives: A Goal for Women and Government in Alberta. A Submission to the Executive Council of the Province of Alberta, October 1976. 83 Alberta and Saskatchewan were also the only provinces that did not restrict allowances to women of British descent. Allison Prentice et al., Canadian Women: A History, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996), 227, 29. 84 According to Laskin, the wifes contribution, in physical labour at least, to the assets amassed in the name of the husband can only be characterized as extraordinary. In so far as the trial judges holding against the appellant rests on his view that she discharged a role that was not beyond what is normally expected of a wife, I disagree with it and approach her claim on a different footing. Murdoch v Murdoch 1 (Supreme Court Reports 1975] 438. 85 Riddell, The Evolution of Human Rights Legislation in Alberta, 1945-1979, 21. 86 Women Associates Consulting Inc. Occupational Segregation and its Effects: A Study of Women in the Alberta Public Service. A Report Submitted to the Alberta Human Rights Commission. 1979. 87 Prentice et al., Canadian Women, 369. 88 Alberta Advisory Council on Womens Issues, 1993. A Six Year Review. 89 Edmund A. Aunger, One Language and One Nationality: The Forcible Constitution of a Unilingual Province in a Bilingual Country, 1870-2005, in One Language and One Nationality, ed. Richard Connors and John M. Law (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2005), 103. 90 Matthew Hayday, Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow: Official Languages in Education and Canadian Federalism (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2005), 22. 91 For a history of early French language education programs in Alberta, see Sandra M. Anderson, Venerable Rights: Constitutionalizing Albertas Schools 1869-1905, in Forging Albertas Constitutional Framework, ed. Richard Connors and John M. Law (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2005). 92 Hayday, Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow, 52-3. 93 Ibid., 69. 94 Ibid., 69-70. 95 Ibid., 71-2.
96 The organizations appealed to Albertans by speaking of parents rights to educate their children in either official language as well as the practical benefits of bilingualism in a modern economy. 97 Hayday, Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow, 117-8. 98 Ibid., 129-30. 99 Aunger, Venerable Rights, 123-4. 100 Ibid., 128. 101 Ibid., 109-14. 102 Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. The Evolution of Public Opinion on Official Languages in Canada, 2006. http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/html/evolution_opinion_summ_somm_e.php 103 Tom Warner, Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), 144-45. 104 Newfoundland House of Assembly, Hansard, vol. 16, no.88 (1990), 22-23. 105 .Evelyn Kallen, Label Me Human: Minority Rights of Stigmatized Canadians (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989), 168. 106 Warner, Never Going Back, 309. 107 Ibid., 86-87. 108 Ibid., 181. 109 One of them, Red Deers Gay and Lesbian Association of Central Alberta, founded in 1991, had as its mission to organize, promote, and encourage a wide range of social activities that would bring together the gay and lesbian community of central Alberta. Ibid., 309. 110 Ibid., 153. 111 Ibid., 209. 112 Ibid., 2410-241. 113 Ibid., 335. 114 Ibid., 339. 115 Ibid., 209. 116 Ibid., 211.
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The Stories of Human Rights in Alberta

Jim Gurnett
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As part of an exploration of the story of human rights in Alberta, Jim Gurnett weaves a unique perspective and history through sharing of personal stories and experiences garnered from interviews with key individuals in Alberta. Jim seeks to gather the memories and opinions that offer a sense of some of the real people who have been part of the human rights story in Alberta, presented largely in their own words, and even when those words may offer conflicting versions of the same events. It seeks to show human rights as being about values that matter to people, more than abstract technicalities. The views of people closely involved with human rights in Alberta express
both the considerable good news and the continuing matters of concern. The story of human rights in Alberta is substantial. It deserves serious study and consideration historically, legally, and sociologically. But at heart, human rights are about human beings, and so the voices of people linked with this record are central to this narrative. Those voices come from every part of society. Politicians, leaders in civil society, people on all sides of human rights cases, and people who have been part of the Alberta Human Rights Commission all give life to the facts and figures, the dates and documents.
month each major newspaper in Alberta averages 100 references to human rights. There are stories and editorials of tensions and challenges, and of achievements and success. Heart-breaking articles and heart-warming ones. The facts and viewpoints in these articles are diverse; some are local, some international, some slight, some dramatic. But together they are a testimony to the complex reality that there is an elaborate weaving of human interactions always in motion and that the actions and choices of each of us affect others in many ways. In these interactions the perspectives of some people about their rights may create conflict with the perspective of others about their rights. Standing in the checkout line at the local supermarket you might chat with someone who will tell you human rights are about government keeping its hands off so individuals can pursue wealth and success as they choose; with another who will insist human rights are a campaign by minorities to get special privileges for themselves to advance their agendas to destroy our way of life; and with someone else who will tell you
Every
There is an
elaborate weaving of human interactions always in
motion and that the actions and choices of each of us affect others in many ways.
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if it was not for clear government regulations and enforcement to protect rights his or her employment history would be marked by abuse. Ordinary people of all descriptions engage in countless conversations about their own experiences with human rights or their thoughts about those of others every day in Alberta, and have for many years. Human rights issues generate strong views. The term human rights may not always be used, but when people are thinking or talking about the ways in which our lives touch the lives of others, it is human rights that are in focus. Some Albertans have had larger or more formal connection with human rights than most, and have contributed on a more public level through their words and their actions. It would take a shelf of books to begin to capture the richness of the stories of these peoples lives adequately, but a sample of the words of a few people, gathered in interviews during 2010, offers some sense of the richness of Albertas exploration of human rights over the past decades, and the range of strongly-held perspectives that have marked the provinces narrative on human rights. This contribution does not seek to present events in accurate legal and historic detail, but rather to gather memories and opinions that offer a sense of some of the real people who have been part of the human rights story in Alberta, presented largely in their own words, even when those words may offer conflicting versions of the same events. It seeks to show human rights as being about values that matter to people, more than about abstract technicalities. Most Albertans have not experienced the torture, deprivation, imprisonment, and even death that mark the efforts of people in many parts of the world struggling for respect of human rights. But more than 60 years after Canada formally expressed commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) there are still incidents when a young anti-racist activist can answer the door at his home in Calgary and be attacked by baseball-bat wielding strangers forcing their way in; a Cree man selling newspapers on a downtown Edmonton street corner be told Go back to where you came from; or a child go home from school
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confused, to ask a parent why other children on the playground say its sick for her to have two mothers and no father. The views of people closely involved with human rights in Alberta express both the considerable good news and the continuing matters of concern. In the modern history of the territory that is now Alberta, there have been people who have expressed articulate perspectives about the meaning of fairness and equitable treatment in a wide range of situations, and people who have demonstrated in their own lives and their treatment of others what honouring the rights of others means. And there have been some who have demonstrated disregard or even outright rejection and contempt of the fundamental concepts of human rights or held very controversial views on them. The story of human rights in Alberta is substantial. It deserves serious study and consideration historically, legally, and sociologically. But at its heart, human rights are about human beings, and so the voices of people linked with this record are central to this narrative. Those voices come from every part of society. Politicians, leaders in civil society, people on all sides of human rights cases, and people who have been part of the Alberta Human Rights Commission all give life to the facts and figures, the dates and documents. Human rights have always been a part of Albertas story, but an intentional language of human rights, with vocabulary and grammar, is more recent, and its development is linked significantly to the 1948 approval of the UDHR by the United Nations, a declaration Canadian John Humphrey had a central role in crafting. The UDHR provided a framework to have shared conversation, or sometimes heated debate, everywhere in the world, with some agreed terms, to be able to talk apples to apples.
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The Alberta Legislature addresses human rights

In Alberta, the legal action arising from Barclays Hotel in Calgary refusing a room to a person on the basis of skin colour in 1959 is one of the first evidences of a deliberate concern developing around human rights. The first substantial legislation came in 1966 with passage of the first Human Rights Act.
Peter Lougheed
Most Albertans born in the first six decades of the twentieth century probably remember 1972 as the year they cheered as Canada defeated the Soviet Union in an international hockey competition, but it is also the year of a landmark event in Albertas human rights story. The operative word for me in thinking about human rights in Alberta is priority, Peter Lougheed says, firmness and pride in his voice as he remembers the decision of the new Progressive Conservative government of which he was Premier to make its first two pieces of legislation the Individuals Rights Peter Lougheed, 1971 Protection Act and a new Alberta Human Rights Act. When asked what he looks back on today as significant about that first term in office, he doesnt hesitate to say, This new government, almost 40 years ago, came into office and its first legislation was in human rights. What I would hope today is that Albertans would say Did they really? Why did they do that?, and start discussing it. Many other Albertans hold positive memories of this action by that first Progressive Conservative government. Muriel Stanley-Venne, one of the first commissioners of the Human Rights Commission, says, Those were the glory days. There was a wonderful opportunity with those two first pieces of legislation to make a difference.
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Lougheeds example also inspired Lindsay Blackett, the minister responsible for human rights in 2008, who was concerned there had been no updating of legislation for well over a decade. He says when he first raised the issue of amendments with cabinet colleagues some told him he was crazy to open such a hornets nest, but Blackett had been speaking with Richard Florida, who developed the concept of the creative class, asserting that metropolitan regions with higher concentrations of artists, musicians, lesbians and gay men, and new technology workers exhibit a higher level of economic development. Florida said Alberta has got everything going for it, but if you cant be a society thats inclusive enough to recognize the basic human rights of everybody, including those with different sexual orientation, youre always going to have that stigma. I looked back to Peter Lougheed in his day wanting us to be a province to welcome all the people of the world, the best and the brightest, to come and make us great. Blackett says this encouraged him to move forward. Youre going to get flak from the left and the right and somehow youve got to come with a document that goes down the middle and that the majority of people will agree with and you have to keep your head down and keep going, he says to describe his approach to amendments to human rights legislation. Influenced by his close association with John Diefenbaker, who had introduced a federal Bill of Rights when he was Prime Minister, Lougheed encouraged the Alberta Progressive Conservatives, when developing their election platform for the 1971 campaign, to decide. We should put human rights at the front of the platform and make a commitment that if we were elected, we would bring in legislation as our first act. But legislation alone was not enough without a mechanism so the new laws would have some meaning for people. The Human Rights Commission had a very important role: providing a place where people who felt human rights were not properly adhered
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to could come for assistance, Lougheed explains. They wanted to ensure there were legs under the legislation to get it on the move into the community. A colleague in that 1971 government, Ron Ghitter, remembers that Lougheed said the Human Rights Commission was the most important body he ever appointed. He got a broad cross-section of strong Albertans to sit on it.
or a
Democracy is weak sham if you dont
have an effective human rights commission.
Lougheed and his colleagues were not only motivated by the desire to offer an exciting new idea in the election campaign. They were also reacting to their discovery of human rights problems in Alberta. Lougheed recalls a dispute arising in southern Alberta with some Hutterites, after the first Progressive Conservatives were elected in 1967 and serving in Opposition. We were appalled there was still legislation on the books that denied their rights. It was embarrassing to Albertans. Repealing legislation such as this Communal Properties Act which limited Hutterite ability to own land and the Sexual Sterilization Act was part of what Lougheed wanted to accomplish, along with the introduction of new progressive legislation. Raffath Sayeed, a commissioner in the early 1990s, says: The biggest culprits for violating human rights historically have been governments and government agencies, which is why Lougheed made human rights first on his legislative agenda. Democracy is weak or a sham if you dont have an effective human rights commission. The Member of the Legislative Assembly who introduced Bill 1 in 1972, the Individuals Rights Protection Act, was Ron Ghitter, a Calgary lawyer. He was born 22 August 1935, the day William Aberhart was elected to lead the first Social Credit government, and was elected himself almost exactly 36 years later, on 30 August 1971, when the Social Credits time in office ended. Remembering Bill 1, he says:
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I wasnt waving the human rights flag at the time. Lougheed probably selected me because I came out of a minority group, as a Jew. But I spent a lot of time talking with people preparing the legislation and what struck me was if the leadership says there are basic acceptable standards for human rights, the population falls into step. He is proud of the approach the legislation took. The beauty was that it was not an enforcement type of legislation. It adopted the attitude you cant force someone to love thy neighbour, but with education and mediation you can slowly break down barriers. He describes the debate within caucus while the legislation was in development, saying: Some wanted us to be stronger on enforcement but those of us from minorities said the opposite. The legislation was criticized for being too soft, but I firmly believe pushing and enforcement isnt what wins with human rights. Its getting into schools, or when you find violations you bring the parties to the table and discuss things. Some of Albertas political history since the Lougheed government disappoints Ghitter. We didnt have that leadership in the [Ralph] Klein days. They demoted the human rights file. Lougheed remains clear about his view of public life. In a private capacity he still encourages people to run for office: I tell them there can be no more rewarding experience than to serve the public as an elected person. Thats how I look back on it for myself. The same energy that You cant force someone drove him as premier remains evident as he to affirms that, at age 82, Ive banned the word , but with retirement. I want to keep doing things. education and mediation Anyone who has participated as I did in public you can slowly break life for 20 years is bound to have that feeling down barriers. of wanting to be contributory. He looks to inspiration from people like Winston Churchill,
love thy neighbour
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the boyhood hero who provided his early understanding of the parliamentary system, and Nelson Mandela. Be positive, is his compact summary of how to live well. Central to his pride in what was accomplished with human rights is his perspective on individual rights, a concept that weaves through his views and actions. He sees continuity with the introduction of the initial legislation on human rights and other significant actions of his government.
I firmly believe
pushing and enforcement isnt what wins with human rights. Its getting into schools, or when you find violations you bring the parties to the table and discuss things.
There was a linkage to the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, because if you give priority to individual rights, then you develop policies reflective of this. You give opportunities for the enterprise of individuals, and that may lead you to do whats fair and whats the role of the resources of the province. They tie together and evolve. In recent years Lougheed has supported a not-for-profit organization, the Immigrant Access Fund that provides small loans to immigrants to enable them to take steps that will let them work in areas of their professional background rather than lesser-skilled jobs, and so do better economically. Those little loans have really made a difference, and thats part again of the priority of individual rights, he states.
Ghitter speaks about public service in a similar way to Lougheed. Public life matters more than anything. Its vital to get good people. Politics is the highest calling in society, not entered for the money but for maintaining the civility of society. Theres been a tremendous watering down of the DNA of the people who are our politicians these days. Looking at todays politics, he observes: People dont vote now. Theres not the public input
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Ron Ghitter and the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding
to the development of public policy. The more radicalized it gets, others say it doesnt make sense to get involved. Its a major challenge now to get good people. Ghitter believes one solution to this would be more openness. Government is dealing with peoples money and they have a right to know how it is being spent, he states. Addressing the role of the media is another. The media give slants that influence things. Why do some who talk the most nonsense have such big followings like the Sarah Palins? The media feeds on those who are more extreme and politicians get these vibes and it shows up in policy. His voice is angry when he remembers sitting at the Supreme Court when the Delwin Vriend case was being heard. He was a Senator at the time and says he listened as a lawyer on behalf of the Alberta government argued the province had the right to discriminate against anyone it chose. The justices blew him out of court but for Alberta to take that position was going way beyond. The government of that day didnt understand what human rights are all about, what treating people fairly meant. Ghitter is concerned there continues to be a bowing to the right wing on human rights that is very different from the first Progressive Conservative government of which he was a member. He says that when the 2009 amendments were being developed, the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership made a range of suggestions, careful not to be antagonistic. Lindsay Blackett said he bought 99 percent of them. I felt good, that we had done useful work and were working with the government. But when push came to shove there was nothing but a nonsense amendment that if you didnt like what a teacher was doing you could opt out. Human rights [was] not on the radar with this government [under Stelmach]. Many people say the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding chaired by Ghitter is one of the major events in the Alberta governments involvement with human rights. The committee was established in the
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wake of the events that involved teacher Jim Keegstra being accused of promoting anti-semitism in his classroom in Red Deer. It reported early in 1985. The focus of its wideranging recommendations was the school system, but much of what it said was directly related to issues of human rights.
The majority of Albertans
dignity and integrity and treating people

understand fairly and honestly. But there are also those who bear hatred and malice towards identifiable groups. These are the ones youd like to penetrate because they are the ones who will
We wondered if the state should be raise their children that way and funding schools that isolate people who are isolating themselves from Christians here, Jews there, Greeks the mainstream. here, Italians there so we came out fairly strongly saying this does not create harmony and understanding. Ghitter recalls one meeting in Lethbridge where he challenged a private school administrator by using a book from the persons school that described Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists as wicked satanic people. He is also critical of the role of Alberta Report magazine at the time for encouraging tensions on these matters. It was a fairly widely circulating garbage publication that was not in the best interests of Albertans. Ghitter suggests he may have been responsible for being asked to chair the Committee. When Keegstras case was receiving wide media attention he went to Lougheed and urged him not to have charges laid against Keegstra, arguing that putting him in jail would only give him a platform. Youll make him a martyr and a hero amongst his people and youll have trouble proving anything, I told him, but they laid the charges and then shortly after Lougheed asked me to chair the Committee. I guess I had talked myself into the job, he laughs. In a comfortable art-filled office near downtown Calgary today, Ghitter says it is hard to generalize about Albertans in relation to human rights. Alberta breaks down into a lot of components. Some people need a little
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more understanding of human rights than others. During the work of the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding we were followed by some people with strange ideas, he observes. The majority of Albertans understand dignity and integrity and treating people fairly and honestly. But there are also those who bear hatred and malice towards identifiable groups. These are the ones youd like to penetrate because they are the ones who will raise their children that way and who are isolating themselves from the mainstream. Ghitter says the Committee was engaged in an examination of the psyche of Albertans during the 18 months it travelled the province. One of his observations is that intolerance is often connected with religion. Everyone should be able to have whatever their religion is, but when it starts imposing a particular way on others, making judgements of those with other belief systems, thats when you get into trouble. When you find people putting swastikas on synagogues or beating up on lesbians and you trace through, youll find 90 percent of the time theres a religious basis. That is unfortunate because there are a lot of positives to religion and people seek their comfort there. Former Chief Commissioner Jack ONeill also sees religion being closely connected with human rights and wishes the positive side was promoted. Christians must start pushing the Beatitudes, he urges, suggesting this list of behaviours presented in the Gospel of Matthew is an important statement of respect for human rights. Albertas human rights story Ghitter is proud of the work he and his committee did. It was a great education for me. I wouldnt trade it for anything. He feels the reports strong views regarding schooling for Aboriginal students are especially important and points to actions it recommended then that are still being identified as concerns.
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Native kids were coming from schools on reserves where they couldnt get teachers, moving to town and living in a basement suite, not able to keep up, and dropping out and ending up walking the streets or back on the reserve. We concluded it would be best to provide strong education in their own communities. The report pulled no punches, beginning one section with the words, The general state of Native education in Alberta is deplorable. After his time with the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding, Ghitter served in the Senate, where he chaired the Standing Committee of Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. Reflecting on the current heated public debate about oil developments in Northern Alberta he says,
Everyone should be able to have whatever their religion is, but when
it starts imposing a particular way on others, making judgements of those with other belief systems, thats when you get into trouble. When you find people putting swastikas on synagogues or beating up on lesbians and you trace through, youll find 90 percent of the
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It is always hard to time theres a religious basis. That is achieve the balance of unfortunate because there are a lot of the needs in society and positives to religion and people seek their the environment. Weve comfort there. gone over too far in the one direction. Im not a fan of big oil and big business. There is a place for government regulatory agencies. Business owners are there to show a good bottom line every year and that takes away from good planning. Governments must protect the environment and stop the greedrabid right-wingers. The world needs our oil but things need to be done responsibly. More power to the environmentalists rightfully exposing things going on there.
Ghitter is also critical of the current Alberta governments approach to royalties for the The general state development of non-renewable resources. In of 1971 I wasnt a happy MLA walking the streets in Alberta of Calgary when we abrogated the leases. The oil is deplorable. industry said it wasnt fair. But he remembers they had open debate on the floor of the Legislature so there was public awareness of all sides of the debate. We took a stand. How can you respect a government that keeps changing its position? Now there are all kinds of guys from the oil industry around this town [Calgary] raising money for the Wildrose Alliance Party.
Native education
Lindsay Blackett
Blackett, the former Minister responsible in the Alberta government for human rights, admits the record in relation to the Human Rights Commission is not perfect, but says there will be improvements. Weve had some ebbs and flows along the way. Im mindful of history because if you forget history youre doomed to repeat history. Were back to the future. Were going back to where we were in 1971, Blackett asserts. Albertas human rights story He says while working for Brian Mulroney in the mid-1980s he learned a lot about the importance of human rights bodies, and so began in his ministry in 2008 looking at what needed to be done. I always noticed there was a criticism you cant change it, but the part of it is people would just rather abolish it than fix it but its going to take a commitment on behalf of government
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and resources in order to be able to do it, so the fact we hadnt looked at the legislation in 13 years, to me I was maybe naive I thought Were Alberta, we can do that, we can be better and lets go and try to do that. In preparing to bring in amendments, Blackett says he sought advice from Lougheed, Fraser, Ghitter, legal experts, representatives of faith bodies, and human rights commissioners in Ontario and British Columbia. He says he knew when the amendments were introduced it would be a polarizing event. Describing the range of input he received he says,
If you put your in
faith Albertans, they
will not let you down.
Theres the people that wanted to include sexual orientation; they wanted a much greater degree, to include transgendered as well as everything under the sun. It would have been a huge melange of things and unwieldly. We wanted to keep it to the basic focus; making the administrative changes that would make it more efficient. He met with leaders of eight faith groups. He recalls, They wanted protection of their institutions in a way that they could take care of their education. They wanted to be exempt from the rules, which I told them they couldnt be, and they wanted parental rights and teacher rights. So we ended with the parental rights. Blackett says changes were needed because human rights have become so much more complex. He notes when Charlach Mackintosh was Chief Commissioner, he was not a lawyer. Today you have lay people trying to mediate over disputes when youve got a bank of lawyers on either side. Its not a fair test. So we needed to have somebody like Blair Mason, a federal judge, 26 years on the bench. Theyre not going to walk circles around him in any legal sense. Albertas human rights story
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Blackett moved ahead confidently with amendments. A lot of people were worried that if we brought this legislation forward it would be so divisive and disruptive and would tear the province apart. I said Youve got to give us a little more faith. If you put your faith in Albertans, they will not let you down. He is amused by those who ridicule Alberta as a redneck province. You dont know how ironic this is. Im the first cabinet minister that happens to be Black. And it happened in Alberta. He states, You cant always rely on legislation to make that happen. Thats not what holds a society together. Its your belief structure. He describes the Alberta belief structure by saying, Do you care about hard work? Do you subscribe to the theory of trying to better yourself and take care of your community? And it doesnt matter if you come from Bangladesh or East Africa or Eastern Europe. He downplays those critical of the amendments that permit parental choice to have children not participate in classes where issues such as sexual orientation or religion are being studied. I think there was something between 30 and 40 people that had their children opt out on a yearly basis out of some few hundred thousand students across the province. So its great news for the media, its sensational. The one thing about human rights is everyone can give you a sound bite on it. But not that many people understand the complexities. Blackett sees experiences in his own life helping to form his understanding of the importance of human rights. He was born in the United Kingdom but moved to Canada when he was six years old. Albertas human rights story We had to leave because my father couldnt get a job, even though he was a university graduate. He would phone up someone and they would say, Yeah, theres a job. Come on over. Being from Barbados he had a perfect English accent, but when they saw him they said, Sorry, the job is filled.
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When this had happened about 20 times, Blacketts father decided to move to Canada, where he worked in Toronto and Ottawa. But Canada was not perfect. Blackett recounts that a teacher in high school told him he would never make it to university because of his colour. When I was 10, I started reading books on Martin Luther King and the Kennedys. I was fascinated with the civil rights movement. So I was mindful. When he began working in the prime ministers office later he was drawn more into these issues.
Im a
dad, and its through my
childrens eyes that Im trying to help make a better place for them. If we do that, we make a better place for ourselves. We want a society that is
respectful, open, and welcoming. Human rights is a

living breathing entity.
Another moment of insight for him came at university. He was sitting with friends and they started talking about things from their childhood that had made them feel ashamed. I said Eating pigs feet. Because who did that? Poor people. But someone who was Chinese said We ate them too. Someone from Ireland said We did too. And Germans and Polish. And then we all realized were not that much different. His vision of what lies ahead has been influenced by that experience. Hopefully in a couple of generations our kids will be so blended well all be family and it wont really matter. Our kids will be truly colour blind. He contrasts this with the past saying, Albertas human rights story Now we love the food from it doesnt matter [where], and just imagine how different we are than when we just had pizza and Chinese food as our only options. We need to encourage that. We need to have our leaders in our classrooms, our political leaders, our business leaders, and we have to be mindful. We dont need affirmative action. We just need a level playing field.
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Where does Blackett find the inspiration to continue his work in support of human rights? Im a dad, and its through my childrens eyes that Im trying to help make a better place for them. If we do that, we make a better place for ourselves. We want a society that is respectful, open, and welcoming. Human rights is a living breathing entity. He says his work is a labour of love. As he looks ahead, Blackett feels Sharia, Islamic law, is an emerging issue human rights will struggle with. Its going to take a lot of political will and vigilance to be able to stand up against that because theres [sic] a lot of democracies across Europe and around the world that are falling to it. And I believe it threatens who we are.
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The Legal History of Human Rights in Alberta

Gerald L. Gall, O.C.1
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From a legal perspective, Gerald Gall provides a detailed history of international, national and provincial level developments that have shaped Albertas human rights landscape. We have seen in Alberta, examples of blatant human rights abuses, some of which were provincially instigated and some of which were federally instigated. These include the system of residential schools for Aboriginal children, the internment of UkrainianCanadians in Banff during WWI, the internment of JapaneseCanadians during WWII, the Sexual Sterilization Act, the discrimination against Hutterite colonies with respect to land acquisition, the abuse of many Chinese men in the early years of building the national railroad and the ongoing Lubicon Cree
land dispute. These matters represent only some aspects of Alberta history. However, over the last century, in a somewhat piecemeal but nonetheless steady progression, there were many advances that improved this dismal history. Gall showcases significant case studies that have been part of these important transitions in Alberta.
psychology professor and Chair of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, Senator Noel Kinsella, has traced the origins of the legal protection of rights to as early as the ancient days of Babylonia.2 From this point in history, he then considers the Code of Hammurabi in 1700 BC3 to Jewish religious law of 1000 BC when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed that famous adage: they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.4 From these sacred origins, Kinsella explores the Charter of Cirus the Great, themes from India, early human rights in China, the influence of Greece and, in particular, Plato and Aristotle.5 He examines the roots of modern human rights protection in the Justinian Code and he considers the influence of the Magna Carta,6 St. Thomas Aquinas, the American Declaration of Independence7 and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Dclaration des droits de lHomme et du Citoyen. Contemporary human rights protection has risen out of recent world events such as the Holocaust that have brought shock and horror to people around the world. Prior to the end of WWI, there were few international instruments to protect human rights, although there were some internationally agreed standards including the international agreement on the abolition of slavery.8 This 1815 Declaration Relative to the Universal Abolition of the Slave Trade provided an international framework to prohibit and prosecute those involved in slavery and came a century before other international commitments to human rights such as within the League of Nations, established in 1919. Article 23 of the
Former
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League of Nations Charter outlined rights for men, women and children in labour, but also made reference to the just treatment of native inhabitants to colonial powers. The League also established the International Labour Organization with a mandate to promote and safeguard rights in areas such as living wages, hours of work, minimum age, occupational health and maternity. These documents helped shape the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.9 The Permanent Court of International Justice was also founded by the League in 1922 as a predecessor to the current day International Court of Justice. The League of Nations became a launching point for a universal acknowledgement and agreement to human rights which would result in a proliferation of conventions, declarations and regional human rights instruments following the Second World War.
Prohibited Grounds of Discrimination in Canada

Race Religion Physical or Mental Disability Dependence on Alcohol or Drugs Age Sex Marital Status Family Status Sexual Orientation National or Ethnic Origin Ancestry or Place of Origin Language Social Condition or Origin Source of Income Based on Association Political Belief Record of Criminal Conviction Pardoned Conviction
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One of the most critical developments following WWII was the so-called International Bill of Rights which included the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a non-binding10 resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. A prominent Canadian, John Peters Humphrey, played a pivotal role in drafting the Declaration. In 1966, the United Nations introduced the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.11 Canada was a signatory to both covenants. Meanwhile, there was a plethora of other international instruments, including the 1965
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination12 and agreements to protect women, refugees and various oppressed and disadvantaged persons.13 Several regional human rights treaties were ratified including the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), American Convention on Human Rights (1967), and African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981). More recent international human rights instruments include the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). There have also been several treaties dealing with environmental protection and climate change (Kyoto Accord),14 land mines15 and specialized tribunals to deal with war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.16 The International Criminal Court (ICC), established on 1 July 2002, is a standing body to bring to justice persons charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.17 Canada played a leading role with respect to the establishment of the international agreements respecting land mines and the ICC.18 Despite these international human rights achievements, there have been significant When an failures in the history of international is ratified by nations and human rights law. Not every nation within the United Nations system has subscribed to these agreements and for example, there has been despite the presence of international little redress for infractions to human rights documents, widespread human rights violations without atrocities were committed in Cambodia, a body with the jurisdiction to Tiananmen Square, the Balkans, Rwanda, enforce at an international level. the Congo, and Darfur. International Moral suasion by the community law can never fully protect people from of nations can be somewhat gross abuses of human rights. Despite the successful, but there are obvious increasing visibility of these developments limits to this kind of influence. for example, through the internet, social media and CNN some regimes ignore international laws and norms19 with
treaty
international
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impunity. For example, the junta in Burma (Myanmar) kept the leader of the opposition, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest between 1989 and 2010.20 All of this points to the single most disappointing feature of international law: its lack of enforceability. When an international treaty is ratified by nations and within the United Nations system for example, there has been little redress for infractions to human rights violations without a body with the jurisdiction to enforce at an international level. Moral suasion by the community of nations can be somewhat successful, but there are obvious limits to this kind of influence. The International Criminal Court, governed by the Rome Statute of 1998, is the first permanent, treaty-based international court which is independent of the United Nations. This Court has the jurisdiction to prosecute over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The establishment of this landmark international organization offers new possibilities for protecting and enforcing rights of people across the globe.
Federal Protections of Human Rights

There are no explicit human rights protections in the Canadian constitution. The federal government passed a statutory Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960.21 This law only applied to the federal government and, although it provided certain guarantees, the courts were wary of using the Bill of Rights to override other laws. As a result, it was almost completely ignored. One exception was the famous Drybones case.22 Drybones was charged for being intoxicated off reserve and was arrested by RCMP in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, despite the fact that there were no reserves in the Territory. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down section 94(b) of the Indian Act23 because it violated the equality provision of the Canadian Bill of Rights. In essence, because no similar provisions existed for Canadians of non-native descent when publicly intoxicated, the law did not apply equally to everyone. Still, the Canadian Bill of Rights was more symbolic than a genuine legal protection for human rights. Parliament enacted the Canadian Human Rights Act in 1977,24 an antidiscrimination statute that established the Canadian Human Rights
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Commission. The commission dealt with complaints of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age and ability, and applied to public and private matters within federal jurisdiction. Central to the Canadian Human Rights Act is the principle outlined in Section 2 that all individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated. The Act applies to employment, accommodation and services. Parliament has passed numerous other laws to protect civil liberties and human rights over the past thirty years. In Canada, we have seen the developments of important legislation to embed rights including the Access to Information Act,25 Privacy Act26 and Official Languages Act.27 In 1971, Canada became the only nation in the world to adopt an official policy of multiculturalism. Moreover, Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms notes that the Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians. Furthermore, in 1988, Parliament enacted the Canadian Multiculturalism Act.28 Finally, some governments appoint independent officials known as ombudspersons to represent the interests of the public. Although no general ombudsperson was established in the federal public sector, there were specialized ombudsmen created such as the Auditor General29, the Information Commissioner30, Privacy Commissioner31, Prison Ombudsman, Ethics Commissioner32, Ombudsman for Victims of Crime33 and others.
Provincial Protection of Human Rights

