Canadian Human Rights Act

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This article is about the Canadian Human Rights Act, which should not be confused with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Canadian Bill of Rights.

The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute originally passed by the Government of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set prohibited grounds such as gender, disability, or religion. It applies throughout Canada, but only to federally regulated activities; each province and territory has its own anti-discrimination law that applies to activities that are not federally regulated.

The Canadian Human Rights Act outlines the creation of a Canadian Human Rights Commission that investigates claims of discrimination as well as the creation of a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to judge the cases.

Before a case can be brought to the Tribunal it must go through several stages of investigation and remediation, after which, if the parties are not satisfied will go to the tribunal. If a complainant can show a valid case of discrimination the defendant can rebut it by showing that their practice was for a justified reason. The process is generally known as the "Meiorin test" which is similar to the Oakes test justification in a charter challenge.

Decisions from the Tribunal are binding as any other court with the option to appeal to a higher court.