Albertas human rights story Human rights are protected through the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian Human Rights Act and provincial and territorial legislation. These statutes prohibit discrimination on numerous grounds in education, employment, housing and public services. Provincial antidiscrimination enactments have also been supported by ombudspersons in most provinces.34 Many provinces also enacted access to information and
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privacy laws.35 Provincially, these measures have tended to pre-date their federal counterparts.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The most significant development for human rights in Canada was the enactment in 1982 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by virtue of a constitutional amendment.36 The Charter dramatically changed the Canadian legal system in significant ways. First, it represented a departure from our traditional notion of parliamentary sovereignty or supremacy. All laws and policy made pursuant must conform to the standards contained in the Charter. This applies to both primary legislation, in other words acts of Parliament, and delegated legislation in which Parliament delegates authority to other bodies or persons to make laws. For example, any judgements made at the Supreme Court of Canada, which is the final court of appeal in the nation, cannot be appealed to any other court. For example, in the case of Vriend v Alberta37, the Individuals Rights Protection Act (IRPA) in Alberta was found to be unconstitutional at the Supreme Court due to its violation of Section 15 of the Charter; the equality provision. Albertas Human Rights Commission had rejected Vriends claim of discrimination on the basis that sexual orientation was not a protected ground in the IRPA. The Supreme Court of Canadas decision essentially read in sexual orientation as a protected ground of discrimination in the IRPA. The Charter also represents a transfer or shift in power from our elected representatives to our courts, the latter of which are now given the mandate to determine whether a particular law conforms to the Charter. In short, the Charter has effectively altered our legal system. It provides a check upon the otherwise unbridled legislative authority. Section 33 of the Charter, known as the notwithstanding clause, provides an exemption to the notion that the Charter restricts parliamentary supremacy. Under this provision, provinces, territories and the federal government may temporarily override certain portions of the
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Charter and prevent judicial review. Those portions applicable to the notwithstanding clause include section 2 and from sections 7 to 15. These include fundamental freedoms such as thought, expression, religion and association; legal rights such as the right to a fair trial, protections with respect to search and seizure, and security of the person; and, equality rights. The use of this clause has been limited in Canada. Quebec immediately used the clause to ensure the primacy of the French language on signs in the province. In Alberta, an attempt was made in 2000, under Bill 202 to amend the provinces Marriage Act38 to limit marriage to opposite sex couples only. However, the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Act fell within federal jurisdiction, nullified the provinces efforts to delegitimize same sex marriage.
The Alberta Experience

Although Alberta presently enjoys a sophisticated level of human rights protection, its early history, similar to every jurisdiction in Canada, is marked by affronts to human rights and equality. For several decades Alberta has witnessed a progressive enlightenment in advancing the cause of respect and human dignity. The history of this movement is evidenced and detailed in Dominique Clments chapter on Albertas Human Rights Milestones which profiles advances in womens rights, freedom of speech and other areas of discrimination and inequality. During the first half of the 20th century there was an absence of antidiscrimination protection, codified standards applicable to all legislation (such as a statutory bill of rights) or other specific protections to promote notions of privacy, access to information, youth protection and advocacy, and other ombudsman-like agencies. Essentially, there were no human rights laws in Canada. As a result, Japanese interns brought to Gros Cap, there were blatant human rights Great Slave Lake, making nets (1946)
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abuses in Alberta as documented in further detail by the authors The Government of Alberta within this publication; some of established a which were instigated provincially and some of which were established , chaired by federally. These included the system Ron Ghitter, a former Member of of residential schools for Aboriginal the Alberta Legislature and Senator children,39 the internment of who had introduced the IRPA. This Ukrainian-Canadians during WWI,40 committee was launched in response the internment of Japanese-Canadians to the Keegstra Affair and a deep during WWII, the Sexual Sterilization concern that a certified teacher in Act,41 the discrimination against one of [Albertas] public schools Hutterite colonies with respect to had been able to transmit, over an land acquisition, the abuse of many extended period of time, views that Chinese men in the early years of were clearly racially and religiously building the national railroad and the prejudiced. ongoing Lubicon Cree land dispute.42 However, over the last century there has been a steady, albeit piecemeal, progression on a range of critical human rights issues.
Committee on Tolerance and Understanding
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Provisions to protect against discrimination have been the subject of constant debate in the province. One critical development took place in 1983. The Government of Alberta established a Committee on Tolerance and Understanding, chaired by Ron Ghitter, a former Member of the Alberta Legislature and Senator who had introduced the IRPA. This committee was launched in response to the Keegstra Affair and a deep concern that a certified teacher in Japanese children tying nets, Gros Cap, one of [Albertas] public schools Great Slave Lake (1946)
had been able to transmit, over an extended period of time, views that were clearly racially and religiously prejudiced.43 Mandated to conduct a province-wide review of human rights in the education system, the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding published its final report in 1984. Its recommendations included matters relating to private, public, Aboriginal and intercultural education as well as a recommendation that a permanent Standing Committee on Tolerance and Understanding be established in the province. The Report set the foundation for the development of an education system that recognizes the diversity in todays classrooms. The first human rights law in the provinces history was the 1946 Alberta Bill of Rights, also known as An Act Respecting the Rights of Alberta Citizens. This enactment included fundamental rights such as freedom of worship, expression, assembly, the freedom to engage in work of choice and the freedom to acquire property and enjoy home and property. It also included the right to gainful employment or to social security, pensions, education and medical benefits. In a sense, the Bill of Rights was years ahead of comparable initiatives elsewhere. However, in 1947, the Bill was declared ultra vires, or outside the jurisdiction of the province, by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Bill was inextricably tied to Social Credit monetary policies that had rendered its otherwise progressive provisions unconstitutional. In 1966, there was another attempt to suppress discriminatory behaviour. The Alberta Human Rights Act44 prohibited discrimination in employment, accommodation, the delivery of services and union membership on the grounds of race, religion, colour, ancestry and place of origin. This Act was initially administered by the Department of Labours Human Rights Branch. The Alberta Human Rights Act was later amended in 1969, prohibiting discrimination with respect to residential rental accommodation, and was further amended in 1971 to include a prohibition against discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status and age (as defined between the ages of 45 and 65) in trade union membership and employment. Gender
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was also added as a prohibited ground of discrimination with respect to accommodation as well as services and facilities customarily available to the public. The Individuals Rights Protection Act (IRPA), together with the Alberta Bill of Rights were the jewels in Premier Peter Lougheeds new administration. The IRPA entered into force in 1972 and was administered by the Alberta Human Rights Commission. This legislation included a variety of prohibited grounds of discrimination (i.e., race, religion, colour, sex, ancestry and place of origin) as they applied to access to and conditions of employment as well as access to accommodation,45 services and facilities customarily available to the public. Provisions were also included with respect to discrimination in advertising as well as the prohibition against displaying in public a discriminatory notice, sign, symbol or emblem. The IRPA was given special primacy status in that all other statutes (unless they contained a notwithstanding or non obstante provision) were required to conform to the provisions of the Act. Since 1972, Albertas anti-discrimination legislation has undergone several amendments. The Individuals Rights Protection Amendment Act (S.A. 1980, c.27) essentially augmented the original IRPA by adding physical characteristics as an additional prohibited ground of discrimination. In 1985, the term physical characteristics was changed to physical disability. The 1980 Act required employers to make reasonable accommodation to permit access to those with physical disabilities. In addition, this Act also gave the Commission the authority to conduct investigations, including certain powers of search and seizure. Among other changes it permitted third parties to file complaints on behalf of others. As well, Boards of Inquiry were granted power to enforce their decisions. Significantly, the notion of affirmative action was recognized in that the Cabinet46 was permitted to authorize exceptions from the ambit of the statute that would otherwise contravene the IRPA.47 Over the years, other amendments served to expand the scope of the Act. Sexual harassment was explicitly addressed in the Act in 1981 and
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discrimination on the basis of pregnancy was banned in 1985.48 In 1985, the traditional definition of age (from ages 45 to 65) was changed to 18 years and older. In 1990, the notion of mental disability was added as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Also, in 1990, the term gender was substituted for sex as the prohibited ground of discrimination. Several additional amendments to the IRPA were implemented in 1996. The title of the Act was changed to the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, although this was subsequently simplified and additional prohibited grounds of discrimination were added to the Act.49 The provisions related to domestic employees in private homes and agricultural employees were removed in 1996. The rationale underlying the removal of those provisions related somewhat to the privacy or sanctity of the home but the provisions were also considered outdated at the time of their removal. That provision allowed violations of the Act if they were held to be reasonable and justifiable in the circumstances. For example, marital status as a prohibited ground of discrimination was made applicable to all matters or scenarios covered by the Act and its scope was explicitly defined. These changes essentially converted the Act into a legal instrument somewhat parallel to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. New prohibited grounds of discrimination were also added at this time; namely, family status and source of income. The notion of religious beliefs now included Native spirituality and the concept of mental disability as a prohibited ground of discrimination was expanded upon to include mental disorder, developmental disorder or learning disorder. Even the traditional Board of Inquiry was given the new name of Statutory Human Rights Panel. Albertas human rights story The most recent set of changes occurred in 2009. At this time the name of the Act was simplified to the Alberta Human Rights Act.50 The title of the chief executive officer of the Alberta Human Rights Commission was changed from Chief Commissioner to Chief of the Commission and Tribunals. Years after the Supreme Court of Canada in the Vriend case read in the words sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of
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discrimination, the actual term was inserted into the Act as a prohibited ground. References to marriage only of the opposite sex were also removed. Subsequently, in 2010, the Alberta Human Rights Act was amended51 to include a highly publicized, controversial amendment giving parents the right to notice of and the opportunity to remove their children from a classroom if the instruction dealt with matters relating to sexual education, sexual orientation and some other matters. Parents would then have the right to exempt or remove their children from any school activity, course or program that specifically dealt with these topics. Other 2009 amendments involved changes to the authority and powers of the Director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. At this time, the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals were given the capacity to delegate the review of the Directors decisions by other members of the Commission. The Director was also now required to seek written approval before participating in court proceedings which, prior to this, had not been necessary. The Director was now authorized to handle complaints under other relevant legislation if need be rather than being solely limited to the Human Rights Act. Over the past few years, section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights Act52 (along with comparable sections in other anti-discrimination statutes especially those contained in the Canadian Human Rights Act) was strongly criticized as constituting affronts to the notion of freedom of expression. Section 3 states, in part: 3(1) No person shall publish, issue or display or cause to be published, issued or displayed before the public any statement, publication, notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation that (a) indicates discrimination or an intention to discriminate against a person or a class of persons, or (b) is likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt
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(c) because of the race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status or sexual orientation of that person or class of persons. (2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to interfere with the free expression of opinion on any subject. In Alberta, this was brought to the fore as a result of a complaint against Ezra Levant, the publisher of the now-defunct Alberta Report magazine as a result of the re-publication in that magazine of the now famous Danish cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Although the complaint was eventually dismissed, the process involved much public debate and criticism of section 3 and the comparable provision in most anti-discrimination statutes. Notwithstanding the controversy, the section remained intact at the time of writing although it is used (now and throughout the history of the legislation) sparingly and infrequently.53
Significant Cases Arising in Alberta

The following represents an outline of significant cases that have shaped the human rights legal landscape in not only Alberta, but across Canada. Alberta has played a significant role in the development of human rights legislation and continues to spark lively debate on issues related to discrimination.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Albertas human rights story R v Big M Drug Mart, [1985] 1 SCR 295, 37 Alta LR (2d) 97. Big M Drug Mart was charged with carrying on business on Sunday, contrary to the Lords Day Act54. The accused company alleged that the Lords Day Act contravened its freedom of religion under section 2(a) of the Charter. Two preliminary issues arose in the case. One related to whether a court should focus upon the purpose or effects of impugned legislation. The other related as to whether Big M Drug Mart, a corporation, could take advantage of the freedom of religion
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protection in the Charter. The Supreme Court of Canada held that the law violated the freedom of religion of those not of the Christian faith and the law was held to be of no force and effect. R v Keegstra, [1990] 3 SCR 697, 77 Alta LR (2d) 193. James Keegstra was charged with the willful promotion of hate against an identifiable group under section 319(2) of the Criminal Code as a result of anti-Semitic teaching in social studies courses in an Alberta high school. The accused contended that the section of the Criminal Code violated his right to freedom of expression under section 2(b) of the Charter. While the Court agreed that the section violated his expressive rights, it was nonetheless upheld by a narrow margin as a reasonable limit on free speech under section 1, the limitations clause, of the Charter. Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 SCR 493, 212 AR 237. Delwin Vriends employment at a private Christian post-secondary institution was terminated as a result of his sexual orientation. He complained to the Alberta Human Rights Commission that he was a victim of discriminatory conduct, but the Commission refused to take the case on the ground that sexual orientation was not a prohibited ground of discrimination under the Alberta antidiscrimination statute. Mr. Vriend then alleged that the Alberta statute, the Individuals Rights Protection Act,55 was itself in violation of section 15, the equality rights provision of the Charter. The Supreme Court of Canada agreed with Mr. Vriend and read into the Alberta statute sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Alberta v Hutterian Bretheran of Wilson Colony, 2009 SCC 37, [2009] 2 SCR 567. A Hutterite Colony in southern Alberta alleged that the provincial regulation requiring photographs on all drivers licences was contrary to the religious beliefs of the Hutterite sect and the Colony
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In response to his firing from Kings College, Delwin Vriends battle to recognize sexual orientation rights caused a lively and often confrontational public debate at both the provincial and national level. A landmark case in Canada brought human rights to the forefront of discussion and forced Canadians to consider values of inclusion and equality. The following news clippings and photos were provided to the Centre courtesy of Murray Billett.
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Delwin Vriend outside the Supreme Court following proceedings (on right).
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invoked section 2 (a) of the Charter, freedom of religion, in support. While the Court agreed with this contention, it held, by a narrow margin, that the photographic requirement was a reasonable limit on freedom of religion pursuant to section 1 of the Charter in order to protect society from the dangers of identity theft. It is important to note that in both this case and the Keegstra case, violations of section 2(a), the freedom of religion provision of the Charter were upheld under section 1. Section 1 permits a law to violate a Charter right if the law is a rational, non-disproportionate and minimally intrusive means of achieving a pressing and substantial state objective.
Constitutional Division of Powers

Reference re Alberta Statutes, [1938] SCR 100, 2 DLR 81 (commonly known as the Alberta Press Bill case). In 1937, the Government of Alberta introduced an act titled An Act to Ensure the Publication of Accurate News and Information. In addition to its regular news coverage, this Act required newspapers to publish government explanations underlying its policies. The matter was referred to the Supreme Court of Canada which held that the law was an interference with both freedom of speech and freedom of the press, matters falling within federal legislative competence. This occurred decades before the Charter era. Walter et al v Attorney General of Alberta, [1969] SCR 383, 3 DLR (3d) 1. The Government of Alberta enacted the Communal Property Act56 restricting communal land holdings in the province of Alberta. Members of the Hutterite religion (to which the Act was primarily directed) alleged that the law violated their freedom of religion (again, many years in advance of the Charter) and argued that freedom of religion is a federal matter under the then-British North America Act, 1867 (now, the Constitution Act). The Supreme Court of Canada, however, characterized the law as an enactment in relation to land use planning
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(property and civil rights) and not in relation to religion and therefore upheld the impugned statute. The law was eventually repealed.
Anti-Discrimination Cases
Central Alberta Dairy Pool v Alberta (Human Rights Commission), [1990] 2 SCR 489, 111 AR 241. An applicant, Mr. Christie, was terminated from employment for being absent from work on a day of religious significance for him. He alleged that his termination was discrimination contrary to Albertas IRPA57, the provinces anti-discrimination law. The case was taken to a Board of Inquiry, the Court of Queens Bench58 and eventually the Supreme Court of Canada. In the Supreme Court, it was held that requiring Mr. Christie to work on his religious holiday constituted adverse effect discrimination and that the employer had a duty to accommodate the religious requirements of its employees. Moreover, it was further held that the duty to accommodate did not cause the company undue hardship. Dickason v University of Alberta, [1992] 2 SCR 1103, 127 AR 241. Olive Dickason, a professor at the University of Alberta, challenged the then mandatory retirement age of 65 years. Ms. Dickason challenged the law as constituting discrimination under the IRPA.59 This case went to a Board of Inquiry, the Court of Queens Bench60 and the Alberta Court of Appeal61 before its final resolution at the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court held that the mandatory retirement policy was discriminatory, but, nonetheless, it was sustained under section 11.1 of the anti-discrimination statute. As discussed earlier, section 11.1 allows for discrimination in those circumstances when the discriminatory conduct is held to be reasonable and justifiable. The University of Alberta no longer has a mandatory retirement policy.
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Kane v Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations (No. 3) (1992), 18 CHRR D/268 (Board of Inquiry). In central Alberta, a White supremacist group conducted a crossburning and displayed a flag depicting a swastika as well as a sign stating KKK White Power. Several individuals complained that this gathering involved the display of discriminatory signs and symbols contrary to section 2 of the Individuals Rights Protection Act62 and that the display constituted discrimination against persons based upon race, religious beliefs, colour and ancestry. The Board of Inquiry held that even though the prohibition against the display constituted a violation of freedom of expression, it was nonetheless offensive contrary to section 2 of the Act. The perpetrators were ordered to refrain from any future public display of this nature. As it turned out, this was the largest Board of Inquiry in Alberta history under an antidiscrimination statue. The actual hearing lasted 16 days, involved 29 witnesses and entailed a cost of over half a million dollars. Co-operators General Insurance Company v Alberta (Human Rights Commission) (1993), 145 AR 132, 14 Alta LR (3d) 169 (CA). This case involved an allegation of discrimination against young males who are required to pay higher automobile insurance rates than females of the same age, including females with poorer driving records. Although this insurance requirement was held to be discriminatory, it was nonetheless held to be reasonable and justifiable under section 11.1 of the Individuals Rights Protection Act.63 Chiasson v Kellogg Brown & Root (Canada) Co, 2007 ABCA 426, 425 AR 35 (CA). The complainant in this case lost his job because he failed a preemployment marijuana test. The employer had what is described as a zero-tolerance drug policy. The employee complained to the Alberta Human Rights Commission arguing that the drug policy was discriminatory on the basis of a physical and mental disability; namely, his recreational drug use. At the Alberta Court of Appeal, the drug
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testing policy was upheld and the termination was sustained on the basis of safety concerns that outweighed any discriminatory effects of the policy.
Miscellaneous Case
Murdoch v Murdoch, [1975] 1 SCR 423, 41 DLR (3d) 367. This case involved a matrimonial dispute under which, at the dissolution of marriage, Mrs. Murdoch was held to have no claim on her husbands property because title in the property was vested in her husbands name. This injustice was exacerbated by the fact that Mrs. Murdoch contributed one half of the labour with respect to the operation of the family farm, but received no benefit on the breakup of the marriage. The Supreme Court of Canada held that Mrs. Murdoch was not entitled to her fair share of the family assets. As a result of this decision, there was considerable outrage across the nation and matrimonial property laws were changed in order to recognize the contribution of a spouse with respect to the accumulation of family assets irrespective of title.
Ombudsperson and Ombudsperson-like Legislation in Alberta

Ombudsman Act
Alberta became the first jurisdiction in North America and, in fact, the western hemisphere to enact modern ombudsman legislation. The only previous legislation was a similar statute in New Zealand enacted in 1962 which, in turn, was somewhat modeled after the worlds first ombudsman legislation enacted many years earlier in Sweden. The Ombudsman Act64 appointed an individual to complain to a public official in the following circumstances: 21(1) This section applies when, after making an investigation under this Act, the Ombudsman is of the opinion that the decision,
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(2)
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recommendation, act or omission that was the subject-matter of the investigation (a) appears to have been contrary to law, (b) was unreasonable, unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory or was in accordance with a rule of law, a provision of any Act or a practice that is or may be unreasonable, unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory, (c) was based wholly or party on a mistake of law or fact, or (d) was wrong. This section also applies when the Ombudsman is of the opinion (a) that in the making of the decision or recommendation, or in the doing or omission of the act, a discretionary power was exercised (i) for an improper purpose, (ii) on irrelevant grounds, or (iii) on the taking into account of irrelevant consideration, (b) that, in the case of a decision made in the exercise of a discretionary power, reasons should have been given for the decision.
Ombudsman-like Legislation
Albertas human rights story Auditor General Act Over the years, a number of specific laws were enacted to deal with government administration, privacy and related concerns. For example, the office of the Auditor General of Alberta65 is designed to serve as an independent auditor of every Government of Alberta ministry, department, regulated fund and agency.66
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Property Rights Advocate It was announced on February 22, 2012 that the Government of Alberta plans to introduce a new Property-Rights Advocate. According to the minister responsible, this announcement should help calm fears of the province infringing on property rights without adequate compensation or avenues of appeal.67 Farmers Advocate of Alberta The Farmers Advocate of Alberta empowers rural Alberta to understand their rights and ensure they have access to resources to allow them to make informed decisions with respect to energy industry interactions on their property68. Among other things, the office deals with dispute resolution, information regarding energy and the land, and the Farm Implement Act. Office of the Child and Youth Advocate Under the provisions of the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act69 and the Protection of Sexually Exploited Children Act70, the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate is granted authority for child protection. This child intervention service provides authority for the office extending support services for families in need of the removal of children from their homes for their protection. An important change to the authority of the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate occurred in 2012 in response to the rates of death and injury of children in government care. Rather than reporting to the Minister of Children and Youth Services, the Office now has the authority to report directly to the legislature. The mandate of the office has also been adjusted to be human rights focused and serve as a champion for child and youth rights.71 Office of the Ethics Commissioner of Alberta This office provides a code of conduct and ethics for the public service of Alberta and enforces the provision of the Conflicts of Interest Act.72 Among other things, this office deals with Alberta Public Service Post-Employment Restriction Regulation, under the Public Service Act73 as well as providing for Albertas Lobbyists Registry.
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Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts The foregoing legislation is an integral part of what might be described as a modern age of entitlement. Members of contemporary society have come to realize and have come to expect that with large and impersonal government the related notions of transparency and accessibility are rights that should be recognized as part of our legal system. No better example of this relates to the issues of freedom of information and protection of privacy. The provincial legislative history of this legislation follows the federal model that spanned a number of years. After much debate, the initial piece of federal legislation was Part 4 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Under Part 4, limited accessibility to government information was permitted. This was subject to many broad exemptions and was without review by the courts when government used an exemption to deny accessibility. However, in the early 1980s, this was significantly changed with the enactment of the access to information and privacy legislation. Access to information (or so-called freedom of information) legislation74 provided information upon request in the nature of government data, statistics, internal reports and similar kinds of matters which essentially are used by government in the formulation of government policy. The federal privacy law75 provided access to individuals concerning information about themselves stored in government data banks. In each case, the relevant legislation provides for a large number of widely drafted exemptions under which government could deny information. However, the legislation does provide for an Information Commissioner and a Privacy Commissioner to review the invocation of the exemptions. When a party making a request for information is denied the information on the basis of an exemption, that party could now have that refusal of information reviewed by the Federal Court of Canada. Following the so-called Williams Commission in Ontario, various provinces enacted comparable legislation with respect to matters falling within provincial legislative jurisdiction. Alberta was no exception. Alberta enacted the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.76
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According to a website published by the Government of Alberta, [t]he Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPP) Act aims to strike a balance between the publics right to know and the individuals right to privacy, as those rights relate to information held by public bodies in Alberta.77 The Act provides for the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The provisions of the Act are somewhat similar to the comparable federal and provincial laws in other provinces, including an opportunity to correct personal misinformation on government data banks. The Alberta statute has been subject to three comprehensive reviews conducted by legislative committees.78 As a result of this review process, the Act has been extended to apply to municipalities, school boards and universities. Health Information Act79 This Act recognizes that individuals are entitled to information concerning records related to their health. It includes such subjects as the collection, the use and the disclosure of health information, as well as the duties and powers of custodians in relation to health information. The Act is overseen by the Information and Privacy Commissioner who receives authority under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Section 2 of the Act provides that: 2 The purposes of this Act are (a) to establish strong and effective mechanisms to protect the privacy of individuals with respect to their health information and to protect the confidentiality of that information, (b) to enable health information to be shared and accessed, where appropriate, to provide health services and to manage the health system, (c) to prescribe rules for the collection, use and disclosure of health information, which are to be carried out in the most limited manner and with the highest degree of anonymity that is possible in the circumstances,
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(d) to provide individuals with a right of access to health information about themselves, subject to limited and specific exceptions as set out in this Act, (e) to provide individuals with a right to request correction or amendment of health information about themselves, (f) to establish strong and effective remedies for contraventions of this Act, and (g) to provide for independent reviews of decisions made by custodians under this Act and the resolution of complaints under this Act
Conclusion
In June of 2011, the province of Alberta hosted the annual meeting of CASHRA, the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies, a forum where the human rights commissions meet to share experiences. This CASHRA meeting addressed topics related to migrant workers, community consultations, human rights education for employees, new models for the administration of human rights through statutory agencies, hate and bias crimes, Aboriginal concerns and several others. The history of human rights law in Alberta consists of a complex array of constitutional, legislative and judicial developments. In some respects, the level of protection in 2012 is equivalent to or better than most other Canadian provinces. Changes over the past half century have transformed Alberta into a community where the rights of individuals are respected and protected by law. While the Alberta Human Rights Commission lacks sufficient resources, the Human Rights Education Fund is the largest program available in any province for funding educational initiatives. The protection of human rights is an ongoing story and, with renewed vigour and scrutiny, Albertans will remain well protected from the detrimental effects of discrimination, bias, neglect and hate.
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Notes
1 The author wishes to acknowledge the research assistance of Melanie Johannesen and Michael Bokhaut, two capable and committed law students at the University of Alberta. 2 Noel A Kinsella, Tomorrows Rights in the Mirror of History in Gerald L. Gall, ed, Civil Liberties in Canada (Toronto: Butterworths, 1982) 3. 3 CHW Johns, The oldest code of laws in the world: the code of laws promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285-2242 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1926). 4 Isaiah 2:4 (King James Bible). 5 For example, see Platos Republic, Politics, and Laws and Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, and Magna Moralia. 6 Magna Carta, 1215, online: The Avalon Project http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ medieval/magna.asp. 7 The Declaration of Independence, 1776, online: Archives.gov http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html. 8 Declaration Relative to the Universal Abolition of the Slave Trade, 8 February 1815, Consolidated Treaty Series, vol. 63, No. 473. For more information on Slavery prior to the creation of the UN, see Kevin Bales, Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005). 9 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217 (III), UNGAOR, 3d Sess, Supp No 13, UN Doc A/810, (1948). 10 This is a somewhat controversial description as some maintain that over the years, the Universal Declaration has achieved the status of a binding rule of customary international law. 11 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 3; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171. 12 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 21 December 1965, 666 UNTS 195. 13 For some examples, see the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13; Convention on the Political Rights of Women, 31 March 1953, 193 UNTS 135; Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3; and Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 137. 14 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 11 December 1997, 2303 UNTS 148.
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15 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 18 September 1997, 2056 UNTS 211. 16 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are both active in prosecuting war criminals and crimes against humanity committed in their respective countries. 17 International Criminal Court www.icc-cpi.int 18 House of Commons Debates, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess, No 137 (2 March 2011) at 8540 (Hon Irwin Cotler). 19 Norms can be defined as broadly accepted standards of behaviour. Ann Florini. The Evolution of International Norms. International Studies Quarterly (1996) 40, p. 363. 20 Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi BBC News (15 November 2010) online: BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11685977 21 Canadian Bill of Rights, SC 1960, c 44. 22 R v Drybones, [1970] S.C.R. 282, 9 D.L.R. (3d) 473. 23 Indian Act, RSC 1985, c I-5; R v Drybones, [1970] S.C.R. 282, 9 D.L.R. (3d) 473. 24 Canadian Human Rights Act, RSC 1985, c H-6. 25 Access to Information Act, RSC 1985, c A-1 [Access to Information Act]. 26 Privacy Act, RSC 1985, c P-21 [Privacy Act]. 27 Official Languages Act, RSC 1985, c 31 (4th Supp). 28 Canadian Multiculturalism Act, RSC 1985, c 24 (4th Supp) (assented to 21 July 1988), SC 1988, c 31. 29 Auditor General Act, RSC 1985, c A-17; and the Financial Administration Act, RSC 1985, c F-11. 30 Access to Information Act, supra note X. 31 Privacy Act, supra note X, s 3.1. 32 Federal Accountability Act, SC 2006, c 9, s 3. 33 Terms and Conditions of Employment of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, SOR/2007-54. 34 In 1967, Alberta established the first ombudsman in the entire western hemisphere via the Ombudsman Act, RSA 2000, c O-8 s 2. 35 See the Personal Information Protection Act, SA 2003, c P-6.5 and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c F-25. 36 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11. 37 Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 SCR 493, 212 AR 237
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38 Marriage Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. M-5. 39 Prime Minister Steven Harper released a formal apology for the treatment Aboriginals received in Residential Schools on June 11, 2008 and also established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 40 The Internment of Persons of Ukrainian Origin Recognition Act, SC 2005, c 52 acknowledged that Ukrainians had been interned by the Canadian Government during WWI lead in part to the creation of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund. 41 The Sexual Sterilization Act, SA 1928, c 37, as repealed by The Sexual Sterilization Repeal Act, SA 1972, c 87. 42 For a general overview of the Lubicon Crees land dispute, see AI Huff, Resource development and human rights: a look at the case of the Lubicon Cree Indian Nation of Canada (1999) 10:1 Colo J Intl Envtl L & Poly 161. 43 Committee on Tolerance and Understanding. Final Report. December 1984, p. 7. The full report of the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding can be found at: www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED258739.pdf 44 The Alberta Human Rights Act, S.A., 1966, c.39. 45 For the IRPA, accommodation was narrowly defined as self-contained dwellings. 46 The Cabinet consists of the Executive Council of the government, those charged with making decisions at the executive level. 47 See s.11 of the Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000 which states: A contravention of this Act shall be deemed not to have occurred if the person who is alleged to have contravened the Act shows that the alleged contravention was reasonable and justifiable in the circumstances. 48 See Wong v Hughes Petroleum Ltd. (1983), 28 Alta L.R. (2d) 135 (Q. B.) and Bliss v Attorney General of Canada (1979) 1 S.C.R. 183 49 Individuals Rights Protection Amendment Act, SA 1996, c 25 as amended by the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, SA 1996, c H-11.7. At the same time, Jack ONeill, former Chief Commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, was appointed to conduct a province-wide review of the legislation. 50 Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5 51 Alberta Human Rights Act, supra note 33 as am by SA 2009, c 26 s 9. 52 Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c.A-25.5 53 At the time of printing, it was announced that legislation was to be introduced in Parliament removing the comparable provision contained in s. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. In June 2012, Bill C-304 a private members bill out of Alberta passed a third reading to remove S. 13 and was now before the Canadian Senate.
54 Lords Day Act, RSC 1970, c L-13. 55 Individuals Rights Protection Act, RSA 1980, c I-2 [IRPA, 1980]. 56 The Communal Property Act, RSA 1955, c 52. For more discussion of the repeal of this law, please see Clment and Gurnett chapters of this publication. 57 IRPA, 1980, supra note X. 58 Central Alberta Dairy Pool v Alberta (Human Rights Commission), [1986] 5 WWR 35, 45 Alta LR (2d) 325 (QB). 59 IRPA, 1980, supra note X. 60 University of Alberta v Alberta (Human Rights Commission) (1988), 91 A.R. 350, 62 Alta. L.R. (2d) 209 (QB). 61 University of Alberta v Alberta (Human Rights Commission) (1991), 117 A.R. 11, 81 Alta. L.R. (2d) 393 (CA). 62 IRPA, 1980, supra note X. 63 IRPA, 1980, supra note X. 64 For more information on the Ombudsman, visit www.ombudsman.ab.ca 65 Auditor General Act, RSA 2000, c. 46, as amended. 66 www.oag.ab.ca 67 Province to institute new property-rights advocate, The Edmonton Journal, February 22, 2012. 68 wwwa.informedmonton.com/public/agency/0615.htm 69 RSA 2000, c. C-12 70 RSA 2000, c. P-30.3 71 Information on the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate can be found at http://advocate.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm 72 RSA 2000, c.C-23 73 Public Service Act, RSA 2000, c P-42. 74 Access to Information Act, R.S.C., 1985, c.A-1 75 Privacy Act, R.S.C., 1985, P-21 76 R.S.A., 2000, F-25 77 www.servicealberta.ca/foip/documents/FOIPrequest.pdf 78 These legislative reviews were conducted in 2010, 2001-2 and 1998-9. 79 R.S.A. 2000, c. H-5.
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Alberta Human Rights Commission:
Where does it belong?

Jim Gurnett
it was time to make a decision about a second term as a member of the Human Rights Commission, Muriel Stanley-Venne confronted one of the most persistent issues of the Commission through its history. I said I would not serve a second term unless changes were made so the Commission would report directly to the Legislature, rather than to a cabinet minister. We sent this recommendation forward and the government was not interested. What is the fear of this? Its disheartening to me to see the continued denial of this idea. We need an open and welcoming atmosphere to have a good Commission.
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Peter Lougheed explains the original decision to have the Commission report to a minister as largely political, linked to when a human rights uncertainty about how the Social Credit commission can operate without Opposition in the Legislature would government interference, and react to that first legislation. We made thats why it should not be a commitment of our government on reporting to a minister. human rights. We wanted to be in control of the process and that would include the question of the appointment of the people to serve, so we felt it should be in the government, not within the orbit of the Legislature.
Democracy is strong
Thirty seven years later, Blackett explains the continued reporting to a ministry as practical. If the Commission reports directly to the Legislature, whos going to support it? Whos going to provide the administrative funds and all the other support you need? The Legislatures not set up to do that. Our department provides a lot of resources. He agrees the Ombudsman does report directly to the Legislature despite this, but says: The Human Rights Commission is a lot more complex than the Ombudsman. He also rejected the need to have the Commission report to a more senior ministry such as Justice, although this did change in 2011, by considering the following: So if youre a Justice Department employee and you have to lodge a human rights complaint what is the chance you are going to get fairness if the Human Rights Commission is under the same auspices as the court and thats the department in which you work? He says there was little discussion of changes in the location of the Commission within government at the time the 2008 legislative amendments were developed. The current head of the Commission, Blair Mason, says: There are aspects of reporting directly to the Legislature that make that attractive in the sense [that] it adds to the independence of the Commission. He adds however: When you start to make wholesale changes, youve got to be
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prepared for wholesale results and it may not be as attractive as you might think initially. Raffath Sayeed says: Democracy is strong when a human rights commission can operate without government interference, and thats why it should not be reporting to a minister. Gerald Gall, a University of Alberta professor and a leader with the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, sees the Human Rights Commission as part of an arsenal of public tools to address human rights that provincially includes the Ombudsman, the Child and Youth Advocate, the Privacy Commissioner, and more, all of whom are joined by a range of similar offices federally. The Commission does a wonderful job, with great leadership and staff. It has challenges with the increasing grounds for complaints and being under endowed with operational funds. But it should report to the Legislature directly so there would be clear independence and less possible worry of interference. Janet Keeping, former President of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and a civil liberties activist, agrees. Over the past 20 years the government has not put a high priority on the Commission. It should report to the Legislature, but at least to a senior minister who is not low on the pecking order. She mentions that in most other provinces human rights commissions report to a minister of Labour or Justice. Jack ONeill continues to strongly support this view too, long after the report from his review of human rights in 1994 made this a clear recommendation. He says: We begged for the independence of the Commission, but it was seen as a power grab. He believes such independence is essential so there cannot be, in any way, a perception decisions are made to keep government happy. One of the people best known for being publicly critical of the Commission not reporting directly to the Legislature is Ron Ghitter. Reflecting on the reporting now he says: In hindsight I would argue it should be responsible directly to the Legislature. We didnt really think
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it through at the time. Reporting to the Legislature puts it out there in a completely transparent way. Ghitter agrees with Keeping that at least it should report to a more senior minister. The lack of commitment to the Commission since the Lougheed days is unfortunate and has left it in a backwater. When governments start moving human rights to a back burner, people do too. Movement under Premier Redford to have the Commission move under the Department of Justice thus represents a positive development.
Alberta Human Rights Commission: The Chief Commissioners

People who have served as commissioners and staff of the Alberta Human Rights Commission and who have worked in government ministries associated with the Commission have provided leadership and vision for Alberta as a jurisdiction where human rights provide a framework for daily life, and have ensured practical services that support human rights becoming a reality. Amongst these people, the Chief Commissioners have been best known to Albertans, as the face and voice of the Commission.
Blair Mason
Blair Mason is the most recent of these leaders, with the new title for the position of Chief of the Commission and Tribunals. He came to Alberta from Montreal as a youth in 1945 and went on to a distinguished law career in Calgary before he was appointed to the judiciary in 1985. Just after his retirement from the judiciary and while completing his last written judgment, he received a couple of inquiries asking if he would be interested in the position of the Chief of the Human Rights Commission. During his legal practice he was appointed as vice-chair of the Industrial Relations Board, followed by an appointment as chair of the Public Service Employees Relations Board, which he organized on behalf of the Province, and which is now folded into the Labour Board. Mason entered
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the job competition for the position of the Chief of the Commission and experienced an unusual situation leading up to his selection. I had my very first job interview at 75 years of age which was kind of a shock. I had become a law partner for the first time as a young man, a month before I was married, and had just gone on from there through the years. I didnt even have a CV when I began to prepare for the interview. It was all a bit unnerving. While I was prepared to walk down this road and see where it might lead, I didnt realize how committed Id get after only a year and a bit. Mason is overseeing changes and reorganization of the Human Rights Commission arising from amendments to the legislation in 2009 and is committed to the educational aspects of the Commissions work which are tremendously important to him. Education, Mason feels, promotes awareness of Albertas diversity, knowledge of rights and responsibilities and the importance of creating a society where each individual is valued. While the Courts have confirmed that the Commissions investigative process is sufficiently independent from its adjudicative tribunal, Mason has enhanced perceptions of fairness in physically separating the Directors offices from the Tribunal. Additionally, in recognition of the increasing legal complexity of human rights complaints, Mason has required all new Tribunal members to be legally trained. New Tribunal members from diverse backgrounds, have also been recruited, bringing different and valuable perspectives to the organization. Albertas human rights story Courageous commitment to the position of Chief Commissioner has marked the people who have been in the job over the years. Mason says one of the things critical to the early success of the Commission was securing Max Wyman as the first Chief Commissioner. It was a coup to get him involved. Along with Peter Lougheeds leadership in government on human rights, this was a case of having the right people at the right time.
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While his father suggested studying at the brand new University of Calgary in 1951, Mason instead went to Edmonton to be part of a group of law students, many of whom went on to important roles in Alberta as it developed over the next few decades. Studying law at that time included no formal education about human rights. The concept of the rule of law providing fairness for all is spread through legal training however, he notes. He remembers the concerns when the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was introduced and awareness of human rights took a large step forward with ordinary people. The Supreme Court began to make difficult but far-reaching decisions. There was grumbling and suspicion, but today it is clear the Charter has had far more positive results. It would have been more difficult to achieve some of the rights and protections we now have without the Charter. It provided a structure, a soil for rights to grow. Developments would have been more haphazard without it. In his opinion, Canada can and should be a leader in the development of human rights worldwide especially with the experience and knowledge available from the various Canadian federal, provincial and territorial human rights commissions, as well as other administrative tribunals similarly involved in the protection of rights. Alberta has been a leader in the field of human rights since the days of the Lougheed government, and Mason wants the Commission to continue this important work through education, creative dispute resolution, and where appropriate, through the formal hearing processes and decisions provided by the human rights tribunal. Albertas human rights story
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Fil Fraser
Twenty years before Mason, Fil Fraser became Chief Commissioner in 1989. He chooses to meet in a busy friendly neighbourhood coffee shop in west Edmonton to reminisce about human rights in Alberta, where conversation is repeatedly interrupted as friends stop to chat with him. Like Mason, his roots were in Montreal, but instead of a long career in law moving from private practice to the judicial bench in a single community, Fraser says: My life is a strange series of serendipitous surprises. I was making movies in the 70s, crashed and burned at that, went back to radio where I had started as a teenager in 1951, and ended up appointed to a task force on broadcasting, working out of Ottawa. I was back in Edmonton later and Elaine McCoy, Minister of Labour, took me out to lunch and asked if I would take the position with the Human Rights Commission. It was the same time I was offered an interesting role with the CRTC [Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission] but I chose human rights, and had a wild and woolly ride for three years. Fraser did not have a formal background in human rights, but he had received an award in the mid-1980s from the Commission for his work advancing human rights in broadcasting, and he had been writing on human rights issues for newspapers including the Edmonton Journal and the Toronto Star. He admired Albertas human rights legislation at the time. I lived through the golden years of the 70s with Lougheed. That first cabinet of his was probably one of the most brilliant in the history of the country made of people who werent politicians but were there as civic duty. That first human rights legislation came out of this environment. He believed in the importance of symbolic acts and started his term by changing the name of his position from Chairman to the gender-neutral Chief Commissioner and opened the meetings of the commissioners to
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the public moving them around the province, to the great consternation of some politicians. The media noticed us and covered us like a blanket; not always in positive ways, he describes. Fraser believed it was important for the commissioners to operate by consensus. As they considered emerging issues one that came to the forefront was sexual orientation, not then protected under Alberta legislation. At our meetings we kept this issue on the agenda, but one of the commissioners could never support it, until during a retreat at Nakoda Lodge he said he would not stand in the way on the issue any longer. We had a closeness despite our very different backgrounds and we stood together on this issue and sent a message to government recommending revisions to the legislation. At about the same time, in 1991, Delwin Vriend went with his parents to an event I lived through the put on by Michael Phair, who in 1992 of the 70s with became Edmontons first openly-gay City Lougheed. That first cabinet Councillor. An Edmonton Journal reporter, of his was probably one of the who had promised Vriend anonymity most brilliant in the history of about his attendance, published his name the country made of people and he was fired from his job as a lab who werent politicians but were instructor at The Kings College, now there as civic duty. That first Kings University College. His attempt to human rights legislation came file a complaint with the Human Rights out of this environment. Commission was rejected because sexual orientation was not a protected ground. A period of very public attention to this issue began, and, with the Commission taking a public stand for action, Fraser was not reappointed for a second term as Chief Commissioner. Fraser says:
years
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Before I came to the Commission it did not see itself as an activist organization. It tended to operate under the radar. When I began we brought in our own team of investigators, with a mandate to first try to resolve things informally, whereas before there was a very formal process full of paperwork. A document was created and moved about and blah, blah, blah We said If someone comes in with a complaint, why dont you just call up the respondent, get everyone in the same room and see if you can resolve things? The priority of public visibility for the Commission was dramatically illustrated in the Aryan Nations issue that developed in the town of Provost. There were 25 or 30 characters, aggressive tough guys, who burned a cross in a field, and danced around dressed in Ku Klux Klan garb saying Death to the Jews. We had strenuous arguments at the Commission about whether we could proceed to any action against them and Elaine McCoy told us we had to have a complaint. So I went on TV and said We have this situation and are actively waiting a complaint, whereupon Keith Rutherford came forward and laid a complaint, so that McCoy could appoint a Board of Inquiry, chaired by Tim Christian from the University of Alberta, and we were on the way. Fraser feels it is unfortunate the Commission cannot initiate cases without a complaint being made but his view is there is still fat chance of this change happening. The dedication of Fraser to promote human rights was not without dangers. He recalls that during the Aryan Nations situation he was sometimes followed by supporters of Terry Long and others in the group. They were an ugly hateful group itching to pick a fight. I was driving an old Jag Id put far too much money into restoring, with a vanity license plate. It was suggested I was too visible, so I got an old Honda Civic. Albertas human rights story
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Fraser believes it is important today to keep human rights in the public view too. Most Albertans dont think much about human rights. When they do, some think theres a plot to get special treatment for minority groups. Why cant they just be Canadians? some are asking, as right-wing thinking resurges. People are even challenging the Charter, which in its time was the most advanced human rights legislation in the world. Fraser feels a significant minority of Albertans would happily shut down the Human Rights Commission even today. In his own life, Fraser says racism has always been a factor but never an impediment. He recalls as a young man working in Regina going to rent an apartment and the agent saying they could not rent to someone who was Black. Fraser knew the provincial Attorney General and called and told him about the incident. After a couple of days I got a call from the apartment saying theyd be delighted to have me come and live with them. I said screw you.
Raffath Sayeed
When Fraser was not reappointed, the Commission made Raffath Sayeed the acting Chief Commissioner. A family physician in the Alberta-Saskatchewan border city of Lloydminster, he is still in practice at the same comfortable office there, the walls covered by a rich assortment of thank you notes from those he has served, and aphorisms and quotes that inspire him. His favourite is a piece that also hung on the wall of Mother Teresas office: People are unreasonable, illogical, self-centred... love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives... do good anyway. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies... be successful anyway. The
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good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow... do good anyway. Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable... be honest and frank anyway. People love underdogs but will follow only top dogs... follow some underdog anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight... build anyway. People really need help, but may attack you if you try... help people anyway. If you give the world the best you have, you may get kicked in the teeth... but give the world the best you have anyway. Sayeed was one of the six commissioners who had been serving with Fraser. He sat on the Commission on Tolerance and Understanding, chaired by former MLA Ghitter, in the mid-1980s, and became known for his articulate concerns for human rights matters at that time. His involvement Girls in Indian Costume with Swastika symbols on on that committee began dresses, Drumheller (ca. 1920) as he had returned from a fishing trip and received a phone call from David King, Education Minister at the time. I told him he must have the wrong Dr. Sayeed. I was a physician, not an educator. But Mr. King told me he was well aware of that, but wanted me on the committee. My wife Zuhy had been telling me I was far too busy, so I thought she would support me declining the invitation. Instead she said Education was dear to your parents, you should do it, so I told Mr. King My wife says I can do it, so OK.
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Months later I was told by Larry Shaben, the first Muslim cabinet minister, that my name probably came up because my own MLA at the time, Bud Miller, had come along when the committee was being set up and said, Theres a trouble maker in my constituency, always a thorn in my side. He probably should take some time off from making money as a doctor and do some volunteer work. Appoint him. Sayeed had a similar experience leading to him becoming a commissioner a few years later. He was in Jasper recuperating from surgery when he received a phone call from Ron Scrimshaw, who had been on the Committee on Tolerance and Understanding with him, asking him to serve. Sayeed responded that his wife had told him he already had too many things on his plate. Scrimshaw surprised him by replying, But who do you think gave me the phone number to track you down there?! Sayeed shares Frasers view that this was a tumultuous time for the Commission. He is also positive about the consensus model of working together that the commissioners developed. He remembers how the issue of sexual orientation would be on the agenda at meetings but each time Scrimshaw would indicate he could not support recommending action on this issue because his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, was opposed. The commissioners respected his denial of consensus, and would simply put the item back on the agenda for the next meeting. Sayeed maintained this consensus approach when he became Acting Chief Commissioner. He remembers them sometimes using a talking stick to ensure fairness and equality in their discussions. Albertas human rights story We had a review done of what was happening with sexual orientation across Canada and found seven provinces had begun to include it as a protected ground under human rights, and that there were several court rulings under the Charter that such protection was required. We knew it was obvious we had to do something. At the next vote on whether to recommend action on this, again one hand did not go up. As we sat wondering
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What do we do now? Ron Scrimshaw said, I didnt put my hand up for it, and I didnt put my hand up against it, and I didnt say Im abstaining, so it is unanimous. Im very proud of Ron Scrimshaw. The evidence of the need for action was overwhelming. Any person with a little bit of common sense could see it. How could we deny taking action? Having now replaced Fraser, and with Ralph Klein having now replaced Don Getty as Premier, Sayeed called a press conference in Calgary, joined by all the commissioners, and announced that due to the evidence from their research the Commission would begin taking cases based on sexual orientation, assuming it to be written in to Alberta legislation. I had called both Premier Klein and Peter Elzinga, a senior member of cabinet, to say we were going to do this. Id also told Premier Klein when I had seen him at a rally around this time and he had said it was no problem. If thats what you have to do, you have to do it, he told me. I assumed everything was OK, but on the Monday after the press conference rumblings started in the public, especially from the extreme right, and things kept developing. One day I had a call from Diane Mirosh, Community Development Minister, who told me she had just left the Premiers office and been asked to tell me not to speak to the press. After her call, I called Jim Dau, who worked in the Premiers office, and he said he had been at the same meeting and there was no mention of this. When I spoke to her later that evening she told me I worked for them and she was telling me not to talk to the press. I replied that I worked for the people of Alberta and she could recommend cancelling the Order-inCouncil that appointed me, but meanwhile I had a job to do. Sayeed has been told some in government wanted him fired, but they were advised that was just what he wanted, so it would be better to let the remainder of his term run out and not reappoint him, to prevent him
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drawing more attention by highlighting being fired. He denies any such intention. I didnt want to wash any dirty linen in public. We were just doing our job, he remembers. I love Alberta, I love Canada, I had no axe to grind, he affirms. As this turbulent period was passing and a new Chief Commissioner being appointed, one of the Commission staff told Sayeed: I had a good time. We rattled their cages. You took on the Government of Alberta, you were the lightning rod and I had fun working with you. He replied: You call that fun? Being blasted in the press every day? He also remembers that the work took an immense amount of his time, such that a patient at his clinic saw him on the street in Lloydminster one day and said: I thought you had moved to Edmonton Im always seeing you on the news there.
Accusations of Interference
Sayeed remains critical of how government behaved at this troubled time. When a minister writes the Director of the Human Rights Commission and tells her no civil servants can use their time to deal with cases involving sexual orientation, that only the appointed commissioners can do so if they wish, this is abject government interference. They could do this on any topic. Tomorrow they could say, You wont take cases from coloured people or Forget White males, just take White females or whatever they wanted. He is proud of the approach the commissioners took in several cases when they received legal advice that action in relation to an issue was not recommended: if they believed it was right they would act anyway. One example of this during his time on the Commission involved an employer in Red Deer that would not accommodate work schedules for an employee who was a Seventh Day Adventist. Fraser, Sayeed and Jack ONeill, who was to become the next Chief Commissioner, are all critical of some cabinet ministers for making
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the work of the Commission difficult during this period. Mirosh made headlines during this time for charging that gays enjoyed more rights than other people, for example. Stockwell Day, who went on to become a cabinet minister in the federal government, is singled out by them in particular. Sad to say, Stockwell Day had a lot to do with opposition to any change related to sexual orientation, notes ONeill. Fraser points to Days opposition to Alberta supporting Canadas ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: An omnibus bill was created to make all legislation compliant with the UN Declaration [sic] when a huge letter writing campaign began that was orchestrated by Stockwell Day with people saying we wont be able to teach our children our religion or spank them, theyll be able to sue us And Don Getty backed down, Elaine McCoy went silent. Fraser suggests Stockwell Days appointment to the first Don Getty cabinet was a mistake. Getty told his assistant, Bob Giffin, Get the little guy from Red Deer with glasses, for the cabinet. He meant John Oldring, but Giffin went and got the wrong guy. Getty was too nice to say it was the wrong person, so he ended up with both of them. Fraser and Sayeed are also critical of the poor communications that marked the end of their terms. Fraser notes he had received no word whether or not he would be reappointed as the time neared, so he let newspaper columnist Don Braid know about this. Only after it appeared in the media did he get a call from the Premiers office asking why he hadnt called them to find out what was happening. As Sayeeds term was nearing an end he was becoming increasingly involved with the Canadian Association for Community Living, so wanted to know if he would be reappointed to the Human Rights Commission before committing to more responsibilities there. He called Minister of Community Development Gary Mars office for information and one of his staff hung up on him. So I called my own MLA, Steve West, and he told me No, your name was not recommended. Sayeed recalls a conversation with another
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cabinet member of the time, Peter Trynchy, who, on learning Sayeed had not been reappointed, told him Dont worry. Were going to abolish the Commission anyway. This comment reflected musings made by Mirosh in the media at that time. There was a level of anger in cabinet about us at that time and they diluted the Commission, at least partially neutered what it had been, he states.
Jack ONeill
Sayeed finished his term as a commissioner with Jack ONeill taking the reins as the new Chief Commissioner, in March of 1993. Sayeed remembers his predecessor, Fil Fraser, as a good leader who brought the Human Rights Commission into the present day by increasing its visibility and profile, so the public knew they had a place to go to see their grievances addressed. He saw ONeill, coming from the senior provincial civil service, as being sent in by government to fix the Commission. Initially Jack ONeill saw Ron Ghitters Dignity Foundation as competition to the Commission and we had to get him to understand it was really an ally. Fraser looks at the Commission over the years and observes: The Commission has come almost full circle. It began with a perspective [that] education is the most important aspect of human rights and then became very activist. Jack ONeill tried to maintain this activism under severe constraints but it went from being quasi-arms length from government no one told me what to do to where the Chief Commissioner was just another civil servant reporting to an assistant deputy minister and saying Were in the education business.
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Retired and sharing memories from the comfort of a favourite chair in the living room of his St. Albert home, ONeill describes coming to Alberta after years as a Roman Catholic priest. He was working in Calgary with the Heart Foundation, now the Heart and Stroke Foundation, where he met Jeanne Lougheed and ended up being invited to work with Peter Lougheeds office during the Commonwealth Games. His appointment as Deputy Minister at the Department of Culture soon after came as a surprise to many. ONeill himself says: To have me go in over Walter Kaasa, the assistant deputy minister who was thought of as Mr. Arts and Culture was risky, but to his credit Walter was terrific to work with. During his 12 years in the position there were achievements such as the opening of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. His links with human rights developed, especially after multiculturalism was added to the mandate of the ministry, in a move many still see as controversial. ONeill says the roots of his understanding of human rights go back further, to four months he spent in France while a priest, with Jean Vanier, the poet founder of LArche communities, where people with a range of mental and physical challenges live together with others. He is still moved at how the diversity of people living together moved through the days singing Alleluia spontaneously through the hours. He and Vanier had first known each other as students at Loyola Colleges high school in Montreal. Later, when a Jesuit chaplain in the 1960s, ONeill asked Vanier to give a talk to students. There were seven or eight hundred students packed in the auditorium and with his soft gentle voice Jean held all of them in the palm of his hand for an hour, these rebellious students of the 60s. Some applied to go and work with him after. Jean Vanier was the first teacher of the full equality of people. I learned far more from the handicapped people in LArche than I was able to help them.
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The Declaration has
Ten Commandments now,

become like the so its hard to look at it critically. Is an expansion of some of whats there
ONeill has since served on the board of LArche and has a commitment to its principle: Every person is as good as I am and has a right to do as much as he or she is able. Life should not favour the elite physically or financially. We are all equal, ONeill says firmly.
One of ONeills memories from his time with the Culture ministry is a meeting with an Albertan needed? Are there involved significantly behind-the-scenes with things that are no longer one of the major developments in Canada in applicable? relation to human rights. Laurence Decore [a member of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism at the time, later to be Mayor of Edmonton and Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party] invited me to lunch because he was working to get the federal government to include multiculturalism in the Charter of Rights being developed. Ive wondered since if he, if anyone, really understood all that would flow from that, ONeil muses. After Ralph Klein became Premier, he was looking for ways to show he was serious about cutting government as part of the severe new austerity approach he adopted following the 1993 election. Cuts to senior public service positions were one of his ways to do this. ONeill sensed his position was in peril and as such, he recounts: I pushed rather hard for the Chief Commissioner position. I had two children in university and hated the thought of not being able to bring in money for the family. There were those who didnt want the deputy ministers being cut to stay around, so Ralph Klein only reluctantly appointed me, for two years, instead of the three that had been the term in the past. A major activity of the Commission during the time ONeill headed it was a comprehensive review of human rights that produced the report Equal in Dignity and Rights. Current affairs motivated the creation of the committee
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that produced this report. The news was filled with the case of Delwin Vriend being denied the right to bring his firing over sexual orientation to the Human Rights Commission. ONeill says: The government was glad to send out a commission. It gave them breathing room. We met a terrible amount of hate and homophobia, very often led by some religious group. Most of the presenters at our hearings were negative. Human rights was not understood including by a lot of MLAs. ONeill believes the committees report with its many far-reaching recommendations made little impression. None of the government MLAs were exalted in their praise of it, he notes gently, although one senior government bureaucrat told him it was the best report he had ever seen. Ghitter sees the work of the committee as a lost opportunity: It should have been taken seriously, but the government wasnt committed. ONeill feels the only reason there was eventually some movement in relation Some days I think we need to the Human Rights Commission a dealing with cases involving sexual . orientation is that several years later, in Responsibilities might mean 1998, South Africas Bishop Desmond including a Good Samaritan clause Tutu was in Edmonton to speak at for example. If you walk by someone a major conference celebrating the th in distress you are obligated to help 50 anniversary of the Universal in any way you can. Declaration of Human Rights hosted by the founders of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. Ralph Klein had a meeting with Bishop Tutu that took so long it held up the opening of the meeting where Tutu was speaking. Tutu told Premier Klein he needed to act on this and shortly after, with no public declaration, it began to happen, ONeill says. Prior to this, despite the Supreme Court ruling in favour of sexual orientation being an accepted grounds of protection there had even been
charter of rights and responsibilities
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talk of using the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter to avoid having to comply. As his two year appointment drew to an end, ONeill says he was exhausted and frustrated by the way he and the Commission were being treated. I was insulted once by a ministers executive assistant for bringing up the issue of greater independence for the Commission. I was reporting to an assistant deputy minister who had once worked for me in the Culture department, and once told me I did not have authority to buy coffee and charge it as an expense. I couldnt fight too hard for another term. Thinking more broadly about human rights now, ONeill thinks it is time to revisit the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The Declaration has become like the Ten Commandments now, so its hard to look at it critically. Is an expansion of some of whats there needed? Are there things that are no longer applicable? Fraser has similar views, saying The Declaration is sadly out of date. It doesnt deal with the realities of culture in todays world genital mutilation, Aboriginal rights. And it needs more focus on community and collectivities. Fraser is also prepared to revisit the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Some days I think we need a charter of rights and responsibilities. Responsibilities might mean including a Good Samaritan clause for example. If you walk by someone in distress you are obligated to help in any way you can. ONeill is encouraged by younger people championing rights issues in the absence of the voices of politicians, whom he says dont want to speak up because of fear some voters will have problems with things they say. Pointing to the difficulties Barrack Obama has had over race in the USA, ONeill notes: Customs die hard. We have to always be chipping away at human rights issues. How has he sustained himself through all the activities and changes of 85 years? Theres [sic] no clouds hanging over my head. And if one develops, I just disperse it. He thinks of attitudes as being like old computer floppy disks. If you realize you have a negative one in the drive, take it out and put in another one.
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Charlach Mackintosh
Charlach Mackintosh became Chief Commissioner after ONeill. His 14 years in the position represent the longest term for anyone in this role. He lives now in a quiet Calgary neighbourhood along the Elbow River, and talked about the Human Rights Commission sitting on a back yard deck, an unruly lock of white hair falling across his forehead, with sunshine rippling through a yard full of large trees and his dog Click, who he says is crazy about squirrels, complaining about not getting enough attention. In keeping with his thorough approach to everything, he has a thick file of key news clippings and commentary about human rights that have been meaningful to him, ready to share. One of his favourite quotes is Justice Rosalie Silberman Abellas comment: There is no argument that one can offer against governments playing a decisive role in the delivery of rights. It is they who decide which rights to turn into laws, what remedies will accompany those laws, and how accessible those laws and remedies will be... what resources will be available to implement them... There can be no remedies without the state because there can be no rights without the state. This is the heart of the story. Recounting his road to the Commission, Mackintosh, thoughtful and deliberate in all his comments, even when dryly humorous, says: I had recently been given a pink slip after 28 years in the oil industry, but because of my work on the Workers Compensation Board for six years, hearing a thousand appeals, the government was aware of me. They asked me to try the Chief Commissioners position for six months. It was a truly fascinating six months. Albertas human rights story
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There is
no argument that
one can offer against governments playing a decisive role in the
delivery of rights. It is
they who decide which rights to turn into laws, what remedies will accompany those laws, and how accessible those laws and remedies will be... what resources will be
He recalls that some difficulty had developed with ONeill over his view that the Commission should be more independent of government. He describes ONeill as a marvelous fellow who went out of his way to encourage him as he began his term, preparing a detailed package of background information for him.
When I took the job, the government said, Keep your head down, do your available to implement them... There work, apply the Act, and stay out can be no remedies without the of the media. Mackintosh had ten state because there can be no rights minutes every Monday morning to without the state. This is the heart of update the Deputy Minister, and he says the story. the government never interfered with his work. They showed a gratifying confidence in me. My number one responsibility was to make sure the Minister was never surprised. He is complimentary that the Commissions budget was never reduced during his years and says: The government went out of its way to accommodate us. After the approach of some of the Chief Commissioners who had preceded him, this style was criticized by some, to which Mackintosh responds gently: Its good to have critics. Ghitter was one of those critics. Mackintosh says: He had superb manners, but he felt I should be dancing in front of the public. Thats not how Im made. Instead he was in the office at his desk by 7 AM daily and put in a hard slog, with time out for a 4.5 kilometer run at noon, then back for the rest of the day. The work was fascinating and we accomplished a good deal. There was an evolution in relation to human rights over the years and it was satisfying to see this. He is modest about his own work, saying he has nothing to contribute to a book looking at human rights in Alberta. I dont even have a university
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degree. Im quiet, dont puff myself up, he insists. However, Marie Riddle, the senior bureaucrat who worked with him for many years, says: You will not find a more ethical man anywhere than him. His sense of propriety was offended when critics of the Commission sometimes personalized matters. Instead of attacking people, they should work to get change in the legislation, he advises. He remembers the care it took to balance his duties to the Commission, where decisions were made to pursue cases of human rights violations; and to tribunals, where rulings were made on cases, carefully distinct and demanding. Sometimes there was nothing Id have liked better than to trundle off down the hall and discuss a case with staff, but I had to avoid this, he explains. He understands why some critics of the Commission have expressed concern about the Chief Commissioner wearing two hats, as judge and jury. But separation of the two required dollars no one wanted to spend. Mackintosh believes the courts were lenient with him because he did not have a legal background. I was just a person with wide experience applying my common sense. He felt the Commission sometimes had to test boundaries. He remembers this in particular in relation to Darren Lunds complaint about Stephen Boissoins letter in a Red Deer newspaper, and the hate speech debate it provoked. He felt some of the wordings in the legislation were saying different things in different places. He feels badly that the Commission was pilloried for some of what it did over this issue. Its sad to see how poorly some staff were treated when doing good work. Albertas human rights story As with Frasers experience, Mackintosh was sometimes frustrated by the Commission having to wait for complaints to come to it rather than being able to initiate cases. He says he sometimes had an almost mischievous side, and was tempted to encourage a complaint. He remembers feeling provoked by the issue of landlords who often turned down Aboriginal people, yet seemed to have apartments available for Caucasian tenants.
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Mackintosh says family and adventures were the supports he counted on to sustain him for the challenging work at the Commission over the years. He speaks fondly of taking his children to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and a two week biking holiday at high altitude in Peru. Favourite trips include leading an expedition across Baffin Islands Auyuittuq National Park and kayaking in New Zealand. He gets satisfaction from both the effort involved and the care needed to do good risk planning for such trips. Staying physically active is a strong value for him, from his youth, and he is proud of having been an Olympic downhill ski competitor in 1956 and 1960. Whenever Mackintosh talks of his service as Chief Commissioner little time goes by without him complimenting the staff of the Commission, the other commissioners, and a wider circle of people he sees as colleagues in the work. The numbers of those I appreciate are legion, not only in this province but across the country. I could pick up the phone anytime and discuss a problem with others who would provide valuable insight.
Muriel Stanley Venne: An Early Commissioner

The Chief Commissioners are the people best known as representatives of the Human Rights Commission over the years. But each Chief Commissioner has worked with a dedicated team of other commissioners. Many of these have been people who have contributed in other significant ways to public life in Alberta, as Members of the Legislative Assembly, members of municipal governments, and leaders in civil society. Muriel Stanley Venne was one of the first commissioners, serving from 1973 to 1978. When first contacted about becoming a commissioner, she said she did not have time. She was heavily occupied with work to improve employment opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Northern Alberta and seeing success with her innovative ideas,
Racism and prejudice exist.

Ive felt very unwelcome in my own province as a Mtis person.
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which included directly involving large forestry companies and oil sands developer Syncrude in working with her to create jobs for local people. But when Premier Lougheed called me, I changed my mind. At the time of the interview, Muriel was VicePresident of the Mtis Nation of Alberta and the head of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, which presents the Esquao Awards annually. She is troubled that after all the years since she served as a commissioner she still looks at Alberta society and concludes: Racism and prejudice exist. Ive felt very unwelcome in my own province as a Mtis person. I hope a book on human rights in Alberta will document what should be. She remembers strong support from government at the beginning of the Commission. We had a first meeting with Bert Hohol, the cabinet minister responsible for the Commission, and asked him, What do you want us to do? and he replied, Youve agreed to be the commissioners. You figure it out. She describes a sense of shared adventure as they began, knowing there was that confidence from government in them. We were truly a representative group. Nomi Whalen, one of our group, would bring a bag lunch of snacks to our meetings to share with us. Years later she showed a photo of the group to her son. Looking at his mother
There was a case where a baby had died at a hospital and the body was sent back to its home community in a plastic bag.
outraged and demanded

the Commission make a statement but was dissuaded from pursuing this. When there was another similar situation later, she blasted her colleagues for their failure to act and address the way the hospital board involved had behaved. Its still painful thinking about this incident.
She was
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the discrimination she saw in
he said she looked like Little Orphan Annie. Stanley Venne remembers her fellow commissioners teasing her for having a habit of saying, as discussion was wrapping up on something, I just have one more thing to say, and then going on at length. Before I joined the Commission I had done nothing but think about Mtis people and the injustices towards them. On the Commission I learned to appreciate other issues and peoples. I was forced to open the door of my understanding and learned a great deal. However, Stanley Venne does regret not resigning at one point during her term. There was a case where a baby had died at a hospital and the body was sent back to its home community in a plastic bag. She was outraged and demanded the Commission make a statement but was dissuaded from pursuing this. When there was another similar situation later, she blasted her colleagues for their failure to act and address the discrimination she saw in the way the hospital board involved had behaved. Its still painful thinking about this incident.
Everyone has rights

by birth. No one has to give them to you. And there cant be varying amounts. Human rights means the dignity of being a person with no qualifications on it In our world the measure has become whether you have money. Poverty is a big challenge with human rights. When you dont have enough to live on, it changes your outlook, keeps you in crisis all the time, you cant make any plans. Life should not be about survival of the fittest, the attitude that if you cant make it, it must be your fault.
During her time as a commissioner, Muriel Stanley Venne was enthusiastic about having services easily available to people. People dont know their rights. They dont expect to experience discrimination, and so only look for help after a negative experience. I recommended a storefront structure where bureaucracy did not become a threat to people. When youve experienced discrimination you are not a happy person and the
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Commission seems to try hard not to serve you, looking for any reason. The original legislation is noble and laudable but it has never been fully put into practice. Stanley Venne feels the inability to provide timely help is a shortcoming at the Commission. They are years behind in cases, she charges. Blackett indicates he wants to see this addressed: Were trying to make ourselves better were putting more resources into the institutions, the tribunals, and the Commission itself, to make sure that people have confidence that when they go before it they will have their case dealt with in a timely manner, instead of the 400 days that we deal with right now. Although Stanley Venne credits her time as a commissioner for coming to a broader understanding on the range of human rights issues in Alberta, her own focus has been with those of Indigenous Peoples in the years since. As chair of the Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice, she guided the recent publication of the report Aboriginal Perspective on Human Rights in Alberta.1 Stanley Venne regrets that her life did not provide the opportunities for education she has always craved. She moved to Edmonton in Grade Eight and was a student at Eastwood School, where she remembers being a country bumpkin with no friends and no other Aboriginal children in the school. I started to realize I had freedom to speak out on things at that time and Ive just kept doing that! She says what she talks about, primarily, is respect. Everyone has rights by birth. No one has to give them to you. And there cant be varying amounts. Human rights means the dignity of being a person with no qualifications on it In our world the measure has become whether you have money. Poverty is a big challenge with human rights. When you dont have enough to live on, it changes your outlook, keeps you in crisis all the time, you cant make any plans. Life should not be about survival of the fittest, the attitude that if you cant make it, it must be your fault.
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She wants the issue of economic status looked at more carefully as a protected ground in human rights legislation. Being interviewed in her simple office in Edmonton, on the eve of being honoured by Grant MacEwan University for her decades of service, she quotes poet Robert Frost to describe why she keeps going: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep....
If we all remembered
They are me
the world would be better.
My joy is my work, she affirms, but, talking about the comments in a letter to residents of his Edmonton riding by Member of Parliament Peter Goldring that were very critical of Louis Riel, it is evident there is an anger as well as a joy that drives her. The injustice to Louis Riel is still with us today. Riel was a brilliant man. Others became millionaires in that day defrauding Mtis of their land. These things matter and there is still much to do. One of my sisters said to me once when I was about to receive an award, I hope they are grateful to you and I told her They are me. If we all remembered They are me the world would be better.
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Indigenous Peoples: an important human rights issue in Alberta

Stanley Venne is not alone in seeing issues of human rights and indigenous people as a key issue in the 21st century. Calgary educator Darren Lund, who has continued a long case around hate speech, muses the reason little is done in this area is that: White people in Canada need a psychological mechanism to feel they are good people, so when they see what is happening with Aboriginal people they need to explain it, and do so by deciding it is the Aboriginal people who must be inadequate. Former Chief Commissioner Fil Fraser reflects on the persistent and systemic racism that envelops the rights of Aboriginal Peoples: The open sore of human rights remains Aboriginal relations. We need to focus on that. This reminds us we are not there yet on human rights. Any discussion on human rights in Alberta must begin and end with Aboriginal issues. Who is filling up the jails? Who are the homeless people? There is the whole issue of Aboriginal women being killed. So, while there are many things weve done in Alberta to raise the bar to address human rights issues, we cant have a serious discussion until we address the failure with Aboriginal people. Fraser points to the unsettled treaty issue with the Lubicon Lake Nation as a dramatic example of the poor treatment of Indigenous Peoples: The divide and capture games with them [between the federal and provincial government] are outrageous. Their conditions are worse than the Third World. Albertas human rights story
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The
open sore of human
rights remains Aboriginal relations. Any discussion on human rights in Alberta must begin and end with Aboriginal issues. Who is filling up the jails? Who are the homeless people? while there are many things weve done in Alberta to raise the bar to address human rights issues, we cant have a serious discussion until we address the failure with Aboriginal people.
Former Chief Commissioner Charlach Mackintosh shares the view that human rights in relation to Indigenous Peoples is the most serious on-going issue. This has been studied to death and no one seems to know how to deal with it. We see the results in jails, suicides, and homelessness. The number of native people in Alberta may be small but this problem defies understanding. One challenge he recalls is, Natives dont care for our justice system, including the Human Rights Commission. In my time, nothing could persuade their leaders to use the Commission. We tried having Native people on staff and that didnt work.
Notes
1 Aboriginal Perspective on Human Rights in Alberta (The). (2009). Edmonton: Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice http://justice.alberta. ca/programs_services/humanrights/bibliography/Documents/ACHRJReport-Final.pdf
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The Role of the Commission in Albertas Human Rights Legacy

1
Arman Chak and Janice Ashcroft
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This chapter traces the evolution of human rights legislation in Alberta, describing the role of the Alberta Human Rights Commission in policy development, adjudication and education. The achievements of the Commission and many Albertans in all aspects of human rights recognition and advocacy are highlighted in an exploration of nearly fifty years of the Commissions history.
The Role of the Commission in Albertas Human Rights Legacy1

From its beginning, the Alberta Human Rights Commission has protected and encouraged respect for values that that have become central to Canadian identity: equality of treatment and opportunity. Through its pioneering efforts in education and the resolution of human rights complaints through conciliation and adjudication, the Commission has promoted and enhanced these values as well as established important human rights policy and case law.
The Beginnings of a Commission the Human Rights Branch, 1966-1971

On 1 September 1966 the Social Credit Government of Alberta passed the Human Rights Act.2 This legislation, which drew inspiration from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, made Alberta the third province in Canada to enact anti-discrimination legislation.3 The new law prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, religious beliefs, colour, ancestry or place of origin4. The Act itself was of simple design and included a Preamble, Code of Conduct, Complaint Process and Prosecution Section. It prescribed a number of stages for the filing and review of complaints beginning with the Administrator, then the Board of Inquiry (Administrative Tribunal), the Minister, and, if needed, the District Court. A violation of the Act could result in a fine, reinstatement or compensation for lost wages. Between 1966 to 1973 there were approximately 1,600 complaints, with all but three reaching informal resolution or settlement.5 One of these three complaints resulted in the first Board of Inquiry appointed under the Human Rights Act. Ms. Weaselfat, an Aboriginal woman, was required to prepay for her gas at the service station, when other customers, who were not Aboriginal, were not asked to prepay.6 The Board of Inquiry found discrimination.
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The legislation also created a Human Rights Branch within the Department of Manpower and Labour.7 The first Administrator, Harold French was an extraordinary civil servant who had been involved in labour issues regarding the working conditions of provincial employees. The Human Rights Branch employed a tiered approach to complaints based on three principles: alternative dispute resolution, independent adjudication, and public hearings for serious violations.8 Through impartial mediation, disputes were effectively resolved without the need for adjudication. This process continues with the Commission today as conciliation. The Branchs work involved much more than simply accepting and resolving complaints. It raised awareness about human rights issues through the publication of newsletters and facilitated the participation of community groups who were working in the area of human rights. The Branchs Autumn 1969 newsletter named Human Concern, addressed a number of timely human rights issues including discrimination against First Nations individuals. The editorial, written by Don Whiteside, also discussed inequities affecting other vulnerable minority groups including African Americans in the United States as well as the Ukrainian and the Dutch Hutterite communities in Alberta.9 On 1 July 1971, the Act was amended to include gender and age as protected grounds of discrimination.10 In 1972, the concept of the bona fide occupational requirement or qualification was extended to the area of employment. Using this defence, employers could justify unequal hiring or treatment in the workplace on the basis that the alleged discriminatory workplace policy or rule was essential to the function of the job. The Act also provided that the prohibition against age discrimination was limited to the area of employment. In these early years, important steps were taken to use education and legislation to recognize and uphold human rights. However, the next stage of Albertas human rights history was to be even more notable, with a bold vision of human rights as fundamental to a just society demonstrated by
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an expanded protection of individual rights through legislative reform and the creation of the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
The Creation of the Commission-Strengthening the Mandate, 1972-1979

In 1972, the new Progressive Conservative Government lead by the Honourable Peter Lougheed, introduced two human rights Bills, which form the basis for the human rights legislative framework in Alberta today. Bill 1 was the Alberta Bill of Rights11 and Bill 2, the Individuals Rights Protection Act12 (the IRPA).13 As a reflection of the importance placed on human rights by the new government, Premier Lougheed emphasized that this bill is a primary bill and takes precedence over other legislation.14 The proposed IRPA contained a paramountcy clause which indicated that if another piece of legislation came into conflict with the IRPA, the IRPA would govern. It was clear that the intention of legislators was to ensure that even government would be held accountable for any infringements of human rights contrary to the IRPA. The new legislation also created a Commission, led by the respected Max Wyman, which closely resembles, in structure and function, the Commission of today. The Commission was bestowed with broad research, education, dispute resolution and enforcement roles, and was to be autonomous and independent of government.15 Interestingly, the numbers of complaints to the Commission in 1973 mirrored that of today in that Albertans filed almost 800 complaints.16 Faced with a staggering number of complaints coming in for resolution and adjudication, more human rights officers were added in both Edmonton and Calgary. Albertans were attempting to file complaints on issues related to family status, economic rights, and discrimination against persons with disabilities, but given the limits of the legislation, the Commission had to refuse jurisdiction in over 300 cases.17 Additionally, the Commission was becoming acutely aware of systemic discrimination against First Nations individuals, acknowledging that the Commission
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itself underserved this vulnerable population. The Commission voiced its concern regarding the treatment of First Nations people, making specific reference to national studies, which concluded that inequity in the treatment of the First Nations people was in direct contradiction to the values that were being promoted through human rights legislation.18 In contrast, important strides towards gender equality were being made through the application of the IRPA. The case of Gares v. Royal Alexandra Hospital (1975), decided by an Alberta Board of Inquiry, upheld the principles of pay equity for female nurses reflecting an important step towards equality for women in the workplace. Issues such as independence and use of limited resources arose during this time period and still remain with the Commission to this day. In the conclusion to the 1974 Annual Report of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, it was stressed that there was an urgent need to make major Amendments to the Act.19 Meanwhile, in 1976, the education team assisted with the development of a human rights curriculum which was to be added to the Grade 10 Social Studies Program.20 Promotion of the Commissions activities through radio and television raised awareness of its work. The Commission also pursued its policy role by bringing new human rights issues to the attention of the government. It was clear however, that there was much work to be done. Despite the Commissions efforts on awareness and education, a Commission survey conducted in 1977 showed 91% of those surveyed believed that they should have the right to demand that white drivers be sent to answer requests for taxi-cab services.21
New Directions, 1980-1988

On 13 May 1980, the Minister of Labour, Leslie G. Young, introduced Bill 56 in the Alberta Legislature.22 This Bill amended the Individuals Rights Protection Act by adding physical characteristics, source of income and
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family status to the protected grounds, while also expanding protection against age discrimination. The investigative powers of the Commission were expanded to allow broader information gathering in order to better assess whether there had been a violation of the Act. From a procedural and enforcement standpoint, the largest change was that the decisions of the Board of Inquiry were now given the full force of the law at pronouncement. The Minister would not need to make a referral to the Court of Queens Bench for a hearing. The Commission continued conducting presentations, workshops, and media related interviews as well as reaching out to schools to promote human rights. The first slogan created by the promotional material presented by the Commission was Were All Responsible.23 Now, almost a decade after the first publication of the Human Rights Branch had been discontinued, Chair Marlene Antonio started a new publication in 1982 entitled Alberta Human Rights Journal.24 This publication outlined current human rights issues and explained the internal workings of the Commission as well as the decisions coming from the Board of Inquiry and the other judicial forums on appeal. In October 1983, one of the Commissions major initiatives on awareness was to create the Alberta is for All of Us campaign. This award winning program involved three components: a multi-media, province-wide advertising campaign; the creation of a resource centre on racism; and, the distribution of a series of profiles on ethno-cultural communities in
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Alberta.25 Its goal was to inform and educate all Albertans through print and broadcast media. On the complaint processing side of the Commission, there was a concerted effort to reduce the time it was taking to resolve a complaint. The average time to settle a complaint was reduced to 114 days in 1982, compared to 492 in 1979.26 The Board of Inquiry was still at the discretion of the Minister and was conducted by senior members of the Alberta legal profession, however, there were fewer Boards hearing complaints. When human rights matters reached the Courts on review or appeal, judicial decision makers during this time frame demonstrated differing approaches towards the interpretation of Albertas human rights legislation. These approaches varied from bold and expansive to quite narrow and formalistic. In Re Gadowsky27 for example, the Court provided early guidance on how to practically address causation principles to be applied in the legal discrimination analysis. In Gadowsky, a teacher was found to have been forced to retire, for reasons either in whole or in part, based on her age. While the Court found that there were budgetary motivations for the forced retirement, Justice Cawsey nonetheless interpreted the new legislation in a manner that gave effect to its purpose proclaiming that: [49] If the consideration of Mrs. Gadowskys age was present in the mind of the respondent, however minor a part it may have played in the eventual decision, it was, in my opinion, discrimination. Albertas human rights story Around the same time, the Wong v Hughes Petroleum Ltd.28 decision was notable for three issues. First, the Court confirmed that the appropriate standard of proof to be applied was the civil standard, the balance of probabilities, rather than the much higher criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. However, the Court also found that it was bound by the comments made by the Supreme Court of Canada in Bliss v Canada (Attorney General)29, and concluded that adverse treatment towards an
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employee who was pregnant, was not sex discrimination. Also, in Wong, the Court held that the legislation could not be interpreted to allow the awarding of general damages for mental distress or injury to dignity, to victims of discrimination. In other forums, the IRPA was being interpreted in a manner which seemed contrary to its intent. In Athabasca Tribal Council v Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd., et al.,30 the Energy Resources Conservation Board had determined it did not have jurisdiction to mandate the implementation of an affirmative action program. The Athabasca Tribunal Council had requested that Amoco show preferential treatment in hiring Aboriginal individuals living in the area as a condition of approval of the project. The majority of the Alberta Court of Appeal stated, among other reasons, that the provisions of the IRPA which mandated equal treatment towards employees regardless of race, colour or ancestry, would themselves prevent such an affirmative action program. While the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately decided this case on other grounds, the dissent of Justice William George Morrow at the Alberta Court of Appeal is notable for his disagreement with his colleagues regarding their interpretation of the IRPA and his emphasis on the purpose of Albertas human rights legislation and the need to address systemic discrimination against First Nations people. Justice Morrow stated: Of particular significance in my opinion is the use of the words all persons are equal in dignity and rights without regard to race. If these high sounding words have any meaning and significance at all, surely one cannot read the statute in a way to result in or to have the effect of treating the very opposite effect to the declared purpose. To tell the unsophisticated native Indian or the Mtis in the area under review here that he has an equal right and opportunity to compete for jobs on the Oilsands project with the hordes of trained and skilled workers who can be expected to come into the area, an area up till now considered to be his, would in my
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opinion be a travesty of justice and make such legislation as the Individuals Rights Protection Act if it really has such effect, hypocritical in the least. Also, in 1983, an important case was heard regarding the protection of individuals who did not make their living in traditional employment relationships. The Commission took the position that an independent contractor was not covered under the employment provisions of the IRPA. The complainant, Frank Cormier, a visible minority, alleged discrimination when he was rejected for contracts in the Grande Cache area. Mr. Cormier brought his application to compel the Commission to accept his complaint before the Alberta Court of Queens Bench and was successful.31 Justice McDonald emphasized that the words of the statute were to be given broad meaning and that individuals who made their living through contracts as opposed to traditional employment, should be afforded the protections of the Act. In the fall of 1984, the Chair of the Commission, Marlene Antonio, presented 20 recommendations to the Government for changes to strengthen the IRPA.32 The recommendations proposed additional or expanded grounds of discrimination including pregnancy, marital status and mental disability. The most controversial recommendation was the inclusion of sexual orientation, a proactive attempt by the Commission to recognize the harms that many members of the Gay and Lesbian community were suffering in Canada.33 Only Quebec, by this time, had included sexual orientation in its Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Other proposals included streamlining the complaint process and granting additional, remedial powers to the Board of Inquiry.34 Meanwhile, a Womens Secretariat was created to address the equality issues facing women in Alberta society. Two distinct bills were passed, the Womens Secretariat Act and the Alberta Advisory Council on Womens Issues Act.35 The latter law had a sunset clause of 10 years, after which the Council and its mandate would be completed. The promotion of pay equity, preventing sexual harassment, and eliminating gender Albertas human rights story
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Artists such as
Kerry Ross have
produced works to support the education mandate of the Commission, including... including one entitled fundamental rights and freedoms can be understood through the educated mind.
discrimination including pregnancy discrimination, continued to be an important part of the Commissions mandate. The Commission also increased awareness of discrimination by adding news releases to its list of publications. These publications were used to outline Board of Inquiry cases, appointment of Commissioners as well as events occurring in other government ministries on human rights issues such as pay equity.36
The Commissions relevance in the public mind also increased at this time through its vocal comment on the famous Keegstra Affair. In 1988, James Keegstra, a teacher from central Alberta, was criminally charged with wilfully promoting hatred through anti-Semitic teachings to his students. As the case wound its way through the Courts, Stan Scudder, the then Chairman of the Commission, made a strong statement against Keegstra. While commenting that the Supreme Court of Canada had yet to decide on the issue, the Chair maintained that it was well within the Commissions jurisdiction to publicly condemn Mr. Keegtras actions and provide a voice against those who would use hatred and violence to offset the equality principles of Alberta.37 At the end of this stage of Albertas human rights history, the Board of Inquiry provided important wisdom and direction with respect to the interpretation and application of human rights legislation in the context of one of the major health challenges of the day. In July 1988, a drummer was hired to perform with a small band at the Chateau Lake Louise. His
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employer, who was also a member of the band, fired the drummer because of his fear and ignorance about the drummers disability. Fifteen days later, the drummer filed his human rights complaint and became the first person in Alberta to challenge stereotypical views regarding AIDS in the workplace. The Board of Inquiry, composed of W.D. McFetridge, concluded that the respondents subjective belief that the risks were real does not provide justification for his conduct. The standard must be an objective one or else the purpose of the Act could be thwarted at every turn by ignorance and misinformation. The standard must be established on the best available scientific research.38 The Board of Inquiry found that the employer had violated the Individuals Rights Protection Act and confirmed that the practice and conduct of employers was to be examined, without focusing on intent as being a mandatory aspect of proving discrimination.
Building on Success, 1989-1996

In early 1989, Fil Fraser was appointed for a three year term as the Chief of the Commission.39 Frasers pioneering and award winning work in arts and broadcasting and his personal struggles against racism made him a strong candidate for the position. Fraser committed to creating a more transparent and accessible Commission. Two landmark cases arising out of the Commission and Board of Inquiry, both ultimately heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in the early 1990s, were in the protected areas of religion and age. The first case, Central Alberta Dairy Pool40 involved an individual who was fired for failing to report for duty, after his request for a religious accommodation and leave without pay on Easter Monday was denied. The Board of Inquiry decided that the firing was discriminatory and that the employer had failed in its duty to accommodate. The Supreme Court of Canada ultimately upheld the tribunals ruling, overturned the lower court rulings and concluded that the employer had not shown why it could not accommodate the employees request short of undue hardship. Central Alberta Dairy Pool
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confirmed that employers would be held to a high standard in justifying discriminatory job requirements and failure to accommodate. This case is still cited today as a leading authority in determining undue hardship. The second important human rights case from Alberta during this time frame involved mandatory retirement: confirmed that employers Dickason v University of Alberta.41 would be held to a high standard Olive Dickason, a university professor, in justifying discriminatory job challenged the mandatory retirement requirements and failure to provisions in her employment contract accommodate. with the University of Alberta which had forced her to retire at age 65. The tribunal found discrimination and ordered that she be reinstated. The Supreme Court of Canada ultimately heard the appeal and determined that while mandatory retirement was discriminatory, the policy was reasonable and justifiable under the IRPA in that mandatory retirement was a necessary part of the universitys employment structure. When analyzing whether or not the unequal treatment could be justified, the Court applied, with some caution, the analysis used in the defence of Charter infringements, commonly known as the Oakes test.42 Despite its acceptance of the reasonable and justifiable test, the Court provided important confirmation that the rights set out in human rights legislation must be given a liberal interpretation, and that defences should be narrowly interpreted. The case is also notable for the work of Sheila Greckol and JoAnn Kolmes, well known labour lawyers who would successfully advocate on important human rights cases in the future.43 The Central Alberta Dairy Pool and Dickason cases, as well as a number of other cases during this time frame, were argued by strong Commission counsel, Russ Albert and Les Wallace.
Central Alberta Dairy Pool
On 14 May 1990 the Government passed Bill 8 to add mental disability as a protected ground under the Act.44 Public support for the process was
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critical and it was through the efforts of mental health advocacy groups that the government agreed to this amendment,45 first proposed six years earlier by the Commission.46 The public responded with 9% of all new complaints being filed under this ground.47 The Commission developed an expert committee on mental disability which included members of public advocacy groups as well as medical professionals.48 As the Commissions profile continued to grow, an event occurred which created a national uproar and presented, what was then, the Commissions biggest challenge. On 9 September 1990, the Church of Jesus Christ ChristianAryan Nations (the Church) held a Both the rally in Provost, Alberta. As a sign of decision as well as Keegstra, which their solidarity with white supremacists was released by the Supreme in America, the group assembled and Court of Canada around the same displayed a KKK White Power sign, a time, recognized that free speech Nazi flag and swastika, and conducted was not without reasonable a cross-burning event.49 Only four days limits and that human rights after the event, the Commission released protection required a complete 50 a statement condemning the event. understanding of the political and Massive media attention focused on the social reality of vulnerable minority hateful display and the Aryan Nations groups. organization. Other acts of violence surrounding the cross burning gave a frightening picture of hate in Alberta.
Aryan Nations
The hearing took nearly five months with a final decision rendered on 28 February 1992.51 The cost for the Board of Inquiry hearing reached
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In December 1990 and January 1991, several human rights complaints were filed against the Church as well as individuals involved in the Church and activities. The decision to move forward to an Inquiry was made quickly and the Minister of Labour, Elaine McCoy appointed a threemember Board of Inquiry to be chaired by Timothy J. Christian, Dean of the University of Alberta Law School.
$530,000, the most expensive and high profile Board of Inquiry ever conducted in Alberta.52 This cost, being outside of the Commissions budget, resulted in a special warrant passed by the government to cover the expenses.53 The Aryan Nations decision was significant in several respects. It was the first time the Board had interpreted provisions of the IRPA dealing with publications, signs and notices as well as the admonition to balance the importance of freedom of speech,54 wording which was linked specifically to this section of the IRPA. The Board utilized a contextual approach, recognizing the historical significance of certain displays to vulnerable minority groups as well as the atmosphere of intimidation that prevailed during the event. The Board of Inquiry held that the signs and symbols including the cross burning were an infringement of the IRPA. Further, the Board balanced the importance of free speech, through Charter principles, and concluded that the actual provisions of the IRPA did not represent an unacceptable restriction on free speech. Both the Aryan Nations decision as well as Keegstra,55 which was released by the Supreme Court of Canada around the same time, recognized that free speech was not without reasonable limits and that human rights protection required a complete understanding of the political and social reality of vulnerable minority groups.56 Another important Alberta case decided during this time frame involved gender discrimination: Alberta Hospital Association v Parcels.57 Ms. Parcels was required by her employer to pre-pay 100% of her benefits while she was away on the health related portion of maternity leave. By contrast, individuals on sick leave only had to prepay 25% of these premiums. The Court of Queens Bench, substantially upholding the Board of Inquirys decision, agreed that this requirement was discriminatory. It was a contravention of the IRPA, to force women, and not other employees who were off on health or sick leave, to pre pay the entire health related portion of their maternity leave.
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In 1992, the Federal Court of Appeal in Haig v Canada58 found sexual orientation to be an analogous ground of discrimination under section 15 of the Charter. The Commission, fortified by this decision, continued its independent push for the recognition of sexual orientation as a protected ground under human rights legislation. The Commission announced that it was going to accept complaints where individuals had been discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation.59 A public review during this time frame was conducted in which the people of Alberta were encouraged to provide input on a new vision for human rights in the province. In June 1994, the Review Panel released their report which was entitled, Equal in Dignity and Right: A Review of Human Rights in Alberta60 and provided 75 recommendations.61 The government accepted approximately 70% of the recommendations62 which included:
The Alberta Government responded to the public concerns on the Delwin Vriend Case by publishing educational postings in newspapers such as this one. The goal was to make Albertans understand the impacts that the Supreme Court decision would have on human rights legislation and education in the province.
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increased decision-making independence from government departments; streamlining the complaints process; allowing the Commission greater power to implement educational initiatives regarding human rights issues; and, strengthening and broadening the scope of protected grounds. Additionally, in response to the issue of the backlog of complaints noted in the Report, the Government stated that through extra resources, the backlog would be eliminated by the end of 1996.63 The Government also responded that more than 89% of Albertans were satisfied with the role and mandate of the Commission.64
A Renewed Human Rights Movement, 1996-2011

On 15 July 1996, changes were again made to the human rights legislation in Alberta with the passing of the Human Rights, Citizenship & Multiculturalism Act (HRCM Act).65 The additional protected grounds of family status and source of income were added as well as a particular reference to religious beliefs including native spirituality. The previously named Board of Inquiry became a human rights panel. The Multiculturalism Commission and the Womens Secretariat were dissolved and incorporated into the mandate of the new Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. Charlach Mackintosh, who had a strong background in administrative decision making, was appointed Chief Commissioner during this time frame and would provide stability and guidance to the Commission for over 14 years. Marie Riddle, who was a specialist in the field of womens rights, assumed the Directors role at the Commission until 2010. Albertas human rights story On 2 April 1998 another landmark decision arising out of Alberta was released by the Supreme Court of Canada. The highest court had overturned the Alberta Court of Appeal in Vriend v Alberta66 and confirmed sexual orientation as a protected ground under human rights legislation. As a remedy to this breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,67 the Supreme Court ordered that the protected ground be
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read into the Alberta legislation, directing the Commission to accept cases alleging discrimination on the specific ground of sexual orientation. Education continued to remain a high priority for the Commission with a focus on educating employers, employees and service providers with respect to rights and responsibilities under the legislation as well as the human rights process. The Human Rights Journal had been discontinued in 1989, and the Commission felt that it was again necessary to have a publication to inform Albertans of the legislation, the work of the Commission and current human rights issues. The Human Rights Update started in 1996, and was renamed The Citizen in 1997.68 The Commission also launched its first internet website on 10 December 1998, coinciding with International Human Rights Day and the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The website was designed to promote human rights in Alberta and to provide information and access to educational resources.69 As part of the work on the legislative and policy front, the Commission made itself available for consultation with other Ministries to encourage the incorporation of human rights into the social fabric and everyday lives of Albertans. The Alberta School Boards Association passed a resolution in 1998 that the focus on human rights should be strengthened, especially in light of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 25th anniversary of the Commission.70 The Commission was part of the review of the Blind Persons Rights Act71 as well as supporting the legal recognition of the horrors of World War II through the passing of the historic Holocaust Memorial Day and Genocide Remembrance Act.72 In 2000, the Commissions structure was challenged in the important case of Canada Safeway Limited v Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission (Canada Safeway).73 The substantive human rights complaint involved a buy out package offered to Canada Safeway employees; however, certain employees were excluded from the buyout because, due to disabilities, they had not worked the required amount of hours in the Albertas human rights story
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preceding work period to be eligible. The tribunal and appeal Courts all agreed that the buyout provision was discriminatory and held both the employer and the union, who had acceded to the provision, liable. On appeal to the Court of Queens Bench, the union, in addition to arguing the substantive issues, submitted that the legislation and administrative procedures of the Commission raised a reasonable apprehension of bias contrary to the principles of natural justice, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Bill of Rights. The Court, after a careful examination of the legislation, the administrative structure of the Commission, and the evidence put forward outlining the procedures followed in the complaint and adjudication processes, found that the Commission did have sufficient institutional independence and impartiality. The Court emphasized that because there was no evidence that the same person was involved at the different levels of the adjudicative process, and the legislative provisions provided for separation between the Director and the Chief Commissioner, no reasonable apprehension of bias existed. Another key legal challenge during this time focused on the balance between protection from racial discrimination and freedom of expression. This case arose from the 13 October 1997 edition of the Alberta Report.74 Harvey Kane, who had earlier been involved as a complainant in the Aryan Nations case, alleged that an article in this particular edition promulgated hate and indicated discrimination toward Jewish people. The three person panel assigned to hear the case referred certain questions of statutory interpretation to the Court. In this reference case, Justice Rooke of the Court of Queens Bench set out a framework to weigh the competing rights of free speech and the right to be free from discrimination. The Court emphasized a contextual approach which honoured the intent and purposes of human rights legislation but which also prioritized the importance of free speech. Also during this era, Commission counsel, led by Audrey Dean, was busy arguing numerous cases which addressed various important aspects of human rights law. In Berry v Farm Meats Canada Ltd.,75 the
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Alberta Court of Queens Bench reversed its position on the awarding of general damages.76 Justice Kent held that the legislation was to be read liberally and that the statutory authority of the human rights panel must include an award of general damages in order to attempt to place the victim of the discrimination back in the position he would have been in if the discrimination had not occurred. In Gwinner v Alberta (Human Resources and Employment)77, which involved a challenge to the awarding of pension and benefits under the Widows Pension Act, the Court fully adopted the paramountcy provisions set out in the HRCM Act, prioritizing it as against other discriminatory government legislation. The human rights panel and Courts on appeal issued other important decisions during this time frame; cases involving racial and gender discrimination,78 discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,79 accommodation of mental and physical disabilities,80 drug testing,81 and mandatory retirement82 as well as clarifying other legal and interpretative issues regarding human rights.83 Significantly, the Alberta Court of Appeal preserved the concurrent jurisdiction of the Commission with arbitration boards over human rights matters.84 Albertas first decision on systemic discrimination85 was also decided during this time.86 Donna Martyn had a disability which necessitated the use of a scooter for mobility. While taxi cabs were available to nondisabled users on a 24-hour basis, taxi cab availability for individuals with disabilities which required them to use a scooter, was severely restricted. Ms. Martyn filed a complaint against the direct service providers, the taxi cab companies as well as the City of Edmonton. The Director of the Commission and Ms. Martyn argued before the human rights panel that, in addition to the failure of the taxi cab companies to provide this service, the bylaw scheme passed by the City interfered with the provision of accessible cabs and contributed to the discrimination. The human rights panel and the Court on appeal, found merit in the case and held that the failure to provide 24-hour taxi service by the respondents, a service which was provided to non-disabled individuals, was discriminatory and not reasonable and justifiable.
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Another long standing case which has provided important human rights direction as it has wound its way through the tribunal and courts is Walsh v Mobil Oil Canada.87 Ms. Walsh filed two human rights complaints against Mobil Oil. The first complaint alleged discrimination on the basis of gender, specifically pay equity. The second complaint, after Ms. Walshs employment was terminated, alleged retaliation. The Tribunal eventually heard the substantive complaint and held that while Ms. Walsh had been discriminated against contrary to the HRCM Act on the basis of gender, the complaint of retaliation was not substantiated. The Court of Queens Bench upheld the Tribunals finding of gender discrimination but also found that Ms. Walsh had been the victim of retaliation. The Court of Appeal upheld the rulings of the Court of Queens Bench and set out the legal test for retaliation, which included the requirement to prove intent on the part of the respondent in order to establish a retaliation complaint. Interestingly, while Justice Paperny of the Alberta Court of Appeal agreed with the ultimate finding on the issue of retaliation, she disagreed with her colleagues regarding the whether intent is necessary to establish retaliation under the HRCM Act. Justice Paperny stated that intent, as a legal element, should not be required, emphasizing that proof of intent was not A recent survey has indicated that consistent with human rights analysis. the vast majority of Albertans A significant remedy was later awarded feel that the Alberta Human by the tribunal to Ms. Walsh, an award Rights Commission is important in which was substantially upheld by the ensuring that Court of Queens Bench. To date, this in the award represents the highest monetary province of Alberta and believe amount provided in Alberta to a victim that the government should of discrimination. At the time of writing, continue to fund human rights the remedy decision is the subject of an education and activities. appeal and cross appeal to the Alberta Court of Appeal.
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Another recent case, Darren Lund v. Stephen Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc.88 highlights the continued tension between human rights protection and free speech. Lund, a well known human rights advocate, filed a complaint with the Commission responding to what he considered to be hate propaganda, towards individuals who are gay, in the Red Deer Advocate. The human rights panel determined, following the analysis in the Re Kane decision, that the respondent had violated the HRCM Act. The Court of Queens Bench upheld the constitutionality of the legislation89 but quashed the decision of the human rights panel. Interestingly, the Court of Queens Bench held that any contravention of this particular section of the HRCM Act which targeted publications, must also show a link to discriminatory treatment under other sections in the HRCM Act, such as a denial of employment or services. On further appeal,90 OBrien JA, writing for the Alberta Court of Appeal, strongly disagreed with the view that section 3 can only be contravened if there was a demonstrated link to other discrimination prohibited under the Act. The Court, however, ultimately upheld the dismissal of the complaint emphasizing that the letter, read in context, did not meet the extreme standard of hatred and contempt as set out in the jurisprudence. The Court also indicated that section 3(2) was not a cautionary or balancing section as previously held, but rather a complete exemption for opinions that are properly characterized as opinions. The Alberta Court of Appeal concluded by emphasizing the need for clarity, given the important but competing protections expressed in the section.
Projecting into the Future

Albertas human rights story On 1 October 2009, the Government of Alberta again amended its human rights legislation through the proclamation of the Alberta Human Rights Act, which replaced the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Amendment Act.91 A number of procedural changes were made including codifying the protection of sexual orientation, and amending the titles associated with the Act to reflect the focus on human rights, rather
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than citizenship and multiculturalism. A new Chief Commissioner, the Honourable D. Blair Mason, Q.C., a respected jurist and lawyer, was appointed to lead the Commission. Controversially, a new clause was added to the amended legislation, directing school boards to provide notice to parents and exemptions to children where the content of the subject matter being taught dealt primarily and explicitly with religion, human sexuality or sexual orientation. The human rights framework in Alberta changed once again in 2011 with the swearing in of Albertas first female premier Honourable Alison M. Redford, Q.C., who has moved the Commission under the Ministry of Justice.
Challenges and Controversy

Although the Commission has played a crucial role in the protection of human rights in Alberta, the Commissions work has not been without controversy. Lengthy delays in the processing of the high number of complaints received each year,92 remain a troublesome issue. Criticism has also been levelled at the Commission for its perceived reluctance to involve itself publicly and forcefully in current human rights matters, including those involving systemic discrimination.93 The Commission, under its current legislative structure, does not have the authority to investigate or file complaints on its own volition. Other concerns have centred around the Commissions perceived lack of independence94 and the assistance to complainants afforded through the legislation, once the Director has found merit to a complaint. Lastly, the natural tension between freedom of speech and protection of vulnerable groups from harm has given rise to friction which has led, in extreme cases, to personal attacks on Commission staff and tribunal members. Notwithstanding these criticisms, a recent survey has indicated that the vast majority of Albertans feel that the Alberta Human Rights Commission is important in ensuring that human rights are protected in the province of Alberta and believe that the government should continue to fund human rights education and activities.95 According to recent Commission
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statistics, human rights officers in 2011 assisted employers, employees and members of the public in over 14,000 confidential inquiries.96 During 2010-11, there were over 335,000 visits to the Commissions website, approximately 2,800 people participated in Commission workshops and presentations, and about 3,000 businesses, organizations and individuals subscribed to the Commissions online newsletter. These statistics, as well as informal feedback from Albertans, confirm that the Commission continues to be a valuable service through its settlement and resolution of complaints of discrimination, its adjudication of human rights issues through the tribunal and Courts, and through its public education and community initiatives.
Conclusion
The Commissions work, grounded in its legislative mandate, and carried out through the dedication of many fine Albertans, has significantly contributed to the development of human rights policy in Alberta and to a better understanding of how equality is best achieved. Through its educational programs, complaint resolution and adjudication processes, and resulting tribunal and Court decisions arising out of these processes, the Commission has proved to be a vital institution in the promotion and protection of human rights in Alberta.
Notes
1 A special dedication of this work is to Pardeep Gundara who passed away on October 28, 2011. His tireless work for human rights will be remembered forever. We would like to thank all the members of the Alberta Human Rights Commission who were very supportive during this process especially Audrey Dean, Charlach Mackintosh, Marie Riddle, the Honourable Blair Mason, Louise Borle, Ralph Roman, Cassie Palamar, Susan Coombes, Wendy Livingstone and for his research assistance, John Sojak. Arman would also like to acknowledge Professor Gerald Gall who has been an inspiration to him throughout his academic and legal career. 2 Proclamation The Alberta Gazette, July 30, 1966
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3 Albertas Human Rights Act, enacted in 1966, followed the Ontario Human Rights Code (1962) and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act (1963). see: at 2-11 William F. Pentney, Discrimination and the Law, Volume 1 (Thomson Carswell; Looseleaf) 4 S.A. 1966, c. 39 Preamble: Whereas it is recognized in Alberta as a fundamental principle that all persons are equal in dignity and human rights without regard to race, religious beliefs, colour, ancestry or place of origin 5 Alberta Human Rights Commission Annual Report, 1973, at pp. 10-11. 6 Frances Weaselfat v Dennys Shell Service (Human Concern, Summer 1972, Vol. 4, No. 2 at pp. 4-5) 7 The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 1973 Submission 1 at page 2. 8 Human Concern, Autumn 1971, Vol. 3, No. 3 at pp. 102 9 Human Concern, Autumn 1969, Vol.1 No. 2 at pp. 1-2 10 An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act (Bill 117), S.A. 1971, c. 48 11 The Alberta Bill of Rights, Chapter 1, R.S.A. 1980 12 The Individuals Rights Protection Act, Chapter 2, R.S.A. 1980 13 Alberta Hansard, 1972. The Alberta Bill of Rights (Bill 1) was introduced to the Legislature on March 2, 1972 by Premier Peter Lougheed. The Individuals Rights Protection Act (Bill 2) was introduced on May 5, 1972 by MLA Ron Ghitter. 14 Alberta Hansard 1972 at 80-85. 15 Equal in Dignity and Rights: A Review of Human Rights in Alberta by the Alberta Human Rights Review Panel, 1994 at 34 16 Alberta Human Rights Commission 1973 Annual Report at page 5 stated total number of complaints, both formal and informal, during the 1973 year totaled 766. The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 2009-2010 at page 10 17 The Alberta Human Rights Commission Annual Report for the Period January 1, 1974 to March 31, 1975 at p. 15 18 Ibid. at pp 11-12 19 The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 1974-1975 page 23. 20 The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 1976 page 5 21 The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 1977 page 3 22 Alberta Hansard 1980 at p. 925. According to Minister Young, Bill 56 emphasizes a move towards greater enforcement ability and a more
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even balance between enforcement and the educational function of the Commission. 23 Human Rights, Were All Responsible: Guidelines on the Application of the Individuals Rights Protection Act to a Person with a Physical Characteristic in Employment, Alberta Human Rights Commission, 1984 (26 pp.) 24 The Journal was published quarterly 1982 1989. 25 Alberta Human Rights Journal, Fall 1983, Volume 2 No. 1 at pp. 1, 5. 26 The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 1983 page 3 27 [1981] 1 W.W.R. 647; 26 A.R. 523 28 [1983] A.J. No. 759 29 (1978), 23 N.R. 527 30 [1981] 1 S.C.R. 699 31 Re Cormier and Alberta Human Rights Commission et al. [1984] A.J. No. 621 32 Alberta Human Rights Journal, Volume 2, No. 3 at Page 1. 33 Ibid. at pp. 1-2 34 Ibid. at p. 2 35 21st Legislature, 1st Session Index (1986) - Womens Secretariat Act (Hon. Mr. Anderson) (Bill 20) (c.W-13.5); Alberta Advisory Council on Womens Issues Act (Hon. Mr. Anderson) (Bill 19) (cA-13.5). 36 Alberta Human Rights Commission News Release dated June 2, 1988 37 Alberta Human Rights Journal Summer 1988, Vol. 6, No. 2 at 4 38 E. (S.T.) v Bertelsen (1989) 10 C.H.R.R. D/6294 at 44780 39 Alberta Human Rights Journal, Volume 7 Number 2 (August 1989) 40 Central Alberta Dairy Pool v Alberta (Human Rights Commission) [1990] 2 S.C.R. 489 41 [1992], 2 S.C.R. 403 42 The Oakes test, as set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v Oakes, [1986] 1 S.C.R. 103, is used to determine whether a limit prescribed by law to a Charter right is reasonable and demonstrably justified. In order for a limit to be found to be reasonable and justified, it must satisfy the following criteria: 1. Sufficiently important objective: The law must pursue an objective that is sufficiently important to justify limiting a Charter right. 2. Rational connection: The law must be rationally connected to the objective. 3. Least drastic means: The law must impair the right no more than is necessary to accomplish the objective.
4. Proportionate effect: The law must not have a disproportionately severe effect on the persons to whom it applies. (see: Hogg: Constitutional Law of Canada, 5th ed. (Toronto: Looseleaf) at p. 38-18) Section 11.1 was also explored by the Court in Co-operators General Insurance Company v Alberta (Human Rights Commission) (1993), 145 A.R. 132 43 Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 493 44 Alberta Hansard 1990 at p. 1218 45 Alberta Hansard 1990 (March 21, 1990) at p. 205 46 Alberta Human Rights Journal, Fall 1984, Volume 2, No. 3 at p. 2. 47 Alberta Human Rights Commission News Release December 17, 1990. 48 The Alberta Human Rights Commission: Annual Report: For the Calendar Year 1989 49 Kinsella, Warren Web of Hate: Inside Canadas Far Right Network, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. 1994, See pages 160-201. See also Baergen, William Peter The Ku Klux Klan in Central Alberta; Parkland Color Press 2000, see pages 275-282. 50 Alberta Human Rights Commission News Release September 13, 1990 51 Kane v Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations (No. 3) (1992) 18 C.H.R.R. D/268 52 Alberta Human Rights Commission Annual Report, 1 April 1990 31 March 1992 at pp. 1-2 53 Ibid. p. 2 54 Supra. Kane at 319 55 R. v Keegstra, [1990] 3 S.C.R. 697 56 Supra Note 80 at para. 59-64. 57 [1992] A.J. No. 320, 90 D.L.R. (4th) 703, 1 Alta. L.R. (3d) 332, 129 A.R. 241 58 (1992) 9 O.R. (3d) 495 59 Alberta Human Rights Commission News Release, December 7, 1992. 60 Alberta Human Rights Review Panel Equal in dignity and rights: A Review of human rights in Alberta. 61 Ibid. Summary of Recommendations at pp. 13-20 62 The Alberta Government accepted 56 of the 75 recommendations made by the Review Panel. Those recommendations appeared in Bill 12 in 1996, which amended the Individuals Rights Protection Act. The amendments strengthened the Commission by allowing additional Commissioners to be appointed to the Commission and to allow more than one Commissioner to
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sit on a Panel, which replaced the board of inquiry. The amendments also prompted increased public and media attention regarding human rights issues such as sexual orientation, internet-related offences and pay equity: Chief Commissioners Report - Human Rights Update, April 1 June 30 1996 at p. 1 63 Gary Mar in Hansard February 14, 1996 64 Alberta Human Rights Commission 22nd Annual Report at p. 15 Environics Poll 65 Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, R.S.A. 2000 c. H-14 66 Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 493 67 Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) 1982, c. 11 68 Publication of The Citizen continued to March 2001. 69 The Citizen, Spring 1999 at page 1. Current website is: www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca 70 The Citizen, Fall 1998 at p. 1 71 Blind Persons Rights Act, R.S.A. 2000, Chapter B-3 72 Holocaust Memorial Day and Genocide Remembrance Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. H-10 73 2000ABQB 897; upheld 2003 ABCA 246 74 Kane v Alberta Report, (2002) 43 C.H.R.R. D/112 (Alta. H.R.P.)
Appendix II
75 2000 ABQB 682 76 Berryv Farm Meats Canada Ltd., [2000] A.J. No. 1179 77 2004 ABCA 210, affd. 2002 ABQB 685, revg (2001), 40 C.H.R.R. D/202 (Alta. H.R.P.) 78 Workeneh v 922591 Alberta Ltd., 2008 AHRC 4; Ayris v Volker Stevin Contracting Ltd., 2005 AHRC 11; Yee v McLean 2005 ABQB 286; Bobb v Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission ), 2004 ABQB 733 79 Anderson v Alberta Health and Wellness, 2002 AHRC 16 (Can Lii) 80 Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) and Gary Trick v Federated Co-operatives Ltd., 2005 ABQB 587; Collins v Elizabeth Metis Settlement, 2005 ABQB 225; Kuehn v Town of Granum, 2006 AHRC 2; Fitzhenry v Schemenauer, 2008 AHRC 8; Vantage Contracting v Marcil 2004 ABQB 247; Ganser v Rosewood Estates, 2002 AHRC 2 (Can Lii) 81 Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) and Chiasson v Kellogg Brown & Root (Canada) Company, 2007 ABCA 426 82 Webber v Canadian Forest Products Ltd., 2008 AHRC 7
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83 Lockerbie & Hole Industrial Inc. v Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) and Luka, 2011 ABCA 3; Alberta (Minister of Human Resources and Employment) v Weller, 2006 ABC 84 Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 583 v Calgary, 2007 ABCA 121 (Bracey); Calgary Health Region v Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) and Hurkens-Reurink, 2007 ABCA 120 85 Systemic discrimination focuses on how systems working together intentionally or inadvertently prevent individuals from being treated equally or accessing services, either in whole or in part on a protected ground (disability, gender, etc.) 86 Laidlaw Transit Ltd. v Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) 2006 ABQB 874; affd. 2005 AHRC 12 (liability); 2008 AHRC 2 (remedy) 87 2012 ABQB 527 (remedy); 2008 ABCA 268 (discrimination and retaliation) 88 Darren Lund v Stephen Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. 2008 AHRC 6 89 Boissoin v Lund [2009] A.J. No. 1345 90 Lund v. Boissoin, 2012 ABCA 300 91 R.S.A. 2000, c. H-14. The Current legislation is: Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c. A-25.5 92 http://www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca/about/statistics/statistics.asp 93 http://www.chumirethicsfoundation.ca/files/pdf/AB%20Human%20 Rights%20Legal%20Issues%20report_ACLRC.pdf. 94 Supra note 87 95 Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security 201112 Public Opinion Survey and Alberta Justice 2011-12 Public Opinion Survey Resinnova Research Inc. 96 Alberta Human Rights Commission statistical compilation through CHRIS system.
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The work on the ground:
Human Rights Commission and government staff

Jim Gurnett
Marie Riddle
One of those on the Commissions staff team about whom Mackintosh speaks so highly is Marie Riddle, who balanced twin responsibilities as the Director of the Human Rights Commission and Executive Director of the Human Rights branch of the Ministry of Culture and Community Spirit for several years. After 13 years, she moved on from the Human Rights Commission to a new senior executive position in the ministry, as part of the reorganization of the Commission after amendments to the legislation in 2009. Riddles perspective on what she is doing is broad and deeply rooted.
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We are doing our work to achieve more than the resolution of individual cases. We do want to address immediate issues and get them resolved, but there is always a commitment to teaching. This is the way to have systemic impact, even though the Commission cannot deal with systemic issues directly under its legislation. Unless you are thinking Prevention, prevention, prevention all the time you might miss opportunities to take this broader view. I hope the Commission never gets to be just a place to bring individual complaints. That would be a great loss. She is confident about the importance of the Commission. Human rights So many [are] and human rights arent an they have been affected by the work essential part of how you live in a of the Commission. One complaint community. We need to be inspired comes, say about honouring the to realize everyone can contribute rights of pregnant women, and the to making better communities and employer learns from that and things a better world. She explains that go smoothly for all women after that, staff of the Commission know from and none of them have any idea it is regular surveys that the majority because of the Commission originally. of Albertans believe human rights are generally well protected in the province, yet as individuals many have experienced discrimination themselves and they think theres work to be done. She feels the true influence of the Commission would be difficult to capture:
never even know
So many never even know they have been affected by the work of the Commission. One complaint comes, say about honouring the rights of pregnant women, and the employer learns from that and things go smoothly for all women after that, and none of them have any idea it is because of the Commission originally. Riddles career began as a home economist where she learned how individuals, families, and communities interact. From these early days
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she moved on to a position in what was then Alberta Consumer and Corporate Affairs. I started to notice that although money is a big part of running a home, women didnt seem to have much of it. This sparked my interest in womens issues more broadly, and I ended up in the Womens Secretariat. From there my interest in equality issues continued to expand so I moved on to the Multiculturalism Commission and eventually the Human Rights Commission. With pride, she says: In all these places we had wonderful public education programs Adult education tells you to start where people are, use what they know, dont decide for them. Along with Mackintosh, she believes Alberta leads Canada in community action for human rights, thanks to the role of the Education Fund. Riddle enthuses about how much has happened over the years in Alberta: There is always a sense the next state will be the Golden Age, but its good to see where society is now. Questions are being raised as people see the streets changing with new people. In 1970, people hardly knew human rights existed, but now the Commission gets thousands of calls a year. Technology permits us to be aware of the Human Rights Commission in other parts of the world too. The annual human rights lecture at the University of Alberta has brought inspirational people here. Alberta is a model in Canada with nine communities they are heroes having joined Canadian Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination. The number of municipalities participating continues to grow, reaching 11 by early 2011. The stars leading some of this work are inspiring, but creating a human rights society is happening all around us and we have no idea how many in Alberta are doing simple little local things, setting examples. Alberta is a great place to live, inclusive and welcoming.
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Riddle draws a distinction about the formal issues of human rights where the Commission is active: In actual complaints, disability is the most common matter. But from our annual survey, matters of race, culture, and religion come up a lot. This is happening on the street or in social settings, not in formal settings like employment, so you cant make a formal complaint but it hurts your life. Canada is an imagined country I love that image. We are not like the old European countries where everyone has a common long background. And we need to figure out how to deal with racism to succeed. Without proactive steps well see more discrimination. We must put money into community groups that know what needs to be done so they are able to do it. A pause, and then another thought. Gender as a human rights issue still mystifies me. Some days I look at a complaint that has just come in and think, Not another pregnancy complaint whats wrong with these people.... not another sexual harassment complaint how can that be, after all these years? it boggles the mind we should know better. Riddles life stays close to human rights most of the time, although she does like to get to the mountains and hike with friends: This work is my hobby. The older I get the more I look at work as life, not just a job. Im not a crazy advocate, but these matters are hugely interesting. If you dont love what you are doing, you should be doing something else. Albertas human rights story
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Audrey Dean
Audrey Dean is one of the team involved with the Human Rights Commission about whom Riddle is so positive. Her professional life began in social work, then she entered law perhaps not a surprising choice with a grandfather and father both having been judges and has been at the Commission for 16 years, enjoying both preparing briefs and the court experiences. In addition to her pleasure at being in a courtroom, Dean also seeks opportunities to speak about human rights to the public and legal community colleagues, and has a strong commitment to promoting the place of mediation in human rights. She feels the more formal route of a board of inquiry or a panel is becoming time-consuming. In cases where there is a strong public interest in a case this model is very important. When there is a court decision on a human rights issue it says something to the world about human rights legislation being paramount in our society. Dean reminisces with detailed exactness about the wide variety of cases she has handled over the years. Her memories focus on what cases meant in practical ways to those involved. She tells of one woman who brought a case of her child with disabilities being denied funding for services by a school. The Minister of Education applied to the court to prohibit a panel from being held. The application was denied and the ministry finally settled. The child got the funding and the schooling, she says with satisfaction. In another case, two young women were required by an employer to submit to drug and alcohol testing that the Commission deemed unnecessary for their jobs, and the women were awarded financial compensation. Another case involved three women who brought complaints of sexual harassment against a professional. One of them was able to get a stove and fridge for her home as a result of the payment she received, she remembers.
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The sense of how much human rights deeply matter to Dean is evident when she talks of unsuccessful cases too: There was a 40-year-old man who lost his job and ended up living with his mother, but welfare would not provide a housing allowance so he could pay her rent. The mother really needed the money and not being able to be paid for having the son living with her led to family tensions. But we were turned down to take this case to the Supreme Court. This is an antiquated idea that a parent must support a child for life. If he had lived anywhere else he would have received an allowance. It was unreasonable to take this position and I felt badly at how it went. I am careful to be professional at all times, but I can really feel for some of the people involved in these cases. Where else could a person work in law and really work with people as you can in human rights? Dean asks. I get discouraged by the odd decision but I see a lot of improvement. Even the respondents in many cases are interested and respectful and want to learn from the situations.
Education and community development

Government involvement with human rights in Alberta has not only paid attention to providing mechanisms to address complaints about violations of human rights through mediation and legal procedures. Perhaps more than anywhere else in Canada, support for education in relation to human rights has been part of the work of ministries with responsibility Education is the for human rights, multiculturalism, and womens issues over the years. Blair Mason affirms that because education is far and away the most important what you understand you aspect of the Commission. He remembers this dont fear. becoming clear to him shortly after he began his term and was speaking at Calgarys City Hall
greatest form of prevention
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about the Canadian Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination, that the Commission has promoted: It opened my eyes to the scope of the Commissions work and Ive been on a voyage of discovery since. The education process needs to be reinvigorated for every generation because most people deal with differences on the basis of I dont know what it is, dont understand it, therefore I fear it, and the reaction is to strike against, rather than learn, understand, and benefit from the incredible mixture of culture and religion and approaches to life we have across the globe. When you take time to realize the struggles of the Jewish nation or black people you shake your head that were still dealing with the same issues in slightly different garb. Education is the greatest form of prevention because what you understand you dont fear. Every time youre able to establish teamwork with different cultures and you begin to realize the uniformity of human nature regardless of our race, creed, ... and the richness of that diversity, you begin to appreciate how strong a society could be if all of that was integrated. Fil Fraser, concurs, but adds: With education you have to deliver the whole loaf, not just pick a few slices. And no $50 words either.
Cassie Palamar
Albertas human rights story Education can support systemic change when it is done well, Cassie Palamar insists. As Director of Education and Community Services at the Human Rights and Citizenship branch of Albertas Culture and Community Spirit ministry at the time of the interview, she has no doubt
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education means working within a community development framework. Thats our operating principle, she states: We start from where a group is, understand [their] needs, and then understand how the Commission can help meet those needs Weve had a reconceptualization over the years of the work of everyone in the Commission. If you speak to anyone now they will say were all involved in education, all understand what the Commission needs to be doing is building awareness and understanding so people can have timely and accurate information to move a situation forward. As a child, Palamar remembers listening to her immigrant grandparents tell stories of poverty and struggle in a new country, but her path to work in human rights came via the heritage side of government involvement in culture, working with museums and historic sites, from where she was seconded to the Human Rights Commission at the time of ONeills review in the mid-1990s. I realized how important this work was and felt it was personally and professionally meaningful. It is challenging, satisfying, deeply moving work; work where you feel you can make a difference in fundamental ways. Palamar likes the mix of attention to human rights that the Alberta government has supported. Within our staff there is capacity to focus on the law and to move beyond it to look at creating more of a human rights culture and we have a fabulous team to do this. She describes the importance of leaving matters that involve legal aspects of human rights to those at the Commission whose work this is. But our part is to be an interface with the community to make sure what the Commission is generating in its legal work is useful and meets needs out there. Those who work in the Commission and the departments related human rights services are consistently modest, and Palamar maintains
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that position. Its not about me, its about the work and the work that remains to be done, she insists, saying she is a small actor on a stage where decision makers and community social justice advocates are pivotal. But she is enthusiastic recounting the work she and her colleagues have accomplished. The Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination initiative is one of the developments that satisfies her. She remembers UNESCO introducing the concept and her team finding both interest and need for this kind of programming in Alberta and then becoming the champions of it here. She saw it fitting within their mandate because: Its about recognizing discrimination and racism happen in concrete ways where people live and work and play, so the question is how can the Commission have a more meaningful outreach? As municipalities began to sign declarations of support for the Coalition, Palamar and others realized it would be important to build internal capacity to do the work of making communities stronger to fight racism. This led to finding a program in Los Angeles that could be adapted, and working with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association to create the Welcoming and Inclusive Communities training that is now underway: This is an example of community change work that is longterm. We systematized the work already being done by many committed people and provided a framework to be engaged. This makes it more possible for those who say We do have discrimination and racism in our community to work with others to do something about it. Its work that will need to continue for decades, but we have moved a significant way in a few years. Now the ownership is shifting from the department to the municipalities. Albertas unique situation in Canada of having the Human Rights, Education and Multiculturalism Fund, in Palamars mind, is key to how much has been able to happen in community development here:
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We have been a leader in being able to develop programs and materials that have been taken as models of best practice. Our workshop program, both those for the general public and those customized, sits on a research base of going out to over 500 organizations asking about their perspectives and issues. Through that weve developed curriculum, and are now presenting about 100 workshops a year to 3000 people. Then too, we were one of the first to launch a website that is cited as one of the best, most comprehensive, user-friendly, with nearly 400 000 visits last year. Palamar is also proud of their publications. She says they do not create materials to encourage people to look for racism: The Commission has a function to provide equal opportunity. If people do run into issues they need to know there is support for them. Our publications are not about encouraging people to make complaints. Its no different than any other service that government provides you want to tell people about health services, employment standards. Its just a matter of getting information out so people understand they do have rights and responsibilities. As Palamar looks at the context of her work today she observes: Even though human rights protection has been in the legislation for a very long time we are still getting many complaints on the basis of gender and disability and on race, religion, colour and ancestry. She also notes other research tells them there are significant issues not within the mandate of the Human Rights Commission: People are experiencing exclusion, racism, and harassment on the street, person to person. They cant come to the Commission and have a resolution. This points to a need to continue to work on community-based strategies and long-term strategies to build better awareness among all Albertans. When someone experiences discrimination if affects all of us.
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Away from her work, Palamar likes activities that give her different History tells us how many different perspectives of her place in the world and ways we can how the world works. She enjoys travel . Theres no one objective and Calgarys rich arts opportunities. truth, there are a multiplicity of She is an avid reader and doesnt let views and they all have validity. her interview end without taking a If we lose that view, and believe moment to encourage reading Margaret theres only one perspective, Macmillans The Uses and Abuses of we can get into all kinds of History. Palamar has a graduate degree entrenchments that are not going in history and points out: History to be helpful in moving forward. tells us how many different ways we can interpret the world. Theres no one objective truth, there are a multiplicity of views and they all have validity. If we lose that view, and believe theres only one perspective, we can get into all kinds of entrenchments that are not going to be helpful in moving forward. Palamar expresses in her work commitments her certainty that we move things forward best when we work together.
world
interpret the
Nicholas Ameyaw
Nicholas Ameyaw, a long time public servant in human rights education with the province, is passionate about his perspective: Human rights has to do with respect treating others as youd like to be treated. Human rights are designed to be for everyone, not only those with disabilities, or different skin colour, or women. I am always thinking how we can present human rights education so average people who dont consider themselves [as having] minority-type issues can see theres something for them. Talking about respectful and inclusive workplaces is a way to do this. We get people looking at the culture of their organization. If the culture allows people to slight others and put them down,
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then some people will do that. If the culture of the organization is one of treating one another with fairness, then you wont be a perfect environment perhaps, but most people will try to live by that. Ameyaw says the value of this approach was brought home to him at the end of a workshop one day when a woman came to thank him for the presentation and told of her husband working for a company for ten years and then being fired after an injury meant he could not keep doing the same job. We didnt do anything then because we didnt know where we could go, she told Ameyaw. That was a powerful comment. Sad, but joyful, telling me we are reaching people and that makes a difference, he affirms.
You cant go into workplaces with unattractive brochures that make it seem the government is pushing them to do something.
Education needs a professional approach that centres
on the message of equity, not details about the Human Rights Commission. We have developed good curriculum and now reach
Ameyaw sees much to do. There is still an attitude of more than 3700 people a year in workshops. many that human rights are What we have to offer is so good we have just issues for certain minority found employers will pay us, even though groups. He notes some people other government agencies warned us that only think of human rights in would never happen. terms of a few high-profile cases that are presented in the media, but says the great majority of human rights cases in the workplace are matters of physical or mental disability, often relatively small things that could easily escape notice if an awareness of equity is not created in the whole population.
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Ameyaw is proud of the work of Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund in developing effective In the Constitution you have the English and French, materials: You cant go into workplaces with the Aboriginal Peoples, unattractive brochures that make it seem the government is pushing them to do something. and the fourth quadrant is the multicultural. Everyone Education needs a professional approach should be able to look at that centres on the message of equity, not details about the Human Rights Commission. the Constitution and . We have developed good curriculum and now reach more than 3700 people a year in workshops. What we have to offer is so good we have found employers will pay us, even though other government agencies warned us that would never happen.
they belong
find
Most requests for workshops now are initiated by employers, not through government marketing. The Fund, able to make small grants, takes an approach Ameyaw values: When a group has an idea we meet and discuss it, [then we] help them develop it into a form that can be supported. We try to be a mentor. Ill start by telling them not to even think about the money, but [to] focus on developing their idea well, and [once thats done] only then [to consider] what resources are needed to accomplish it. At the end of a funded activity, Ameyaw says what matters is if the group is stronger, not simply whether they spent the money properly. Albertas human rights story His deep commitment to human rights is clear as he says: Officially, we are doing a job, employed by government. But I think its a calling, a passion. I have devoted myself to serving as a minister in a church and also have a background in journalism and community development. All these come together in what I am doing in human rights. I believe in the hand of God active in our lives.
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Those who work in human rights in the Alberta government are always looking at emerging issues. Ameyaw says: The elephant in the room is that we are a country of immigrants. Now we are addressing our labour force pressures with temporary workers, but not preparing rural communities where many of these people are going. If people complain when they wake up one day and notice the make-up of the community has changed others say they are prejudiced. But its not about that people just dont want drastic change and if it is coming then people need to know and understand what it means. Not to address these things is to put both sides in an unfair situation. He feels issues related to increasing cultural diversity in Alberta are laying low: No one wants to say the M word multiculturalism we are told it is divisive. I say if thats the case maybe we have failed to explain. We shouldnt shy away from discussing these ideas. They are key to our identity. In the Constitution you have the English and French, the Aboriginal Peoples, and the fourth quadrant is the multicultural. Everyone should be able to look at the Constitution and find they belong. He points out that many years ago Alberta was pioneering practical applications of multiculturalism that have now become established, such as heritage language schools. He thinks it was unfortunate the Multiculturalism Commission was dismantled. B.C. came along as we were running away from this work and took our good work and used it well. It makes me sad. We could have positioned this province so we wouldnt be sitting here today talking about divided communities. But Ameyaw is confident good work has been done in the years since the consolidation of government funding and programming, despite levels of funding never having recovered to the time when there were independent government commitments to human rights, multiculturalism, and women:
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We moved from the song and dance and festivals multiculturalism to working with It is to the average person at the institutions to change. The Grey kitchen table, and at the end of the Nuns Hospital in Edmonton designing how to be a community day it is important to find language to turn people around, not to health care facility was a good antagonize them. example of this. Penny McKee at Edmonton Public Libraries came knocking at our door to talk about how to reach into communities, because for many newcomers libraries were for elites, and asked us to train her staff. There were people ready to stone her for this. I offered to come and talk to the staff about this idea. She thought that might make them more angry this black guy shows up to tell them what they should do. But I went and told them its not about Vietnamese and Ukrainians, little separate groups. Its about reaching out and realizing a day might come when they would need to justify funding by showing who they served. At that some of the strongest resistance became enthusiastic. Sometimes it may take a generation to see the effects of our work. But we still need to do it.
hard to sell racism
Ameyaw is enthusiastic about the education side of human rights: People do things because it is in sync with their value system. Our own children, even at three or four years of age, have a sense of fairness. Education can work with this so a day will come when no one needs to make a complaint although without the enforcement piece theres no accountability, so we do need that side too. As an educator, Ameyaw knows the language people use is important: Im not high on the language of racism and anti-racism for example. It encourages us to think of two opposing sides.
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More appropriate language is in the Welcoming Communities approach. Its hard to sell racism to the average person at the kitchen table, and at the end of the day it is important to find language to turn people around, not to antagonize them.
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Human Rights Cases:
Meeting some participants

Jim Gurnett
Darren Lund
Darren Lund was in his last week teaching in Red Deer before moving to Calgary when he picked up the local paper and saw the headline Homo Agenda Wicked. He read a letter to the editor from Stephen Boissoin beneath the headline filled with strongly negative comments about homosexuals. The letter launched Lund into a case that has dragged out for a decade. The letter, by a local pastor, was completely hateful. My heart sunk as I read it. Two weeks later, on Canada Day, a youth in the community was assaulted for being gay, his teeth were knocked out and his jaw broken. The youth told a reporter he did not feel safe because of the letter. That was a catalyst
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for Lund: I decided if I had been called a human rights leader and got awards it would be appropriate to stand up to this. Lund had been drawn into human rights in his first year of teaching in Red Deer when a class of non-academic students studied poetry using songs on the radio and started talking with him about racism: I didnt start teaching with a strong sense of social justice. I was raised thinking racist and homophobic jokes were funny. I had a lot of unlearning to do. This was just after the issues with the Aryan Nations being in the news, so the students said Lets form a group called STAAND Students and Teachers Against Aryan Nations Disciples. It was a teachers dream theyd go and research in the library, and I let them skip classes to go out and speak in the community. The story of this group, that settled on the name STOP (Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice), became known across Canada. I was lauded as the leader but really I was following their lead. The superintendent said it sounded dangerous and if it blew up in my face he knew nothing about it. Instead of being high-risk, the group and their ambitious projects remain successful, after more than 15 years of activity. Lund was the recipient of the first Human Rights Award from the Alberta Human Rights Commission, but that has not stopped him being critical of it when he feels it is necessary. They have hard working staff, but I ask why they arent doing the job they could be in a province that really needs them. What they need to answer is: Why are we relevant? He is pleased there are times when the Commission does a good job, describing some students who came to him to talk about their jobs at a local restaurant. Five young women had quit in a short time and others were ready to do the same. They told him about a boss doing inappropriate
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sexist and sexual things and how powerless they felt. Lund made a call to the Commission for them, and after investigation their issue was resolved quickly.
am privileged;
a straight White male. Yet the attacks on me have been
He believed his own complaint about the ruthless. Standing up for a letter to the editor in the Red Deer paper vulnerable group shouldnt would move in the same efficient way. That cost so much, shouldnt take did not happen and he feels shoddy work by so many attacks, an investigator at a key point began a process that became increasingly protracted. He is also critical that he eventually had to take full responsibility for costs, as the stages moved forward. Lund says he was lucky to have a good and flexible job and caring supportive family and friends, but still found it difficult get the necessary resources. He believes there are important barriers that arise in some cases for people being able to get full and fair investigation and resolution of human rights complaints because of the costs involved. At a personal level, the process has been even more difficult for him: Im privileged; a straight White male. Yet the attacks on me have been ruthless. Standing up for a vulnerable group shouldnt cost so much, shouldnt take so many attacks, real nasty stuff like pornographic flyers with my picture circulated around the city, and even a death threat. Its left me with a cynical view of how poorly human rights are enforced in this province. Hatred is still alive and well. What has happened with me sends a bad message. If you stand up for a marginalized group youll be an enemy of Christianity, enemy of Canada, enemy of marriage, enemy of free speech. Ive been called elitist, a pervert and sodomist, for standing up for people being attacked by bullies. Albertas human rights story
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Religious freedom to harm gay people is a
peculiar distortion of Scripture. How far does your
Christian love go? is the real test, and a lot fail that test. If you dont think someone is deserving of Gods love or your respect, its easy to hurt them. Some want to hate and dehumanize certain human beings, say they are not worthy of life, let alone eternal life. Its a peculiar view of life, masked as Christianity.
Lund feels it is a weakness that the Human Rights Commission does not defend its own rulings if they are appealed to a next level of the judicial system. In his case the initial ruling was in favour of his complaint but it was then appealed by Boissoin. It was incomprehensible that it was left to me personally once it was appealed to take any further action. Why wouldnt the Commission support the ruling of one of their members?
As an educator, Lund believes the official approach to human rights education is weak: There are some cute postcards, but it seems theres not a great investment in education. Human rights arent special rights for special groups the way critics would have you think. Its about creating a level playing field for all of us, and I dont think it takes a complex education strategy to communicate that. But there is a pressing need. Lund says a key component of a good education strategy would be ensuring the voices of extremist views are clearly refuted with facts. He is critical of the minister who oversaw the Commission at the time of writing. Lindsay Blackett doesnt understand human rights at all. He said my case had no merit, was not a rights case. Were not around to legislate hurt feelings was his comment. Well, the issue wasnt my feelings. Someone had committed an act against the human rights code. Lund sees Bill 44, the amendments to legislation that took effect in 2010 to permit parents to withdraw their children from school classes where topics such as sexual orientation are being studied, as evidence of a desire to placate the extreme
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right of politics. Its nonsensical, theres no basis in any legal practice for such a measure. And its unenforceable. The action of EGALE Canada (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) also troubles Lund: They issued a statement against my case. For them the free speech card trumped all. Gay lawyers in Toronto were deciding gay teens in Red Deer could just suffer it out, tough luck. They were supporting this hateful pastors free speech over the dignity of these kids. I guess that comment proves Im not part of the gay-lesbian machine, as some have accused me! Lund has mixed views about religion. He grew up in a strict Christian church, but he doesnt see the message of Christ in attacks on gays and lesbians by some Christians: Religious freedom to harm gay people is a peculiar distortion of Scripture. How far does your Christian love go? is the real test, and a lot fail that test. If you dont think someone is deserving of Gods love or your respect, its easy to hurt them. Some want to hate and dehumanize certain human beings, say they are not worthy of life, let alone eternal life. Its a peculiar view of life, masked as Christianity. But he also appreciates having had many invitations to speak in churches wanting to be supportive on sexual orientation rights issues. Despite the challenges and frustrations Lund feels about his own on-going case, he has a positive view of the future. He left Red Deer to pursue further studies at the University of Calgary, where he is a professor today. In a cluttered closet of an office in the Education Building he says: I found lots of young people interested in human rights. I felt I could have a bigger impact here, helping teachers become more tuned in to the need to respect all students, so they would not have to learn it accidentally as I did. And Ive had a lot of
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satisfaction working with grad students who are passionate about these things. I have a pretty existential approach to life, making meaning out of every day. I try to model citizenship, being engaged politically, not [being] a passive consumer. If we stop caring about each other, we are in trouble. But its easier for me. I have a sweet life great kids, a good loving spouse, friends who are ordinary people who live good lives and attend to the needs of others. There are still some areas in our society that need a lot of attention. Most people dont understand about gay-lesbianbisexual-transgender issues, so it is important not to ignore this area of human rights. There are still some people who are proudly hateful of these people. I see this issue as a test of our ability to honour humanity in everyone. He says he was never more scared than when he took part in a Gay for a Day event at the university that had him walking around holding hands with another man. This is legal in every way. We could even be married, yet you risk your life. If I had that much fear on a university campus, imagine people on ordinary city streets. Still, his determination to carry his part in the work for human rights returns as he immediately adds: one of the highlights for me was the honour in 2008 to be the grand marshal in the Calgary Gay Pride Parade. Looking back he summarizes: I didnt come into this human rights stuff hitting the ground running. I didnt even know the questions to ask. I still dont nearly have it all figured out. But we try to be better, thats what we can do.
Ezra Levant
Ezra Levant, whose most recent book makes the case for Alberta being a source of ethical oil, in contrast to most oil-producing parts of the world, has been a critic of both Lund and the Human Rights
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Commission. His criticisms of the Commission have been strong enough that gentlemanly former Chief Commissioner Charlach Mackintosh admits, I grind my teeth listening to Ezra Levant. In an earlier book, Shakedown, Levant told the story of his personal involvement with the Commission. Crowding time to talk about human rights into a busy book tour for Ethical Oil, he rushes into a popular breakfast spot on the 7th Avenue Mall in Calgary as it opens its doors at 7 AM on an October morning and shares his views with enthusiasm, barely pausing for sips of coffee as he shares his thoughts for an hour. He is blunt in expressing his view that some people use the language of human rights to simply deny others the right to offend them: Stopping people from saying things is not a right. Its an exercise of government authority. The Human Rights Commission has become so perverted it is what George Orwell talked about censoring in the name of freedom. Counterfeit rights have been created to kill real rights. Freedom of speech, religion, and conscience are the building blocks of human rights that give meaning to the rest of our rights. Freedom of speech has been called a strategic freedom, so to kill this right, human rights commissions have created a fake right not to be offended, and that fake right trumps the real one. Levant says the proper perspective is that there is a right to not listen to what offends, but not a right to censor. If you dare challenge this abusive authoritarian exercise of power you are called a hater. He says it was shocking to be charged with hate speech for publishing controversial cartoons from Denmark depicting the prophet Mohammed in his magazine Western Standard. I wasnt even publishing an opinion. I was just Albertas human rights story
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publishing the news. They were trying to de-legitimize me by charging me, but in fact what they were doing was against our Charter of Rights. What I was doing was secular humanist citizenship. What they were doing was religious fatwah. Levant believes situations such as his experience with the Alberta Human Rights Commission develop because human rights commissions are not a good idea in the first place: They undermine the rule of law that has certain basic elements of natural justice. There are at least 20 differences between the procedures of a human rights commission and those of a real court. For example if you sue on a spurious vendetta in a law court and you lose which you will you have to pay costs, but not so in a human rights commission. Or in a criminal context when the state prosecutes you, if you cant afford a lawyer the state will give you one, but not so in human rights commissions. If you are accused of murder or being a drug kingpin, the police cant enter your place of work without a search warrant, but they can under the human rights code and they can seize anything. That would be unacceptable if you were merely a murderer. The complaint against Levant over the cartoons was active with the Human Rights Commission for more than two years. He says the experience of that time provoked him to write Shakedown. The book is the personal story of a publisher who got a letter from some anti-Semitic imam. I laughed it off. I thought surely theres no basis in western jurisprudence to censor a magazine for publishing cartoons, the Human Rights Commission will throw this out. He believes one reason they pursued the issue was they needed to generate more work for themselves because complaints were declining. He sees a similar desire to provoke more concern with human rights behind an Alberta government publication used with new immigrants in adult English classes a few years ago. Instead of serious citizenship building skills like how to open a bank account or apply for a job, they
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were teaching people how to file a human rights complaint, teaching new Albertans that this is a hateful discriminating place. Levant likens the activities of the Human Rights Commission today to the actions of the provincial government that, in 1938, led to the Alberta Press Act Reference to the Supreme Court over the Accurate News and Information Act. Alberta earned a black eye at that time when it gave government power over the media, power to require newspapers to run official government rebuttals to stories it didnt like. Its grotesque whats happening now, a conservative government that doesnt give a damn about conservative values like freedom. He believes politicians need to show leadership and impose limits on human rights commissions that are too powerful, and says he is supportive of politicians of any stripe willing to undertake this kind of reform: Human rights commissions are creatures of statute. Even if they were meticulously fair in their procedures I do not support them having the right to tell me what I can or cannot do. Lindsay Blackett has called the Human Rights Commission a kangaroo court, but when he raised this in caucus the premier shot him down. Levants perspective is that there were two reasons for creating human rights commissions: to address discrimination in employment and in accommodations. We have far better ways to address these matters now: legislation thats faster and more user-friendly. If you are an Aboriginal kicked out of an apartment and youll get your hearing two years from now, what use is that? Albertas human rights story The expansion of human rights to include a wider range of matters troubles him: It should be against the law to do a criminal deed because of your feelings. I shouldnt be able to punch someone in the nose because Im full of hate. But lots of people hate things Liberals or Conservatives or 9-11 bombers or George Bush hate can motivate us to do very positive things, to counter something bad
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with good, to fix a problem. To criminalize hate is anti-human. You cant tell people to turn off feelings. If you could, wed just pass the Love Each Other Act and be done with it. Levant says human rights commissions are particularly unfair to certain people. They typically beat up on lower class Whites who cant get on talk radio and dont know cabinet ministers, [and] cant even afford lawyers. I saw the bullies on the human rights commissions shooting fish in the barrel. They are a multimillion dollar empire paying hunter-killers to investigate and attack. This perspective has given Levant a determination to do what he can to work for change on behalf of these he feels have been mistreated by commissions: As a journalist and lawyer Im going to use my abilities so that these other poor schmucks dont get ground under. I dont have sympathy with the views of many of these who are racists. I think they are odious, but even odious people in our society should be treated with standards of the law. He decided a key strategy would be to not let the Alberta Human Rights Commission act like the righteous party in the case against him: They are the bullies who make a handsome living picking on people for their political agenda. They get to call themselves human rights activists when they dont give a damn about human rights. I was a law-abiding journalist and not going to grovel and live down to their expectations. Challenging authorities has been a consistent approach in Levants life. He recalls being brought before a Committee for Equality and Respect at the University of Albertas Faculty of Law in his first month as a student there because he had criticized the facultys racial quota policy. He says he was threatened then with a defamation suit and expulsion. Yet Levant is
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enthusiastic about the value of the law. Law school is about the way we resolve problems, how we order society. Its not just a trade school, but about fighting for things, using the best system humanity has devised not weapons, but the law of ordered liberty, he asserts. His concern is when those committed to the law misunderstand or misuse it. He recalls a class when they were told by a professor: Hate speech laws have all the benefits of the law without the burden of proof or all the procedural checks and balances. He goes on to state: Those very things I thought were flaws, he was calling advantages. He was thinking more about how to get the enemies than how to strengthen the legal system. So within ten years the laws they all wanted to get Jim Keegstra or Terry Long were used to get me, a Jew. When you destroy freedom of speech for your opponent, you destroy it for yourself. In his current promotion of the concept of ethical oil, Levant continues to use creative approaches to get attention for an issue. Generally labeled a strong conservative, he says: I decided to write from a liberal viewpoint. I took the criteria of how to measure the ethics of the production of oil environmentalism, peace, justice, and respect for minorities legitimate progressive values. If you make them the yardstick, then Alberta is a more ethical oil producer than any other country. The books confusing to some because I dont make conservative arguments, [and] dont dispute global warming. He says most environmentalists are well-meaning but he is scathing about some of the environmental community: I have to drive today. Its not a morally serious alternative to talk about 40 years from now well have solar or wind. But todays Greenpeace is not the Greenpeace of 25 years ago, [theyre] not brave guys sailing out in a little boat to stop the U.S. Navy. Now its a $200 million-a-year corporation interested in fund-raising. Theyve never had a news release about Saudi Arabia or Iran.
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Levant insists freedom depends on the continual vigilance of citizens: Free speech is always being eroded; some are gnawing away at it. Freedom typically fades away theres not a quick lights-out. Theres a battle between freedom and busy-bodies. They start out harmless enough, but when they get the power of the state they are dangerous.
Donna Martyn
People who persist with cases where human rights are only achieved through tough determined work are heroes to many. One of those often mentioned as an exemplary model of such difficult work is Donna Martyn. Martyn pushed for a decade to achieve equitable taxi service for people with disabilities. She filed a first complaint in 1998 against 14 companies in Edmonton, and then in 2002, on the advice of the Human Rights Commission, continued with a case involving only two companies. She had served on Edmontons Advisory Board on Services to People with Disabilities in the mid-1990s and when she would bring up the issue of taxi service her colleagues said it was impossible to do anything about the issue. This made her determined to try: At the Advisory Board we said the basic needs for people with disabilities included housing, employment, recreation, education, and transportation but most important in my view is transportation. Without transportation you cant get to your house and you cant get out of your house once you are there. All the other issues of jobs and recreation and education are ruled out for you without transportation. I was fought tooth and nail over this issue; the City fought; the taxi companies fought; the Province escaped by saying it was the
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Citys issue. Over the years efforts were made to shut me up and bribe me and serve me with cease and desist orders, but I wasnt stopping. She remembers talking with Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair and saying she was frustrated with all the pressures on her to give up. Dont they know I wont give up until I die? I asked him. He said They dont know yet, but I do. I just wore them down. I knew this was the only way for there to be a future. Sitting in her west Edmonton home on a spring evening with her Siamese cat Koko pressing for attention as she talks, Martyn says: No one else was doing anything so I took it on. Unless someone steps up to the plate, things will never take place. I had the time and money and energy to put in so many other people with disabilities do not. Everyone was saying Yes, we need accessible taxis but no one was forcing action on it. There was a massive disconnect of people mouthing words but nothing changing. Martyn estimates her personal financial costs for the case were $60 000. She credits other advocates for the rights of people with disabilities for the encouragement to carry on, singling out in particular Gary McPherson, who served for 10 years as the chair of the Premiers Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, and Larry Pempeit at Canadian Paraplegic Association. McPherson told her early on that the Premiers Council had looked at the taxi issue many times and he was convinced the only way to ever make progress was for it to be made a legal challenge, as she was doing.
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Without transportation
you cant get to your house and you cant get out of your house once you are there. All the other issues of jobs and recreation and without transportation.

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education are ruled out for you
Her voice is restrained but her strong feelings are clear as she describes how people with disabilities looked at the issue: In conversations amongst ourselves we were saying Whats wrong with these people? Dont they get it? It was crystal clear to us there was a need for access to transportation. Whether for a job, a medical appointment, a hairdresser, or to meet friends for lunch, time is finite. There seemed to be an attitude [that assumed] disabled people have nothing to do but wait, and if you arrive three hours late, or stay and wait three hours after for transportation, well, thats just the way it is, youre disabled, youre not doing anything important. Martyns determined struggle for accessible taxi service is consistent with her whole approach to life, learning from each experience and being prepared to take action. As a young person she became aware of a developing neurological condition causing her to lose fine motor skills. Starting university at age 17, she saw a doctor who told her she would be in a wheelchair by 19 and dead by 31. Im now 64, she says, a twinkle in her eye, but that message freed me. I didnt care what anyone ever thought about anything after that. I felt totally free to speak my mind there was nothing to lose. She takes joy in new challenges. Over the years, she has personally designed and supervised extensive renovations to her home, down to the smallest details, so it will support her independence to live the life she wants. That earned her a Mayors Award for Universal Design in Architecture. The first modifications began when her late husband needed changes so he could have dialysis at home. She has gone on from there: moving walls, changing heights, and lighting, and types of doors, as she could afford.
There seemed to be an attitude [that assumed]
disabled people have

nothing to do but wait, and
if you arrive three hours late, or stay and wait three hours after for transportation, well, thats just the way it is, youre disabled, youre not doing anything important.
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She sees herself in a pioneer Alberta tradition. The UFA government of the 1920s offered a mortgage to families if someone would become a teacher or nurse and work in rural Alberta for a minimum of four years, so her grandfather chose her mother to do this and that enabled her mother to buy a farm for her brother and educate her sisters. For Martyn, a special part of that pioneer Alberta spirit was community. Since World War II it has been completely different. With the oil boom came a move to individualism and we lost a lot. She muses whether the recent economic collapse might lead to some rediscovery of these old values. We dont need expensive things. What matters is the people around you. There is strength and stability in these relationships.
Sadly there are still people who blame [others] for things like poverty that are not
major human rights issue

their fault. Thats a today poverty. And we see immigrants, people who are different, coming here and people are afraid and become aggressive trying to get rid of them. We need more people who will stand up and say This is wrong.
But living with a disability was not an easy experience for her: My mother was from a religious family where many thought that disability was visited on families as punishment for moral wrongdoing. When I was younger she didnt want me to use a walker. But as she grew older it was nice to see that attitude change. When she needed to be in a wheelchair later in her life, I was able to share lots of tricks with her and information about helpful services so she could have a better life. I never told her how she made me feel when I was young but I did explain to her there is nothing wrong with disability; its just another way of living. She once said You must hate me. Dont you think your disability is my fault? Imagine shes been carrying that guilt all those years. How terrible to be brought up to think like this. Albertas human rights story
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Sadly there are still people who blame [others] for things like poverty that are not their fault. Thats a major human rights issue today poverty. And we see immigrants, people who are different, coming here and people are afraid and become aggressive trying to get rid of them. We need more people who will stand up and say This is wrong. Martyn has expressed her commitment to fairness by being politically active over the years with the NDP. She sees her political affiliation linked to her disability. My disability was not diagnosed until university. That was before medicare, and the cost of a doctor would have been a difficulty for my family, so I never told them there was anything wrong. Then along came Tommy Douglas in Saskatchewan and the doctor strike.... Years later in Edmonton she became politically active herself. Each campaign where I have been involved has been a vital part of my life. When my husband died, never having run as a candidate himself, I decided I would have to do it, and I have fond memories of each time I have run. She also values connections with one of Albertas best known NDP activists, Grant Notley, from her youth. Grants mother was my Grade Eight Social Studies teacher and his grandparents lived five houses from us in Olds. I remember my older brother coming home from school the year Grant was in the same class as him. My brother had been the brain in class up to then, but after that it was always a fight between the two of them! Albertas human rights story Martyn describes her values simply: We all owe it to each other to be the best we can be and accomplish something for our fellow man. Her e-mails close with Margaret Meads statement: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. It doesnt matter if what we do is small or large. If we are making thoughtful decisions on the basis of what is for the common good, then
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were doing the right thing. It doesnt matter what religion or gender or sexual orientation or if were from China or Korea or Mexico were all in this together, she affirms.
Denise Seeley
Not all human rights cases in Alberta are within the jurisdiction of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Denise Seeley began working for Canadian National Railway (CN) in 1991 and after a long and difficult chronology finally took her human rights case to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2005. Seeleys case involves the rights of families with children. She had begun working out of Jasper as a conductor and part of a category of CN staff that were treated differently than previous staff under the collective agreement. As such, and for several years, she had very limited work, only when called. In 1999 she and her spouse, fellow conductor Dale Byers, had their first child. In 2002 CN told her she could move to Edmonton or Vancouver to work full time, or could quit. She did not want to do either, so continued to seek the right to work in Jasper, requesting accommodation for being a mother. A second child was born in 2003 while she was continuing to seek work based in Jasper. She remained determined to work at the job she loved, without having to create major family disruption by relocating and dividing the family. I felt like they were yanking my career away, and I was just told to quit complaining. At one point she became discouraged enough to prepare to quit and she enrolled in a nursing program in nearby Hinton, but the dream of the railroad work gripped her, so she returned to fighting her case after the birth of her second daughter. In 2005, CN called and said there would finally be work in Jasper, but within days, before she had been able to
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arrange childcare, the company called back to say instead she would have to go Vancouver. With Dale working full time and a one year old baby! she exclaims. Byers says the situation was unfair. From 1999 to 2003 these girls [there were other women also seeking to keep working out of Jasper] took work the guys didnt want and without benefits. Many had young children and couldnt travel to work in other communities. CN would give no indication of how long youd be at a place. Youd barely get to one place then be sent somewhere else. The company saw people as just part of the machinery. Over time most of the women, especially those who were single parents, had to give up and move on to other things, but thanks to having a spouse with a good job, Seeley could continue to try to get the treatment she saw as fair. Sharing their story over coffee before heading to the arena for daughter Lexis ringette game on an autumn Saturday afternoon, Byers and Seeley weave their words in and out of each others, finishing each others sentences and adding detail to each others comments, a demonstration of how they have worked in a deeply integrated way over the years. They know, in detail, the multitudes of dates and meetings and messages from each chapter of the long, complicated, almost-terrifying, struggle to deal with a huge bureaucracy that was methodically applying technical rules with no recognition of the human beings involved. The unfairness of it raises their ire: At one point an arbitrator who ruled against the right of these women to special consideration because of their children supported a man in Manitoba who needed accommodation because of a company he had, Byers says, as an example. CN never gave any real face-to-face attention to us. Even letters from them never directly responded to my specific questions. When we discussed some of the letters we received the children would be crying, Seeley recalls. The emotional cost of the years of struggle was made more difficult because
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much of the railroad worker community in Jasper wanted her to drop the case. She was accused of being a union basher. The couple depended on each other, as well as a few friends and family, to keep their spirits up. We kept going because this situation has a bigger relevance. No one is safe if they could do this to me. Its fundamental that your kids are important, and some compassion was deserved, she insists. I am still in touch with some of the other women, and there is lots of hurt for those who couldnt stick it out. Children should matter but what chance does a little family have when a big corporation can drag something like this out so many years? Wanting justice was a strong motivation for Seeley: I decided it would bother me the rest of my life if I didnt act on this. So Ive done my best and, win or lose, I will be able to rest. I gave it my full. Thats what we told our children when you decide to pick a battle make sure its something you believe in. I feel like I have been on the front line, fighting for the rights of children. Seeley gets energy to keep going from her familys life on a farm in the hamlet of Brule, just outside Jasper National Park, where they are all keen horse riders. She finds encouragement reading biographies of others who have persisted in difficult fights, mentioning Erin Brockovich as a favourite example. She has an old shirt from a Tom Petty concert she wears when her spirits are low, to carry its message I wont back down close to her. These things, and the desire to again spend a days work experiencing the feeling of travelling down the tracks with no one looking over your shoulder, are resources she draws on as her fight continues. Despite a ruling in the autumn of 2010 by the Canadian Human Rights Commission saying CN had been reckless in ignoring the companys discrimination policy in relation to Seeley and two other women, late in the year CN asked the Federal Court to review the decision, so she still cant move on. In another recent development CN is claiming a medical situation they have never raised before is evidence of her being epileptic, and therefore not able to work as a road conductor ever. I worked for CN
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for years following the 1994 episode they are now bringing up, passing all their medicals, with no issues being raised. Now they say I should have been labeled an epileptic then. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, Seeley observes.
Community leadership and activism

Lewis Cardinal
Lewis Cardinal is co-chair of the Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice, and a leader with the Edmonton Urban Aboriginal Accord and the landmark Edmonton Declaration. He had a pivotal role with the Common Ground process that now has Alberta Urban Municipalities Association working with Native Friendship Centres. He is a recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Public Service. He finds time to serve on several community boards, while still heading his own small communications business. Cardinal uses the phrase Its only fair often when he talks about human rights and says he looks forward to Albertans having boisterous conversations about human rights. He believes the murmur and shout of democracy is helpful to us finding the thread of human rights again. As the economy has boomed we forgot about human rights somewhat. But that very economic development is raising issues. We bring temporary foreign workers who are exploited for example, forgetting human rights mean everyone has protection and opportunity. His view is that Indigenous Peoples have many positive contributions to make, and that for their communities, achieving human rights is not only a matter of ensuring they are not denied their rights, but of discovering how
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much their full participation can enrich the lives of everyone else. The very name Canada derives from an indigenous word kanata, a sacred place. This sets out a way to look at ourselves. We each come as we are and share in a relationship beneficial to everyone. We may never fully get to that point, but like the North Star we are guided by it. Its all about relationships.
The very name
Canada
derives from an indigenous word
kanata, a sacred place.

This sets out a way to look at ourselves. We each come as we are and share in a relationship beneficial to everyone. We may never fully get to that point, but
Cardinal identifies Alberta as a source of like the North Star we are guided leadership in the indigenous movement by it. Its all about relationships. since the 1940s. When it was illegal for Indigenous People to meet in a group larger than 12 people, there were meetings in Edmonton, with the help of the United Church, at Bissell Centre, since church was the one exception to the meeting limits. My grandfather took part. They took their ideas on to Ottawa. In 1970, Lewis Cardinals uncle, Harold Cardinal, had a major role in writing the Red Paper, a response to the federal governments 1969 White Paper, that Harold Cardinal called a thinly disguised programme of extermination through assimilation. Years later, his nephew affirms: When Aboriginal rights were finally entrenched in the Constitution in 1982, the years of brave indigenous leaders from Alberta working on these matters had made a major contribution. His sense of justice developed early. In Grade Two, a classmate from an under-priviledged family did not have an eraser so would lick his finger and used it to rub out mistakes in his work. He made a mess of a worksheet and the teacher made him stand in the corner as punishment. I was angry and made my father drive me to the boys house that evening to take him an eraser. The same week another learning opportunity arose when his brother Lorne had his left hand tied behind his back by the teacher until it swelled up, there being a view at the time that children had to be taught not to write with the left hand. Cardinal became determined from such experiences never to tolerate people mistreating others. These
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This photo records the most pivotal time in Indigenous political history in the 20th century. In June 1970, the IAA chiefs, Elders and Leaders presented the response to Prime Minister Trudeau and then Indian Affairs Minister Jean Chrtiens white paper on eradicating treaty rights and reserves in Canada. The response was generally known as the red paper, however, formally known as Citizens Plus. It was here that the Red Paper led the way for the entrenchment of Aboriginal Rights into the Constitution in 1982 and established the unique relationship between the government of Canada and Aboriginal Peoples.
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photo credit: Freida Gladue
views were reinforced by grandparents Agnes and Frank Cardinal telling him: If you are successful, you turn and help others, because some cant achieve things on their own and you have a responsibility to them. Indigenous ways of understanding the world invite new thinking about human rights. Cardinal suggests: Collective rights is an emerging issue. Why not perhaps revamp the Universal Declaration? Its an exciting breath-taking idea. We spend a lot of time on individualism in North America, but the indigenous world view seeks a balance of the individual and the collective. Its not one over the other. We might not have the answers about how that would look, but the dialogue would be interesting. And there is a spiritual sense to this too, a deeper element. We are spirits connected to the broader cosmos. The environment is part of this too. Western European concepts of humans tended to see us as animals; vicious. But when I see you as both a spiritual and a physical being I give the benefit We spend a lot of time on of the doubt. The sign of peace in North used by Indigenous Peoples America, but the indigenous is the open hand. Unless you world view seeks a balance of the demonstrate otherwise, I accept individual and the collective. Its not you in a positive way. The treaties one over the other. were understood in this way by Indigenous Peoples, as covenants between nations to share. Kanata is the village, a place of positive relationships.
individualism
Cardinals pleasure in talking about such a vision of a shared future is tempered as he agrees current realities are more troubled. There is still lots of daily humiliation for Aboriginal people that is not reported at all violent racist acts. The lack of human rights for Indigenous Peoples correlates with suicide, homelessness, and ill health. In Alberta, 4.5 percent
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daily humiliation for Aboriginal

There is still lots of people that is not reported at all violent racist acts. The lack of human rights for Indigenous Peoples correlates with suicide, homelessness, and ill health.
of the population is indigenous but we account for 40 percent of those incarcerated and 73 percent of the child welfare cases. The police in particular have been frustrating in not being responsive to efforts to work together. The reconciliation that will change this is not in little pockets of communications such as Heritage Days, but in more involvement with each other day by day.
It concerns Cardinal that the value of human rights is misunderstood: Theres a good economic case for human rights. But we are guided by who we elect; they set the tone. Thats why I have identified politically with the NDP. Its values are similar to indigenous ones: ensuring others benefit from my prosperity; each person deserves a place to be nurtured and grow; we must walk sacredly with Mother Earth, not digging holes because we can but thinking several generations down the road. Important thinkers from Benjamin Franklin to Karl Marx were all influenced by these ideas. When we hold the view we are sitting in a great circle of life, one of the invited guests, it humbles us not to make a mess and ruin things. We need to behave like this individually, but we also need public policy to make this the standard for society. Albertas human rights story Cardinal talks about human rights and Indigenous Peoples with energy and urgency, but is realistic. It took seven generations to get to the mess we have now. It may take seven more to get out of it.
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Tom Engel
Tom Engel is a University of Alberta Faculty of Law graduate, often in the news taking on issues related to police behaviour. He used the money he made as a young man working on Arctic oil rigs to pay for his law education and remembers meeting Sheldon Chumir at that time and being impressed by this Calgary lawyer who had left the financially lucrative life as Dome Petroleums top tax lawyer to become a civil liberties activist. Engel says he has been outspoken on concerns about how police activities may challenge our social commitment to human rights because the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects human rights, and every time the police do something bad or illegal in relation to a citizen it violates their human rights. Its the end of a long day in court when he makes time to talk. His desk, and most of the available space in all the rest of his modest downtown Edmonton office, is piled high with files needing his attention, but his passion to discuss rights energizes his voice and his eyes. An experience involving Chumir began to form his understanding of the potential of the media in exposing issues, an understanding he still uses effectively today. He sat in one day to listen when Jim Keegstra was on trial in Edmonton over charges of teaching anti-semitism in his classroom. Afterwards, he mentioned to Chumir I do a lot of work on behalf of that one of his classmates, Stephen who have experienced Stiles, who had since become the human rights violations and all the redMember of the Legislative Assembly tape, bureaucratic hurdles for someone for Olds-Didsbury, used to talk about to get over to make a complaint are the Holocaust being a Hollywood frustrating. I always think in terms of plot when they were students. a person with no lawyer who has their Chumir suggested Engel alert rights violated. Quite often those who others. Engel called the provincial get their rights violated are the most Liberals and NDP and says he was vulnerable and most ill-equipped to stunned they had no interest in advance their rights, so they just give his information. Im completely up, its not worth it. disillusioned about political parties
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standing up for human rights theyre gutless, Engel says. He then called the Edmonton Journal and had agreed to go on the record in an interview when Stiles confirmed his views directly. Once it blew up, the Opposition was keen to make something out of it, Engel notes. His experiences have left him disappointed in the Alberta Human Rights Commission too: They are toothless as is the Ombudsman. I do a lot of work on behalf of prisoners who have experienced human rights violations and all the red-tape, bureaucratic hurdles for someone to get over to make a complaint are frustrating. I always think in terms of a person with no lawyer who has their rights violated. Quite often those who get their rights violated are the most vulnerable and most ill-equipped to advance their rights, so they just give up, its not worth it. Do [Human Rights Commission staff] have any concept of what its like to be a prisoner? Prisoners are afraid to make complaints through the chain of command because theres retribution. Are they trying to reduce their workload by creating these hurdles that weed out many from ever having their complaints known? We need the lowest common denominator approach to being able to make a complaint. You can tell a frivolous complaint without all these forms. Why do things have to be in writing at all? Lots of people cant write and fill out forms. The Commission must make it easier to make a complaint. Thats its first duty to their customers, to be welcoming. Engel feels his work to improve conditions at the Edmonton Remand Centre is his major human rights achievement. I started in 2000 with a two page notice complaining about how the so-called Asian gang guys were treated, and over the nearly ten years that followed we got basic things like the amount of food increased, so prisoners werent starving. It was shocking the way prisoners were being treated. However he goes on to observe: We got a major decision in favour of prisoners but the government just keeps doing what they were doing before and thumbs its nose at the case.
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He values the advice he received as he began his career from an older Both levels of government now are lawyer who told him he would not be and have an a real lawyer until hed lost 100 cases emphasis on punishment. It will that were sure winners. I might get get worse. And who will suffer? momentarily pissed off sometimes, Predominantly Aboriginals, mentally but you just keep going the next day. ill people, sick people, poor people. In most cases when there has been an abuse of rights, judges are happy to see Human rights will be violated severely and theres not much me. His commitment to the value of sympathy for these people. Just the legal system in relation to human imagine a politician standing up and rights is strong. The most effective saying Weve got to do something way to protect human rights is the to help prisoners. blunt instrument of the law. You cant talk to [those who dont care about human rights] or reason with them. Youre wasting your time. Youve got to have people charged.
mean-spirited
Engel says prisoner rights are the coming challenge for human rights work: Both levels of government now are mean-spirited and have an emphasis on punishment. It will get worse. And who will suffer? Predominantly Aboriginals, mentally ill people, sick people, poor people. Human rights will be violated severely and theres not much sympathy for these people. Just imagine a politician standing up and saying Weve got to do something to help prisoners. Albertas human rights story This disappoints him, because he believes when mistreatment of prisoners is acceptable it is a warning of a larger problem in society. He quotes Dostoevsky: The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. Englel reflects that If Edmontonians went to the Remand Centre and opened the doors theyd be shocked. Engel explains his frequent use of the media to draw attention to issues by saying:
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You have to shine the light on issues so the public sees, or nothings going to change. Why should there be more hesitation about the police when they behave badly? We are quick to speak out about racism, but many people feel with criminals they just get what they deserve. I have heard shocking things said when police are charged with wrong behaviour If only the officer had been a better shot and got him in the head.... Police have status and if you attack them its like Are you a communist or something? Engel affirms, I appreciate as much as anyone that the police serve an essential function. The majority are good officers and want to do the right thing. He is confident many police appreciate his work: I get anonymous letters from police asking the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association to take up issues because they are afraid to. We did a Freedom of Information request and found a significant percentage of officers complaining Edmonton Police Services was not doing enough to discipline officers. Off-duty police will stop me shopping at the farmers market on the weekend and tell me Keep doing what you are doing. What does society say about what to do with people who commit crimes? Stop them and punish them. So when its cops, what do you do? Keep quiet? Logic dictates you have to act, or it will get worse. When something happens to your dad or your son, then youll be in my office. Albertas human rights story Despite being publicly criticized sometimes for his forceful work around rights for people involved with the police, prisons, and courts, Engel has no intention of changing. You just have to do the right thing, and damn the consequences, he asserts. I keep banging my head against the wall of these issues and one day either my head will go through or Ill have permanent brain damage. I have no respect for those who worry about the consequences more than doing the right thing.
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Engel admits he has become a workaholic about these issues but he keeps time to be involved with amateur sports and also notes, People are surprised to find I have a sense of humour. Still, his drive to act on his beliefs persists even in his volunteer work. When president of the Alberta Lacrosse Association, he recounts how he opposed it moving to a more competitive structure The kids wouldnt have as much fun and made that his platform when seeking re-election. I went down in flames, but it was about something I believed in.
Gerald Gall
Gerald Gall was teaching classes at the University of Albertas Faculty of Law when Ezra Levant and Tom Engel were students, and continued to be part of the faculty until his passing in 2011, a great loss to human rights in Alberta. He was fervent in describing the importance of the law in society. Everyone is subject to the law, he insists. But he also spoke forcefully to the importance of education. For Gall, education means equipping people with objective information and encouraging them to be supportive of the measures necessary to ensure a fair, just, and egalitarian society: In our classrooms, teachers shouldnt have to take forceful viewpoints. We have to trust that when faced with the facts people will act well, realizing what is not good for themselves or others. In the classroom I like to be a fence-sitter, to objectively present an issue, set out the terrain to support informed decisions, rather than emotional stands or gut reactions. However, Gall values promulgating the Canadian values of the Constitution: Its up to educators to let students know these are part of the Canadian fabric, what it means to be Canadian. And these values are the base of a human rights society. We should all be
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In our classrooms, teachers shouldnt have to take
forceful viewpoints.
We have to trust that when faced with the facts people will act well, realizing what is not good for themselves or others.
proud of them, telling the world that in Canada we respect the dignity of all persons. There are not many countries that can say this. We should be loud and clear saying the formula for a good society and happy lives resides in these things: freedom of religion and conscience, right to assemble, to be mobile, to seek jobs and residence as you wish, to vote, aboriginal rights, multicultural, and linguistic rights.
Matters that may be dry and dull to many people provoked a passion in Galls voice as he stated each right, pausing to savour it a moment before moving on to the next, seeming to draw strength just from the recitation. The importance of education arises from his view of people: The vast majority care about their fellow humans but may not be aware of the needs or sensitized to the sufferings of others [and to] their vulnerabilities. Gall admitted there are some people who do not behave in such a positive way: They have a mindset that has learned to hate, to look down on others. Maybe its low self-esteem. They have a fear of the unknown or difference. Its a mystery to me how this happens. He was also disappointed that at times it has been politically expedient or fashionable for leaders to speak out against some rights. But his comments quickly return to things about which he is positive: Albertas human rights story We hear talk about Alberta red-necks, but most Albertans do not reject these human rights values. When there was talk about using the Constitutions notwithstanding clause to avoid making fair settlements to those who had been unwillingly sterilized under the old Sexual Sterilization Act, within 24 hours people had made clear to government that this was unacceptable. And we have Edmonton, the first city in Canada to aspire to be designated a
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Human Rights City. Alberta had the first legislation to create an Ombudsman in the Western Hemisphere, way back in 1967. And we spend more money on human rights education than any other province. Gall did not believe positive things have happened by chance. He credits many people who have been active with the Alberta Human Rights Commission over the years for deliberate work to promote human rights: For every Keegstra or Zundel1 we defeat, another will emerge. We must stand on guard. There have been horrendous things afflicted on one group by another. We need information so we can see our progress on the journey to a better society.
We should be
clear
loud and
saying the formula for
a good society and happy lives resides in these things: freedom of religion and conscience, right to assemble, to be mobile, to seek jobs and residence as you wish, to vote, aboriginal rights, multicultural, and linguistic rights.
One event that still pleases him as a model of human rights education is the conference hosted in Edmonton in 1998 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: It was remarkable. We accomplished what many thought would be impossible. Here in Edmonton we had the biggest event in the world to mark the anniversary. At the banquet we had 1500 people in attendance, and there were another 1500 who wanted to be there. It provided a time to take stock of where wed been and talk about where we had to go. He says the University of Albertas annual lecture on human rights, part of the legacy of that conference, means that years after the glow of the event is dissipated there is still good coming from it. And he credits an informal meeting at the conference between then-Premier Ralph Klein and Archbishop Desmond Tutu as leading to Alberta finally making a formal agreement to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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In a model of practicing what he preaches, Gall has provided leadership in the creation and activity of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, a not-for-profit community organization which strives to build spaces for critical conversations on human rights for all ages. Successful programming includes a range of respected education programs such as the Youth Action Project and the Human Rights Facilitator training, as part of the Human Rights City Edmonton Initiative. Simple core beliefs have been the foundation for his choices to dedicate so much of his life and energy to human rights. He said he had no epiphany: I was not hit by lightning. I just grew into it. Dignity and equality and justice are important. We need to be civil and respectful with each other. And generous. We need to applaud and encourage the good in society. He admitted such talk may make him sound like a frustrated politician But Im apolitical! When he saw failings around him in relation to human rights he said he did not get angry but did feel upset and disappointed sometimes: I cant disguise that these things matter to me and its not my nature to quit.
Janet Keeping
Janet Keeping is another Alberta lawyer, a University of Calgary graduate, who pays close attention to human rights issues as part of her work as president of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership. She hopes for renewed interest in talking about human rights: I sense a complacency with many an attitude that the problems are figured out, its done. People think things were bad back in the day but its all solved now. She agrees there has been progress but says, Its so not true that success has been achieved. Keeping wonders if part of the challenge of maintaining a public interest in human rights is that
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many people think it involves complex technical matters about institutional structures and legal actions, and does not seem relevant to daily life: Its true the structures around protecting people can be arcane and complicated and efforts are needed to simplify them, as well as to keep up the work to make sure people know what their rights are. But theres nothing technical about being discriminated against. Human rights commissions deal with real meat and potato issues, about whether an Aboriginal family gets to rent an apartment or a woman loses a job because she is pregnant or a person with an accent does not get a job. Keeping feels, like others who have been involved with human rights over the years in Alberta, that there have been significant accomplishments. What has happened with gay rights is profound. American gay couples are coming to Calgary to get married and theres no hostility. Im not a Pollyanna about it, and there are still many things to worry about, but there has been real progress. She credits a lively interplay of public opinion and legislative activity for bringing about change: Awful as some of the gay marriage debate was, public opinion both made the debate and was changed by the debate. Those who engaged in the debate grew and changed with it. Many would never have guessed ten years ago theyd Human rights commissions have the views they have now. deal with real Humanitys ability to grow out of issues, about whether some of its blunders and blocks is an Aboriginal family gets to rent encouraging.
potato
meat and
an apartment or a woman loses
Keeping offers a personal story of growing into new awareness over time from her experience as a teen, when her mother shared about having wanted to go to law school, and she replied, Well,
a job because she is pregnant or a person with an accent does not get a job.
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why didnt you? In later years, she realized that in Quebec at the time her mother could not have. The first woman was not called to the bar in Quebec until 1944. Now my daughter is starting law at McGill University in Montreal, and the majority of her class is female. It is good when we understand we are not harmed in the process of things getting better for others. It will be a better world when more can fulfil their dreams. Keeping does not believe there should be tensions between those who are advocates for civil liberties and those who identify with human rights: With civil liberties, people begin from the position you are entitled to protection from unwarranted intrusion in your life. A person can be obnoxious and aggressive, but still not infringe on your own freedom of speech. Some allege they have a right not to be frightened or intimidated, but if you think about the need for open debate, its not possible that I have a right not to be offended. One of the best ways to guarantee people are bitter and resentful, and perhaps even develop hateful views, is if they dont get to express their views. Those who think its perfectly OK to have laws to protect you from being offended come up against that. Then Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett seems to share some of this perspective when he says: If you go through the day and read a newspaper and are not offended by something, thats rare. Keeping does insist however that there is an important distinction between a view of civil liberties as making sure there is adequate room for diverse individuals to live their lives according to their conscience and without interference (except if I want to hit you, she qualifies) and going further to demand a small government that has no involvement with anything: Freedom of speech is essential to liberty, but that doesnt mean government shouldnt provide low-cost housing, she offers as an example. She feels her perspectives today have roots in her early life:
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My mothers family came to Canada from Glasgow and had a Scottish view of equality: that its wrong for there to be great differences between people, with some thinking they are grander or more important or worthwhile because they have money. And then too, Im a child of the 60s and lived in the USA during the Vietnam War and the massive protests there. Its important to be able to say whats on our minds if were going to live together. She identifies meeting Sheldon Chumir as another key experience in her life: Starting Unless human rights are more law school I was worried about losing my at moral focus. He was creating the Calgary the political level, staff working Civil Liberties Association and I found it in human rights will not feel provided something to keep that focus. She later worked with Chumir to create the empowered to speak up as they should, addressing emerging Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre. issues in the community. A thirst for justice has been the theme of my life less inequality, more fairness. You cant be a good person yourself if others are suffering or their dignity is wounded, she observes.
strongly endorsed
In addition to legal activity to uphold human rights, Keeping says: The importance of the education and advocacy is ginormous and should be even bigger. People dont know their rights and the remedies available. But I am wary of the tendency to say the solution for education is just to beef up the school curriculum. Schools have more on their plates than they can deal with, and it is often not until people are out in the workplace and real life starts to bite that these things matter, so thats where much more needs to be happening. Having done a significant amount of work in Russia has influenced Keepings thinking about human rights. Over a decade as Director of Russia Programs for the Canadian Institute of Resources Law at the University of
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Calgary she spent time there often, and offers the comparison that even in Russias largest cities if a person is in a wheelchair it would mean probably never again being able to leave their apartment. Nonetheless she was disappointed in the provincial government under Premier Stelmach: Unless human rights are more strongly endorsed at the political level, staff working in human rights will not feel empowered to speak up as they should, addressing emerging issues in the community. She regrets that often a teachable moment that reaches the news is not used effectively by the Human Rights Commission quickly setting up meetings or getting media attention. Keeping has sometimes been creative in challenging the Alberta Human Rights Commission. In the early 1980s, to support her efforts to get the Commission to have power to initiate cases and not only wait for complaints she devised a plan: I pretended to be opening a shoe store and called six employment agencies. I said our store would be high end and we didnt want them to send us any people of colour to interview for staff. One agency refused us; one said it was against the law to do that, but they sent applicants anyway; and four agreed to my request. So we put out a press release to point out no one would ever know about such behaviour unless the Commission could initiate cases. She received hate calls she describes as ugly, even threatening, but still smiles and says she is glad to have done it to demonstrate the issue. Unfortunately the legislation still has not changed, she observes. The human rights issue she sees as most serious now in Alberta is poverty: Albertas human rights story Our human rights laws dont address this. What about the right to a decent income, to live in dignity? The majority of us are doing OK so its a hard sell to consider those who are poorly off, but the rich-poor gap is the biggest issue we face. If you dont have the resources to get before the courts what chance do you have? Even if poorer people know their rights, what is the cost to protect them? The human rights commission system is not fast or cheap.
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She recalls news coverage of a mayoral candidate in the Calgary municipal election campaign in 2010 who was unable to participate in a meeting because the location was not wheelchair-accessible: Theres no question a person in public life should be able to get into a hall to speak, but would there be the same concern about a homeless guy that couldnt get into a place for a meal?
Sol Rolinger
Sol Rolinger has a busy life as a senior partner of the Duncan and Craig law firm, but also has immense energy and enthusiasm for his community. It is evident as he talks in a conference room at the top of Scotia Place in downtown Edmonton, with the citys suburbs, industrial activity, and river valley visible in every direction from the windows. His involvement with an inter-faith initiative in Edmonton illustrates how building a human rights-respecting society can be aided by concerned individuals noticing opportunities and acting. He describes a Jewish concept of tikkun olam, which he translates as healing the world or leaving the world a better place than you found it, as central to his approach to life: We are here a brief time and have to make a difference. At the end of the day the accomplishments and wealth of those who are all about themselves are meaningless. Id rather walk in bare threads with my head held high than be driving in a Rolls Royce with black windows because I dont want to be seen. If anything, those with more attributes should give more back. One project that has engaged him the past several years has been the creation of the Phoenix Multi-faith Society for Harmony, a not-for-profit organization supporting good relations between the three Abrahamic faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: I thought: If here in this
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new world we cant respect and understand and support each other, then God help us. We need to be a beacon of light. His immediate motivation to open dialogue with Muslims was the firebombing of a synagogue in Edmonton. He was the president of another synagogue, Beth Shalom, at the time and met with Larry Shaben, a leader in the Muslim community, and they began to talk about how to encourage good relations between their faiths. When the events of September 11, 2001 occurred the next year, concerned about possible backlash against Muslims, he called Shaben to say: We in the Jewish community will stand with you. Rolinger believes this quick affirmative action can be credited with there being no problems in Edmonton in the following months, when there were ugly incidents in many other communities: But this approach could not be left to individuals. We needed a way to keep it alive. I pulled in the Chief of Police as our official sponsor and we took our time to craft a mission and vision. The Christians joined us and the creation of an organization provided the chance to influence decision makers. Rolinger believes sharing individual stories is especially important in building respect for human rights. He is proud of the Phoenix Society project to publish the book Our Stories, a collection of personal narratives from a variety of people in the three faiths for use in schools. He sees efforts like those of the Phoenix Society as having practical benefit for the community: We need to bring the best of the best here. Theres a mission for all of us to ensure that everyone can contribute in their own way. Albertas human rights story Rolingers commitment to his community is expressed in many ways beyond the development of the Phoenix Society. To mark the 100th anniversary of his law firm, he had a key role in the creation of the Laurel Awards, given annually to not-for-profit organizations in the community to recognize activities that demonstrate innovation and creativity. He feels it is particularly important that the awards recognize whole organizations, rather than singling out individuals.
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His current energies are focused significantly on the River Valley Alliance, a major effort to have all the municipalities along the North Saskatchewan River for a distance from west of Edmonton, downstream to well east of the city achieve the goal to preserve, protect and enhance the river valley, to create one of the largest river valley parks in the world, and to create a legacy for generations to come. Over the past years, even when busy with other commitments, he has continued to seek every opportunity to promote the idea of a large vision for how the valley could be designed as a park that would be exciting for a wide range of uses, protecting its environment but also creating diverse possibilities for activities: The river valley is our icon, our Stanley Park. Its for the future. We needed to get broad public attention and support, and plan to integrate people and the wild environment in appropriate ways. Then we needed to go out and get funds. The provincial and federal governments have made commitments, $50 million from the province and $30 million from the federal government, with Mr. Rolingers enthusiastic advocacy with senior politicians playing a significant part in securing these funds. Whether telling a story in rich detail about the early years of his law firm over a century ago when partners Conservative William Short and Liberal Charles Cross would sometimes settle disputes between themselves by duking it out (Theres blood on some of the old books from that time....) or describing some of the outstanding projects by community organizations that have been honoured with Laurel Awards in the past 16 years, Rolingers words express an energy and love of his community that makes it hard not to be drawn into caring about the things about which he cares. Central in all those issues is the belief in respect for each person to be able to live and contribute to the community as fully as possible.
Leo Piquette
Politicians have a close identity with human rights in Alberta, primarily in relation to legislation and debate in the Legislature on such matters as the budget of the Human Rights Commission or government decisions related to key human rights issues. There is a notable case however where the
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Legislative Assembly of Alberta was itself the site of an important human rights issue being raised. On 7 April 1987, Leo Piquette, the NDP Opposition MLA for Athabasca-Lac La Biche, was prevented from asking a question in French. Speaker David Carter ruled English was the only language allowed in the house. Piquette disagreed, saying Section 110 of the Northwest We to realize Territories Act was in effect in the dream of 1867. Alberta and permitted the use of French. The following year the Supreme Court ruled Piquette was correct, but also ruled provinces could modify these continuing rights. Alberta did this by permitting French to be used in the Legislature as long as a translation was provided in advance:
are still fighting
We are still fighting to realize the dream of 1867. Canada was created to be a partnership of two peoples but quickly the anglophone majority sidelined that to Quebec only. Very often rebels have to make a cause of some sort to raise an issue. Politically I paid the price for doing that, but personally that brief time in the spotlight helped energize people for this unfinished story. Piquette says the ability to keep working on this story was helped significantly by Pierre Trudeau: He is another Father of Confederation for enshrining bilingual and multicultural rights. Now we can challenge government on these matters. Our country was changed by his action. Now all people can feel they have protection under the law, its not a political football as in other countries. As one of the pioneers of French immersion in schools in the 1970s, Piquette is enthusiastic about bilingualism:
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Two languages make you more open to the world. Bilingualism fits with the global economy. You dont have to abandon your language anymore in Alberta. This makes the world more interesting and people more innovative. The idea of everyone needing to keep to one language or culture leads to wars and bigotry. Jesus message was that we are all created in the image of God, all equal before the Creator. The battle for human rights for all is a tremendous victory for common sense. Taking time out to talk about his experiences on an autumn Saturday The battle for afternoon, Piquette is in Edmonton is a tremendous victory to pick up a recreation vehicle he has for common sense. just purchased and is looking forward to putting to use in the months ahead to escape some of Albertas winter by driving south for a while. His memories and thoughts move rapidly amongst overlapping anecdotes, and roll out with articulate passion. Now retired, he is appreciating having time to take things a little easier. His more relaxed lifestyle has been planned with the same attention to detail he has exercised throughout his life. After leaving politics in 1989, he got into the insurance business: I started at the kitchen table on the farm and built it until I became a millionaire. But he was careful to provide opportunity for his daughters to work with him, and they have now taken over the business.
for all
human rights
His thoughtful planning approach began much earlier. He explains: Albertas human rights story I chose to leave the city in 1982. I wanted my kids to have the chance to go back on the land, so I bought a beautiful quarter section from my father. I thought it would always be good to be able to go home from all the stresses and strains and ride the tractor, [and] connect back with nature. In my retirement I am doing this.
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Im trying to use this time to get to know myself more, to learn to be happy doing nothing, to prepare for the next part of life the fragility of ageing. Im reconnecting with my siblings three of my brothers live within a mile and trying to write our family history. And Im connecting spiritually. Id like to lead a whole second life with what Ive learned from this one. Ive learned from my experiences that life is not fair but its an adventure. Ive had fun, had disappointments, some sacrifices, but if you have made a little difference, thats what counts. Its OK to do things out of self-interest, but healthy self-interest involves your community, your country.... Your kids need a secure environment to make choices, so we must be in a continual struggle to assert the rights of the marginalized. I wanted my kids to live in a better country. His commitment to the next generation, however, does not mean he decides what their lives should be: Every generation develops its own culture. All you can do it teach people how to learn, allow them choices. I chose to fight on francophone rights issues. My children wont necessarily follow what I did. Leo Piquettes passion on the issue of language rights began early in his life. From 19 years of age I decided Section 110 meant Alberta was a bilingual province. My grandfather came to Alberta from Quebec to organize the business community. He fought the Alberta government in 1907 when it demanded the minutes of meetings of the Town of St. Albert had to be in English, even thought the whole council was francophone. That grandfather put me on his knee when I was a child and told me stories of his fights for language rights. He told me, If you get involved, try not to lose. Then I went on to finish high school at College St. Jean and the Oblates taught me there are people with a moral authority to lead in a right direction on behalf of the community, and I envisioned this as I started out in life.
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When Grant Notley, the NDP leader, asked me to run for politics I said I would want to raise the rights of francophones and he said that would be great. I had talked to Liberal leader Nick Taylor about running previously, but he didnt express much interest in me pursuing this issue. I saw how the Ukrainians had made connections with the Lougheed government and yet the Mtis and francophones were forgotten peoples, shut out since 1905 and marginalized. His approach to politics was uncompromising: I didnt play the typical game of kissing asses. Id learned in my studies the great changes come when someone stands up against authorities. The NDP stood up for ideas no one else would. When you challenge people, ideas spread. The trouble is political leaders want to play it safe. Piquette was not re-elected in 1989, but believes his work both in the Legislature and out has made a positive difference, in such ways as the expansion of francophone schools across Alberta. When he was involved trying to start the first francophone school in Plamondon, 4 000 people signed a petition opposing it and he had only 12 parents supporting him as they put out their own money to buy land and get the school going. Today, 95 percent of francophone children in Alberta attend francophone schools. Even before seeking elected office, Piquette had been pursuing language rights issues for years. As a young school teacher he started a local newspaper in Plamondon and published his case for the rights of francophones, based on his analysis of Section 110, although his superintendent told him to stay away from controversial issues. The experience strengthened his understanding of the importance of stories, and over the next years he had a regular column in the Lac La Biche paper, where he interviewed pioneers in the francophone and Mtis communities and educated people about political issues through their narratives. Teaching in the early 1970s in a Mtis community, he hired Mtis staff, integrated Mtis history into the curriculum, and had mothers come in to teach moccasin sewing, bannock baking, and Cree. Attendance went from
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The challenge in the next round all over the world is that people will have to challenge the
When he considers human rights fronts today, Piquette feels there is good progress put males at the top and women at the bottom, others have created around multiculturalism, with the young generation intermarrying and accepting social classes. broad racial and ethnic diversity. Still, there remains work to be done: the challenge in the next round all over the world is that people will have to challenge the tenets of our faiths. Many religions put males at the top and women at the bottom, others have created social classes. After the death of one of his sons in 1999 he experienced his own spiritual crisis, travelled the world studying religion and became excited about science opening up the understanding of creation: Religious books get written and things are called sacred and then there is no change. Its a little club that keeps human rights down. The challenge is if we will evolve to bring our religion forward to meet our changing knowledge of the world.
of our faiths
tenets
45 percent to 95 percent. He visited every home and began offering ideas about economic development that would be useful for the area.
. Many religions
Gerald Gall concurred with Piquette that religion is a challenging issue. He had a major role in organizing an international conference in Edmonton about the role of religion and human rights: Religion is the cause of hatred around the world killing in the name of God, violence in the name of God. It can be divisive but it can also be unifying. Every religion has extremists, but promoting interfaith work has great potential. Albertas human rights story Piquette looks ahead: People say Oh, things were so much better in the 1950s but human rights were as thin as veneer in those times. Human rights are always fragile and we need to be prepared to fight. We feel comfortable now, but most human rights dont go far enough. He regrets that those who are involved with human rights are often focused only on one issue: For me, gay and lesbian rights went contrary to my religious education, but I embraced them, based on the logic of what I was going
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through with language rights. It just takes the wrong leaders who use raw emotion to influence people and things can slip back. We are always on the edge of tribalism and narrow self-interest.
The Value of Early Influence

Denise Seeleys determination to pursue justice in relation to employment and parenting is important in relation to human rights. When those who have been active and influential on human rights matters are asked what influences have been important to them, family is prominent. Raffath Sayeed says: Im an advocate, first and last. It came from my parents. My father sacrificed his law practice for years in his work to oust the British in India, and after independence, as a Muslim fought for the rights of minorities like Sikhs and Christians to the Supreme Court. They taught me being involved in politics is an important part of being a citizen. I learned it by osmosis. Gerald Gall grew up in a household where respect for all was modeled: My parents didnt talk about such things, but I saw their lives with neighbours, the elderly, and charitable work. Tom Engel grew up in a home with a United Church minister for a father and where from the time I was a kid I learned your duty to stick up for people who arent being treated fairly. Fil Fraser says it was only after many years he realized the solid underpinning that was due to his parents: I left home angry at 17, but I now see how important my fathers influence was. Albertas human rights story Muriel Stanley Venne has used the respected Esquao Awards she created to make special efforts to encourage family nominations: My mother was a vigorous woman. She raised 10 children, [and] worked 30 years as a cleaning lady. Her sister said she was the one who would always go out of her way to help others all through those years. I hope I have the same quality. She also sees governments as having practical duties in relation
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Human rights are
be prepared to fight.
Lewis Cardinal, like Denise Seeley, looks ahead in relation to family too. He is proud of a daughter who actively practices the pay it forward idea by little gestures like paying for the coffee of the person behind her in the line-up at Tim Hortons. An obligation to my children and grandchildren drives me. Ive seen the underbelly myself, and dont want them to experience it, he says. Jack ONeill holds up the success of his children as a more satisfying achievement than his work with the Human Rights Commission: My daughter Jacqueline is working in Sudan doing peacemaking with women there. Shes doing more for real human rights that I did in all my years, he boasts.
fragile
always
to children: In Quebec they show they love children by ensuring child care is available for families at $5 a day.
and we need to
A Concluding Thought
The voices, the experiences, the perspectives, the thoughts and the emotions of the people who make up the record on human rights in Alberta are diverse. They comprise an Alberta story, a continuing story, a story with room for more and even more diverse participants to join and make new contributions. There are many remarkable people to get to know already, many to honour, in the record of human rights in Alberta over the past decades. Small glimpses of some of them have been offered here, others are waiting to meet us on the streets of our own communities. It is a story with room for each one of us.
Notes
1 R. v Zundel [1992] 2 S.C.R. 731 In 1985, Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was charged with spreading false news by publishing a pamphlet entitled Did Six Million Really Die? in Canada, contrary to s. 181 of the Criminal Code.
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Index
Symbols
1969 White Paper 13, 183 1971 campaign 46 accommodate 12, 64, 77 accommodation 64, 68, 87 Accurate News and Information Act 171 acquire property 68 activism 14, 35 activist 26, 30, 32 Act to Ensure the Publication of Accurate News and Information (1937) 8 adjudication 120, 141 Administrative Tribunal 120 Adult education 149 advertising 69 advertising campaign 124 Advisory Board on Objectionable Publications 8 advocacy 3, 66 affirmative action 57, 69, 200 African Americans in the United States 121
A
ability 64 abolish 3, 29, 54, 104 Aboriginal 4, 11, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 35 Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice xxiii, 115, 182 Aboriginal Peoples 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 117, 159, 160 Aboriginal relations 117, 118 aboriginal rights 192, 193 Aboriginal women 117 abstain 101 accessibility 82 accessible 109, 110, 175, 199 access to information 64, 66, 82 Access to Information Act 64, 86, 88
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African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 62 age 61, 64, 68, 70, 72, 77, 78, 121 age discrimination 121, 124 Agricultural and Recreational Land Ownership Amendment Act 7 agricultural employees 70 Alberta Advisory Council on Womens Issues Act 127 Alberta Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples 19 Alberta Bill of Rights 22, 37, 38, 122, 142 Alberta Civil Liberties Association 18 Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre 18, 197 Alberta Court of Appeal 29, 37, 126, 137, 138 Alberta Court of Queens Bench 127, 137 Alberta District Court 20 Alberta Federation of Labour 16, 20 Alberta Hospital Association v. Parcels 132 Alberta Human Rights Act 45, 68, 70, 87, 139 Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission 134 Alberta Human Rights and Civil Liberties Association 17, 18 Alberta Human Rights Association 16 Alberta Human Rights Commission 23, 26, 31, 37, 38, 39, 119, 122, 123, 138, 140, 141 Alberta Human Rights Journal 37, 124 Alberta is for All of Us 124 Alberta Labour Act 22, 24
Alberta Lesbian and Gay Rights Association 31 Alberta Native Federation 14 Alberta Native Youth Society 14 Alberta Press Act Reference 171 Alberta Press Bill case 34, 76 Alberta Report 51, 72, 136 Alberta School Boards Association 135 Alberta Supreme Court 6, 26, 32, 33 Alberta Tribal Police project 21 Alberta Urban Municipalities Association 155, 182 Alberta v Hutterian Bretheran of Wilson Colony 73 Albert, Russ 130 alcohol 15 alternative dispute resolution 121 Amber Valley 18 amend 31, 32 amendment 10, 24 American Convention on Human Rights 62 American Declaration of Independence 85 Ameyaw, Nicholas 157 Amnesty International 3 An Act Respecting the Rights of Alberta Citizens 68 An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act 142 An Act to Ensure the Publication of Accurate News and Information 76 ancestry 68, 72, 78, 120 Anglophones 29 annual human rights lecture 149 anti-discrimination 20, 21, 22 anti-discrimination law 22, 77 anti-racist 43
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anti-Semitic 73, 170 Antonio, Marlene 127 appealed 40, 65, 166 arbitrator 180 Aristotle 60, 85 Aryan Nations 78, 97, 136 assembly 68 Assembly of First Nations 14 assimilate 6, 7 assimilation 6, 7, 29 assimilationist 14 Association canadienne dducation franaise 28 Athabasca 19 Athabasca-Lac La Biche 202 Athabasca Tribal Council v. Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd. 126 Athabasca Tribunal Council 126 Auditor General 80 Auditor General Act 80, 86, 88
B
Babylonia 60 ban, books 31, 34 banned films 9 Barclays Hotel 20, 45 barriers 15, 48 Beatitudes 52 benefits 13, 68, 137, 180 Berry v. Farm Meats Canada Ltd 136 Beth Shalom 200 big business 53 big oil 53 bilingual 202, 204 bilingualism 28, 29, 40, 202 Bill 1 47, 122 Bill 2 122 Bill 8 130 Bill 44 166
Bill 56 123, 142 Bill 202 66 Bill of Rights 11, 22, 37 Bill of Rights, Alberta 22, 37 bisexual 168 Blackett, Lindsay 46, 50, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 Black(s) xvii, 2, 4, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 36, 37 Blind Persons Rights Act 135 Bliss v. Canada (Attorney General) 125 Board of Inquiry 120, 124, 125, 128, 129, 131, 134 Board of Inquiry. 127 bona fide occupational requirement 121 Borle, Louise 141 British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 26 British North America Act 22, 76 broadcasting 95 Brodie, F.C. 16 bullies 165, 172 burden of proof 173 bureaucracy 114, 180 Byers, Dale 179, 180
C
cabinet minister 24, 31 Calgary 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 28, 30, 31 Calgary and District Labour Council 20 Calgary Board of Education 19 Calgary Civil Liberties Association 17, 197 Calgary Herald 7 Calgary municipal election 199 Calgary Police Services 21
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Calgary Public School Board 31 Calgarys Peoples Liberation 30 campaigns 20, 30, 31 Canada Safeway Limited v. Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission (Canada Safeway) 135 Canadian Association for Community Living 103 Canadian Association for Statutory Human Rights Agencies 23 Canadian Bill of Rights 63, 86 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms 64, 65, 70, 72, 86, 134 Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination 21, 155 Canadian constitution 29, 35, 63 Canadian Human Rights Act 63, 71, 82, 86, 87 Canadian Human Rights Commission xxi, 38, 63, 179, 181 Canadian Institute of Resources Law 197 Canadian Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination 149, 153 Canadian National Railway (CN) 179 Canadian Paraplegic Association 175 Canadian Parents for French 28 Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) 95 Canadian values 191 Cannon, Lawrence 8 Cardinal, Harold 14, 16, 35 Cardinal, Lewis 182, 183, 208 cartoons from Denmark 169 Catholic Womens League 8 caucus 48, 171
censor 169, 170 censor board 9, 34 censorship 7, 9, 10, 34 Central Alberta Dairy Pool 77, 88, 129 Central Alberta Dairy Pool v Alberta 77, 88 Chairman of the Commission 128 challenge 137 Charter 64, 65, 72, 73, 76 Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms 127 Chateau Lake Louise 128 Chiasson v Kellogg Brown & Root 78 Chief Commissioner 70, 87, 134, 140 Chief of Police 200 Chief of the Commission and Tribunals xiii, 70, 71, 92 child care 208 children 180, 181, 183, 205, 208 child welfare cases 186 Christian church 167 Christianity 165, 166, 167, 199 Christians 167, 200, 207 Christian, Timothy 97 Christian, Timothy J. 131 Christie, Jim 77 Chumir, Sheldon 17, 50, 91, 187, 194, 197 Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations 131 Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints 100 Cirus the Great 60 citizenship 140 citizenship building 170 Citizens Plus 14, 35 City of Edmonton 21, 137 civic duty 95, 96 civil liberties 6, 18, 35, 91, 187, 196
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212
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civil rights movement 57 climate change 62 code of conduct 81 Code of Hammurabi 60 collective rights 14 collectivities 108 colonial powers 61 colonies xvi, 5, 6, 59, 67 colour 68, 69, 72, 78, 120 Commission 123, 124, 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 140 commissioners 45, 55 Commissions 141 Committee on Tolerance and Understanding 49, 50, 52, 53 Common Ground 182 common law marriages 31 Communal Property Act 6, 34 Communal Property Control Board 6, 7 community 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 15, 21, 29, 33, 40 community consultations 84 community development 152, 154, 155, 159 Community Development Minister 101 community groups 6, 150 community health care facility 161 complaint(s) 141, 148, 150, 152, 156, 161 Concerned Christian Coalition 33 conciliation 22, 120 Conflicts of Interest Act 81 consensus 96, 100 consent 10, 11, 35 conservative government 171 Constitution 25, 39, 159, 160 Constitution Act 76, 86
constraints 104 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 85 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 3 Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 3 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 62 Convention on the Rights of the Child 62, 85, 193 conventions 61 Coombes, Susan 141 Co-operators General Insurance Company v Alberta 78 Cormier, Frank 127 corporal punishment 17 Court of Queens Bench 124, 132, 136, 138 courts 190, 198 creative class 46 crimes against humanity 62, 63, 86 Criminal Code 73, 208 Criminal Trial Lawyers Association 190 critic(s) 168 critics(s) xvii, 110, 111, 166 cross, burning 78, 97 Cross, Charles 201 Cruickshank, David 18 cultural diversity 160 cultural genocide 15 culture 3, 108, 153, 154, 157 culture, organization 157 curriculum 156, 158, 159, 197, 205
D
Danish cartoon 72 Dau, Jim 101 Davis, Percy 4 daycare, funding 24 Day, Stockwell 32, 103 Dean, Audrey 136, 141 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 60 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 62 Declaration Relative to the Universal Abolition of the Slave Trade 60, 85 declaration(s) 44, 61, 107, 155 Decore, Laurence 106 democracy 182 Dennys Shell Service 23 Department of Education 27 Department of Labour 68 design, of Human Rights Commission 22 developmental disorder 70 Dickason 77 Dickason, Olive 130 Dickason v University of Alberta 77 Dickason v. University of Alberta 130 Dickson, Gary 18, 36 Diefenbaker, John 46 dignity 51, 52, 66, 114, 115, 167, 192, 197, 198 Dignity Foundation 104 Director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission 71 disability(ies) 69, 70, 72, 78, 157 discriminate 50, 71 discrimination 59, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 77, 78, 84, 137
discrimination against First Nations individuals 121, 122 discrimination against persons with disabilities 122 discriminatory 68, 69, 73, 77, 78, 80, 137 dispute resolution 122 dissolution of marriage 79 District Court 120 diversity 68, 93, 105 divorce 26 domestic employees 70 double-standard 15 Douglas, Tommy 178 drivers licences 73 drug 18, 78, 170 drug and alcohol testing 78 drug testing 137 Drybones 63, 86 Duff, Lyman 8 Duncan and Craig 199 Dutch Hutterite communities in Alberta 121 duty to accommodate 12, 77
E
economic collapse 177 economic development 182, 206 economic rights 122 economic status 116 Edmonton 94, 95, 102, 106, 107, 115, 116 Edmonton Declaration 182 Edmonton Journal 7, 12, 35 Edmonton Public Libraries 161 Edmonton Remand Centre 188 Edmontons Advisory Board on Services to People with Disabilities 174
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215
Edmonton Urban Aboriginal Accord 182 education 122, 166, 174, 187, 191, 192, 193, 194, 197, 206 educational programs 141 Education and Community Services 153 Education Fund xii, 84, 149 Education Minister 99 education system 68 EGALE Canada 167 Elzinga, Peter 101 emblem 69, 71 Emergencies Act 7 emerging issue 58, 185 employee(s) 70, 77, 78, 84, 90, 102 employer 77, 78 employment 64, 68, 73, 77, 78, 121 Energy 53 energy industry 81 Energy Resources Conservation Board 126 enforce 22, 37 enforceability 63 enforcement 122 enforcement mechanism 22 Engel, Tom 187, 188, 189, 190 English schools 27 environment ix, 53, 95, 96, 158, 185, 201 environmentalism 173 environmental protection 62 Equal in Dignity and Rights 106 Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere 167 equality, men and women 1, 12, 13, 18, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27 equality of opportunity xviii equality of treatment 120
equal pay 22, 24, 26 Esquao Awards 113, 207 Ethical Oil 169 ethics 81, 173 Ethics Commissioner 81 ethno-cultural communities 124 eugenics 10, 15, 35 Eugenics Board 10, 11 European Convention on Human Rights 62 European Union 3 exclusion 156 exemption from military service 6 expression 66, 68, 71, 73, 78 extreme right 101, 166 extremist 166
F
Faculty of Law 172, 187, 191 faith 32, 55, 56 family 70, 72, 79 family farm 24, 79 family status 70, 72, 122, 124 Farmers Advocate of Alberta 81 Farm Implement Act 81 Federal Court of Appeal 133 federal government 183, 201 federal jurisdiction viii, 64, 66 federal public sector 64 file complaints 69 films xx, 9, 10, 34 fire-bombing 200 First Nations viii, xi, 14, 123 First Nations individuals 121 Florida, Richard 46 foreign aid programs 3 formal issues 150 Fort McMurray 17 francophone 27, 204, 205
francophone schools 205 Fraser, Fil xvii, 55, 95, 96, 97, 101, 102, 103, 104, 108, 111, 117, 207 freedom 68, 169, 171, 174 freedom of expression 71, 73, 78 freedom of information 82 Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act 82, 83, 86 freedom of religion 72, 76 freedom of speech xvii, 66, 76, 140, 173, 196 freedom of the press 76 freedom of worship 68 freedom to speak 115 free speech 8, 18, 136, 165, 167 French 159, 160, 202 French, Harold 121 French immersion 202 French language 27, 28, 29, 39 French language education 27, 28, 29, 39 French schools 27 fundamental freedoms 8, 38 funding 17, 24, 28, 160, 161
Getty, Don 101, 103 Ghitter, Ron 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 104 Giffin, Bob 103 Gladstone, James 16 God 159, 166, 167, 200, 203, 206 Goldring, Peter 116 Good Samaritan clause 107, 108 government data banks 82, 83 Government of Alberta 67, 76, 80, 81, 83 Grande Cache 127 Greckol, Sheila 130 Grey Nuns Hospital 161 grounds 38, 64, 68, 70, 80 Gundara, Pardeep 141 Gwinner v. Alberta (Human Resources and Employment) 137
H
Haig v. Canada 133 hate and bias crimes 84 hate speech 111, 117, 169 health x, xii, xxiii, 10, 11, 16, 156, 161, 185, 186 Health Information Act 83 health services 16, 83, 156 Heritage Days 186 heritage language schools 160 Heritage Savings Trust Fund 49 historical disadvantage xiv Hohol, Bert 113 Holocaust Memorial Day and Genocide Remembrance Act 135 homeless 117, 118, 199 homelessness 118, 185, 186 homophobia 107 homosexual(s) 29, 31, 32, 33, 163 hospital board 113, 114
G
Gall 59, 60, 85, 91, 191, 193, 194, 206, 207 Gall, Gerald 141 gay 163, 166, 167, 168, 195, 206 Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) 30 Gay for a Day 168 gay marriage 195 gay rights 30, 195 gender 23, 24, 121, 138, 179 gender discrimination 127 genital mutilation 108 genocide 15, 62, 63
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216
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217
Hotelkeepers Act 20 housing 64, 174, 196 Human Concern 121, 142 human rights 133, 135, 138, 140 Human Rights Act 120, 142 human rights activists 172 Human Rights Award xxii, 164 Human Rights branch 147 Human Rights Branch 121 Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act 70, 87 Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Amendment Act 139 Human Rights, Citizenship & Multiculturalism Act 134 Human Rights Commission 147, 154, 156, 158, 159 human rights complaint 135 human rights complaints 120 human rights culture xiv, 154 human rights curriculum 123 human rights education viii, 84, 157, 166, 193 Human Rights Education Fund 84 human rights issues 123 Human Rights Journal 135 human rights law xiv, 22, 23, 30, 32, 38, 62, 68, 84 human rights legal system 21 human rights legislation 6, 11, 16, 32, 37, 119, 136 human rights officers 122 Human rights organizations 35 human rights panel 137 Human Rights Panel 70 human rights policy 141 human rights protection 60, 66 Human Rights Update 135
Human Rights Watch 3 Humphrey, John ix, x, xv, xxi, xxiii, 194 Hutterite xvi, 4, 5, 6, 33 Hutterite problem 6
I
identifiable groups 51, 52 ill health 185, 186 immersion 202 Immigrant Access Fund 49 immigrants 49, 160, 170, 177, 178 immigration 6, 10, 11, 18, 36 immigration laws 18 impartial mediation 121 importance of the Commission 148 impunity 63 incarcerated 186 inclusive 46, 149, 157 independence 176, 207 independent 17, 23, 63, 64, 80, 84, 93, 110 independent adjudication 121 Indian 126 Indian Act 13, 86 Indian Association of Alberta 14 Indian Chiefs of Alberta 14, 35 Indian status 13 Indigenous Peoples 35, 62, 112, 115, 117, 185, 186 Indigenous rights movement 14 individual complaints 148 individualism 177, 185 individual rights 22, 49 Individuals Rights Protection Act (IRPA) 65, 69, 73, 78, 88, 122, 123, 127, 142 Industrial Relations Board 92 inequality 2, 4, 66, 197
inequity 123 Information Commissioner 82 initiate 97, 111, 198 inquiry 24 Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women xxiii, 113 insurance 23, 78, 203 insurance premiums 23 intercultural education 68 inter-faith 199 interfered 110 interference 76, 90, 91, 102, 196 international agreements 4, 62 International Bill of Rights 61 international court 63 International Court of Justice 61 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 61, 85 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 61, 85 International Criminal Court 62, 63, 86 International Human Rights Day 135 international human rights law 62 International Labour Organization 61 international law 63, 85 International Year for Human Rights 16, 18, 36 internment 2, 59, 67 intimidated 196 intolerance 21, 52 investigations 69 Islam 199 Islamic law 58
Japanese-Canadians 59, 67 Jesus 203 Jewish 60, 136, 199, 200 Jewish community 200 Jewish nation 153 Jewish religious law 60 Jews 4, 51, 97 John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights 91, 107 Judaism 199 jurisdiction viii, 2, 22, 23, 62, 63, 66, 68, 79, 82, 92, 179 justice xi, xii, xxii, 1, 62, 118, 155, 164, 170, 173, 181, 183, 194, 197, 207 justifiable 137 Justinian Code 60
K
kanata 183 Kane v Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations 78 Keegstra 73, 76 Keegstra Affair 67, 128 Keegstra, James 128 Keeping xii, xv, 36, 91, 92, 194, 195, 196, 197 King, David 11, 99 King, Martin Luther 57 Kings College 32, 96 Kings University College 96 King, Tim 20 Kinsella, Noel 60, 85 Klein, Ralph 35, 48, 101, 106, 107, 193 Kolmes, JoAnn 130 Ku Klux Klan 23, 97
J
Jacobs, Connie 15 jails 117, 118
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L
labour 19, 24, 26, 39, 58, 61, 79, 160 labour force participation 26 land acquisition 6, 59, 67 landlords 4, 18, 19, 111 land mines 62 land rights 14 Land Sales Prohibition Act 6, 34 language 2, 4, 13, 15, 27, 28, 29, 39, 40 language education 27, 28, 29, 39 language of human rights vii, xi, 44, 169 language of racism and anti-racism 161 language rights viii, 28, 29, 204, 205, 207 LArche 105 Laurel Awards 200, 201 law 170, 171, 172, 187, 189, 191, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 207 law in society 191 lawsuits 12 League for Democratic Rights 16 League of Nations 60, 61 learning disorder 70 legacy of racism 21 legal 4, 8, 13, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 32, 34 legal action 45 legal procedures 152 legal rights 66 legislation 64, 65, 66, 69, 71, 72, 79, 82, 87 legislative activity 195 Legislative Assembly of Alberta 202 legislative authority 65 legislative mandate 141 legislature 8, 11, 20, 30, 31, 81
lesbian xvi, 30, 31, 40, 167, 168, 206 lesbian and gay film festival 31 Lesbian Information Line 30 Lesbian Mothers Defence Fund 30 lesbian rights 30, 31, 206 Lethbridge 17, 28, 30, 51 Lethbridge Civil Liberties Association 17 Levant, Ezra 72, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 191 Liberals 171, 187 liberties 2, 4, 6, 18, 35, 64, 91, 187, 196 limitations 73 limits on human rights commissions 171 litigation 22 living conditions 15 Livingstone, Wendy 141 Lloydminster 98, 102 loans 26, 49 Long, Terry 97, 173 Lords Day Act 72, 88 Lougheed government 11, 48, 94, 205 Lougheed, Peter viii, 11, 22, 35, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 55, 69, 90, 92, 93, 95, 96, 105, 113, 122, 142, 205 Lubicon Cree 59, 67, 87 Lubicon Lake Nation 117 Lund, Darren 33, 111, 117, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168
M
Mackintosh, Charlach 55, 109, 110, 111, 112, 118, 134, 141, 169 Magna Carta 60, 85 mandate 22, 61, 65, 81, 97, 105, 155, 156 mandatory retirement 77, 130, 137
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Manning, Ernest 22, 27, 37 Mar, Gary 103 marijuana 78 marital status 68, 70, 72, 127 marriage 30, 66, 71, 79, 165, 195 Marriage Act 66, 87 married 4, 93, 168, 195 Martyn, Donna 137, 174, 175, 177, 178 Mason, Blair xiii, 55, 90, 92, 93, 94, 141, 152 Mason, D. Blair 140 matrimonial property laws 79 McCoy, Elaine 95, 97, 103, 131 McFetridge, W.D. 129 McKee, Penny 161 McPherson, Gary 175 mechanisms ix, xii, xvi, 38, 83, 152 media 18, 50, 51, 56, 62, 96, 103, 104, 110, 158, 171, 187, 189, 198 mediation 48, 152 medicare 178 Medicine Hat 30 mental disabilities 137 mental disability 70, 72, 78, 158 mental disorder 70 mental illness 9 mentally ill 10, 11, 189 Mtis viii, xi, 112, 113, 126, 205 Mtis communities 205 Mtis Nation of Alberta 113 migrant workers 84 Miller, Bud 100 minimum wage 24, 27 minister 24, 31, 46, 56, 57, 81, 89, 90, 91, 100, 102, 103, 105, 108, 113, 159, 166, 207 Minister of Community Development 103
Minister of Education 28 Minister of Labour 95, 123 Ministry 147 Ministry of Culture and Community Spirit 147 minorities 18, 21, 30, 32, 42, 48, 173, 207 minority 21, 28, 29, 48, 98, 157, 158 minority group 48 minority language rights 28, 29 minority school boards 29 Mirosh, Diane 101, 103, 104 mistake 80, 103 mistreated, by commissions 172 Mobil Oil 138 Morrow, Justice William George 126 Muir, Leilani xi, 12 Mulroney, Brian 54 multicultural 21, 64, 159, 160, 192, 193, 202 multiculturalism x, xiii, 64, 105, 106, 140, 152, 160, 206 Multiculturalism Commission 134, 160 multilingual 21, 28 municipal bylaws 7 municipalities xii, 21, 29, 83, 149, 155, 201 Murdoch, Irene 26 Murdoch v Murdoch 39, 79 Murphy, Emily 10, 24 Muslims 51, 200
N
National Indian Brotherhood 14 national studies 123 native 61, 118 Native education 53, 54 Native Friendship Centres 14, 182
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Native Human Rights Association 14 Native spirituality 70 Natural Resources 53 Nenshi, Naheed 21 newcomers 161 New Democratic Party (NDP) xxii, 6 news releases 128 Northwest Territories Act 29, 202 notice 69, 71, 158, 160, 188 Notley 6, 178, 205 notwithstanding clause 12, 26, 32, 65, 108, 192 Nova Scotia Human Rights Act 142
O
Office of the Child and Youth Advocate 81, 88 Office of the Ethics Commissioner of Alberta 81 Official Languages Act 28, 64, 86 Official Secrets Act 7 oil industry 54, 109 oil producer 173 Oldring, John 103 ombudsman 66, 79, 86, 88 Ombudsman Act 79, 86 Ombudsman for Victims of Crime 86 ombudspersons 64 omnibus bill 103 ONeill, Jack 52, 87, 91, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 154, 208 Ontario Human Rights Code 142 opportunity 120 opt out 50, 56 Our Stories 200
P
Palamar, Cassie 141 Paperny, Justice 138
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Parcels 132 parental choice 56 parental rights 55 pay equity 127, 138 peace vii, 4, 173, 185 Pempeit, Larry 175 pension 137 people of colour 198 people with disabilities 12, 174, 175 Permanent Court of International Justice 61 Persons Case 26 Phair, Michael 96, 175 Phoenix Multi-faith Society for Harmony 199 physical characteristics 69, 123 physical disabilities 137 physical or mental disability 158 Piquette 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206 place of origin 68, 69, 72, 120 Plamondon 205 platform 46, 51, 191 Plato 60, 85 plowshares 60 police 170, 186, 187, 190 police activities 187 police behaviour 187 political leaders xvii, 30, 57, 205 political parties 187 political will 58 politics xi, 3, 4, 49, 167, 203, 205, 207 poverty xi, xxii, 14, 154, 177, 178, 198 prayers 18 pregnancy 38, 70, 127, 150 pregnant women 148 prejudice xi, 112, 113 Premiers Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities 175
Premiers office 101, 103 presentations 141 press 8, 76, 101, 102, 198 prevention 148, 152, 153 primary bill 122 prisoner rights 189 prisoners 187, 188, 189 Prison Ombudsman 64 prisons 189, 190 privacy 18, 65, 66, 70, 80, 82, 83 Privacy Act 82, 83, 86 Privacy Commissioner 82, 83, 91 privacy laws 65 private ix, 22, 48, 51, 64, 68, 70, 73, 87, 95 private school 51 procedures 152, 170, 171 Progressive Conservative Party 22 prohibited ground 30, 69, 70, 73 property 6, 7, 24, 27, 33, 68, 77, 79, 81, 88 Property Rights Advocate 81 Prophet Mohammed 72 prostitution 9 protected ground 65, 96, 100, 116 protection of privacy 82 Protection of Sexually Exploited Children Act 81 protection of vulnerable groups from harm 140 provincial government xvi, 6, 8, 17, 18, 20, 28, 32, 117, 171, 198 Provost 97 public viii, x, 5, 7, 8, 12, 16, 18, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 43, 48, 49, 53, 54, 64, 67, 69, 71, 78, 79, 81, 83, 91, 96, 98, 101, 102, 104, 106, 107, 110, 112, 149, 156, 157, 186, 190, 194, 199, 201
publications 34, 156 public awareness 54 public hearings 121 public interest 194 public mind 128 public office 5, 24 public opinion 195 public policy 50, 186 public schools 6, 18, 27, 28, 67 public service ix, x, 26, 49, 81, 106 Public Service Act 88 Public Service Employees Relations Board 92
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race 4, 9, 10, 15, 31, 38, 64, 68, 72, 78, 108, 120, 153, 156 Race Relations Unit 21 racial equality 18 racism xii, xiv, 21, 98, 117, 150, 155, 156, 161, 164, 190 radicalized 50 railroad 59, 67, 179, 181 ratification 103 read in 65, 70 reappoint 101 reasonable 137 reasonable accommodation 69 reasonable limit 73, 76 recommendation 31, 68, 80, 89, 91 recreation 174, 175, 203 Red Deer 12, 28, 30, 33, 40, 51, 102, 111, 163, 164, 165, 167 Red Deer Advocate 33, 139 Redford, Alison xii, 92 Redford, Alison M. 140 red-neck 56 Red Paper 14, 183 Reference re Alberta Statutes 76
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regional human rights instruments 61 regulatory agencies 53 religion 2, 6, 23, 52, 53, 56, 64, 66, 68, 72, 76, 103, 153, 156, 167, 169, 179, 192, 193, 206 religious 6, 7, 8, 11, 18, 22, 31, 52, 53, 60, 70, 72, 73, 77, 78, 107, 170, 177, 206 religious beliefs 70, 72, 73, 78, 120 religious education 206 religious fundamentalists 31 rental accommodation 68 report xxii, 6, 26, 37, 52, 68, 81, 87, 89, 90, 91, 106, 107, 115 reporting 81, 90, 91, 104, 108 research 122 residential schools 16, 59, 67 resources 16, 29, 49, 54, 55, 81, 84, 90, 109, 110, 115, 159, 165, 181, 198 respect vii, x, xvi, xvii, 43, 52, 54, 59, 62, 66, 68, 79, 81, 82, 115, 157, 166, 167, 173, 190, 192, 200, 201, 207 respect for minorities 173 respondent 129 respondent(s) 97 responsibilities 93, 103, 107, 108, 147, 156 retaliation 138 retirement 48, 77, 92, 203 Review Panel 133 Riddle, Marie 111, 134, 141, 147, 149, 150 Riel, Louis 116 right not to be frightened 196 right not to be offended 169, 196 rights of children 181 rights of families with children 179
rights of francophones 205 rights revolution 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12, 16, 20, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 33 right to censor 169 right to self-government 14 right to vote xvii, 16, 18, 24 right-wing 98 riot 19 River Valley Alliance 201 Rolinger, Sol 199, 200, 201 Roman, Ralph 141 Rooke, Justice 136 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) 15, 63 Royal Commission on the Status of Women 24 royalties 54 ruling 32, 107, 166, 181 rural community(ies) 6, 81, 160, 177 Rutherford, Keith 97 Ryan, Joan 18
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same-sex marriage 30 Sayeed, Raffath 47, 91, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 207 school xi, xxii, 6, 17, 19, 23, 27, 28, 29, 31, 43, 51, 57, 71, 73, 83, 105, 115, 166, 173, 178, 195, 197, 204 school boards 6, 28, 29, 83, 140 school curriculum 197 school system 51 school textbooks 23 Scrimshaw, Ron 100, 101 Scudder, Stan 128 search and seizure 66, 69 search warrant 170 section 15 12, 32, 73 section 33 65
Section 110 202, 204, 205 Seeley, Denise 179, 180, 181, 207, 208 segregate 19 segregation 19 self-government 14 services 16, 17, 21, 32, 34, 38, 64, 68, 81, 83, 92, 114, 154, 156, 177 Seventh Day Adventist 102 sex 23, 30, 66, 68, 70, 71 sex discrimination 23 Sexual Disqualification Removal Act 24 sexual education 71 sexual harassment xx, 23, 38, 127, 150 sexuality 23, 31 sexual orientation viii, xvi, 2, 18, 23, 30, 31, 32, 38, 46, 56, 65, 70, 72, 73, 96, 100, 102, 103, 107, 137, 139, 166, 167, 179 Sexual Orientation 29, 61 Sexual Sterilization Act 10, 11, 47, 59, 67, 87, 192 Shaben, Larry 100, 200 Shakedown 169, 170 Sharia 58 Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership ii, xii, xv, 50, 91, 194 Short, William 201 sign 26, 69, 71, 78, 155, 185 skin colour 45, 157 slavery 9, 60 small government 196 social context 31 Social Credit 8, 9, 11, 21, 22, 34, 47, 68, 90 Social Credit Government of Alberta 120 social justice 155, 164 social media 62
social movement(s) xxi, 14, 16, 30 Social Studies Program 123 Sojak, John 141 source of income 70, 72, 123 sovereignty 3, 65 spank 103 special treatment 98 speech xvii, 7, 8, 18, 66, 73, 76, 111, 117, 165, 167, 169, 173, 196 Stanley-Venne, Muriel 45, 89 Starland Colony 7 sterilization xvi, 10, 11, 12 sterilize 10 Stiles, Stephen 187 storefront structure 114 St. Thomas Aquinas 60 Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice (STOP) 164 suicide(s) 118, 185, 186 Supreme Court viii, xiv, 6, 8, 22, 26, 32, 34, 36, 37, 39, 50, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 73, 76, 77, 79, 94, 107, 171, 202, 207 Supreme Court of Canada viii, xiv, xvi, 6, 8, 22, 26, 32, 36, 63, 65, 68, 70, 73, 76, 77, 79, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134 symbol 28, 69, 71 synagogue 200 systemic 117, 148, 153 systemic change 153 systemic discrimination 137, 140
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taxi cab 137 taxi cabs 137 teacher x, xxii, 2, 19, 50, 55, 57, 67, 105, 164, 177, 178, 183, 205 teacher rights 55
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teaching x, xxi, 2, 23, 73, 148, 163, 164, 171, 187, 191 technology 46 temporary foreign workers 182 temporary workers 160 terminated 73, 77 The Alberta Gazette 141 Theatres Act 9 The Citizen 135 third parties 69 tikkun olam 199 timely 115, 154 tolerance 3, 78 Toronto Star 95 trained, legally 93 transgender(ed) 168 transparency 82 transparent 7, 92 transportation 174, 176 treaty(ies) 3, 62, 63, 117, 185 Treaty Voice of Alberta 14 tribalism 207 tribunal 141 tribunals 62, 94, 111, 115 Trudeau, Pierre 202 Trynchy, Peter 104 Tsuu Tina Reserve 15 Tutu, Bishop Desmond ix, 107, 193
United Nations ix, xii, 3, 9, 38, 44, 61, 62, 63, 85 United Nations General Assembly 61 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 120, 135 Universal Declaration of Human Rights ix, xxiii, 3, 16, 43, 61, 85, 107, 135, 193 universities 83 University of Alberta ii, x, xii, xx, xxiii, 34, 39, 77, 85, 88, 91, 97, 149, 172, 187, 191, 193 University of Alberta Law School 131 University of Calgary 18, 33, 36, 94, 167, 194, 197 University Womens Club 8 Unjust Society 14, 35 urban poverty 14
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Vanier, Jean 105 violations viii, 3, 48, 49, 62, 63, 70, 76, 111, 152, 187, 188 visibility 62, 97, 104 visible minority 21 vote xvii, 5, 16, 18, 24, 49, 100, 192, 193 Vriend, Delwin viii, 18, 32, 50, 65, 70, 73, 86, 96, 107 Vriend v Alberta 73, 86 Vriend v. Alberta 134 vulnerable minority groups 132
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UFA government 177 Ukrainian(s) 121 unanimous 101 undue hardship 130 unemployment 15 UNESCO xii, xxiii, 105, 155 union membership 68 United Farmers of Alberta 19, 24, 35 United Farm Women of Alberta 10, 35
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Wallace, Les 130 Walsh v. Mobil Oil Canada 138 Walter et al v Attorney General of Alberta 76 war crimes 62, 63
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War Measures Act 7, 34 Weaselfat, Frances 23 Webking, Ed 17, 36 welcoming 57, 58, 89, 149, 188 Welcoming Communities 162 welfare 27, 186 Western Standard 169 West, Steve 103 Whalen, Nomi 113 wheelchair 176, 177, 198, 199 wheelchair-accessible 199 White x, 9, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 78, 102, 117, 165, 183 White Paper 13, 14, 15, 183 Whiteside, Don 121 white slavery 9 white supremacist 78 Widows Pension Act 137 Wildrose Alliance Party 54 Wolfe, Ed 18 women viii, xvi, xvii, xxi, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 24, 25, 27, 30, 61, 62, 66, 117, 148, 157, 160, 164, 180, 181, 206, 208 womens farm unions 8 womens participation 24 Womens Secretariat 127, 134 Womens Secretariat Act 127 Womonspace 30
Womyns Collective 30 Wong v. Hughes Petroleum Ltd 125 Woodsworth, J.S. 10 work ix, x, xi, xiii, xiv, xx, xxii, 15, 16, 18, 26, 27, 49, 50, 52, 56, 58, 61, 68, 77, 90, 93, 94, 95, 100, 102, 105, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 116, 118, 121, 147, 148, 150, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 168, 170, 172, 174, 177, 179, 181, 183, 186, 187, 188, 190, 193, 194, 195, 197, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208 Workers Compensation Board 109 workplace ix, 158, 197 workshop program 156 workshops 141 World War II 135 World War, Second 1, 2, 61, 87, 177 Worth Commission on Educational Planning 28 written in 101 Wyman, Max 93, 122
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Young, Leslie G. 123
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Zundel, Ernst 208
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the
Albertas human rights story provides a blend of academic, legal, and community reflections on the journey to realizing human rights in Alberta. Documenting the recent history of Albertas human rights experience, the book provides insight to the successes and challenges along the way, and paints a picture of our present-day realities. Through the perspectives of various human rights leaders and advocates, this book provides unique glimpses behind the scenes that challenge us to think about what kind of province we want to live in and what values we feel should overarch the systems that govern us. A must-read for every Albertan, this book will inspire you to consider how human rights plays an integral part in our lives and the common values that we all must embrace to belong and live a life of respect and well-being.
2012 John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights Edmonton, Alberta Printed in Canada ISBN 978-0-9688905-4-7

The Search For Justice and Equality: Alberta's Human Rights History

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The Search For Justice and Equality: Alberta's Human Rights History

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Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

Dominique Clment and Rene Vaugeois, editors

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

edited by Dominique Clment and Rene Vaugeois

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

The Stories of Human Rights in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

The Legal History of Human Rights in Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Alberta Human Rights Commission: Where does it belong? . 89

The Role of the Commission in Albertas Human Rights Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

Human Rights Cases: Meeting some participants . . . . . . . . . 163

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

Blair Mason, Q.C.

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

About the Editors and Authors

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

Gerald Gall, O.C.

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

search for equality and justice

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas Human Rights Timeline

Albertas human rights story

Sexual Sterilization Act Act Sexual Sterilization

Sexual Disqualification Sexual Disqualification Removal Act Act Removal

search for equality and justice

1966 1966 1962 1962

search for equality and justice

Albertas human rights story

Albertas human rights story

Human Rights Act passed by the Federal Government