Discrimination In Canada

In 1988 the “American Republican President Ronald Reagan...[Authorized] all four of the court’s major gay rights ruling” (Reuters,2015). This is when America noticed that everyone should be given equal rights regardless of their orientation. Shortly after this proposal gay marriage had become legalized in 12 American states, however, 36 states are still banning gay marriage (Weese,2013).In 2010 American action, President Obama “signed a law allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S military(Reuters,2015).This step occurred in Canada many years ago as well as equality for the all so many smaller actions have been taken to end hate crime. In Canada, Regina Saskatchewan Police Services have created a Report Homophobic Violence, Period (RHVP) training seminar, with hopes to eliminate hate crime towards the LGBTQ community (Hamelin, pg.A.4). This program not only aims to educate the authority system about hate crime towards LGBTQ communities but it also informs the police services of positive stigmas to refer to. Programs similar to the Saskatchewan training seminar should be created so that the severity of hate crime offences towards the LGBTQ are acknowledge. In Canada, “Vancouver reported the highest proportion of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation (26%)” (Dowden, 2012).In 2009“74 per cent of hate crimes …were motivated by sexual orientation, with 63 per cent resulting in injury (Dowden, 2012). In recent hate crime studies a decrease in statistic shows that only “16% of motivated hate crimes…accounted for sexual orientation” (Dowden, 2012). But 65% of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were violent” (Dowden, 2012). This shows that Canada is in fact taking an initiative to end the discrimination against the LGBTQ community but not taking in counter of the severity in which these cases are causing. In addition to hate crime statistics for the

The discrimination against sexual orientation is protected under the analogous ground of s.15 (1) of Charter. In this case, an Act created a distinction on the analogous ground against gays, lesbians and other disadvantage groups and resulted in disadvantage. The s.15 (1) of Charter guarantee equal protection and benefits before and under the law without discrimination but in this case the human right law did not equally benefited or protected the gays and lesbians. Furthermore, if there is any law that discriminate some individuals or groups of people, the equality rights protects them from that discrimination. For instance, without the equality rights, people like Vriend would not have received equal treatment. It is also relevant because the SCC had set the precedents for lower courts and decision prevent further discrimination against

Fifty years ago, in the early sixties, being gay was illegal in every providence in Canada, and in every single state in the United States. In the 1950’s, many gay individuals saw the men who had devoted their lives to being out and they knew what a horrible life that made for those men. This caused many gay men to “pass,” or live their entire lives in the closet. They would marry women for the soul purpose of protecting their secret. Before the stonewall riots, many Americans did not even believe gay people existed. Due to the lack of education and bigotry amongst Americans, being gay was very dangerous. Sexual acts in the gay community were commonly done in unsafe places and in public because they simply had nowhere else to go. Homosexuality was not just criminalized it was medicalized (Bawer). If you were gay, you could be subject to go into hospitals and were viewed by society as having a disability and a disease. In April of 1965, the very first gay protest took place in Washington DC. This protest was revolutionary and it began to pave the way for the future of gay men and women and reshape gay culture. In 1969, not long after the first gay protests of 1965, Canada decriminalized homosexual sexual acts in the privacy of one’s own home (Guerre). This was groundbreaking and gave the gay community hope that change was coming. Also, taking place in 1969 were the historic stonewall

Many events shaped Canada to be the way it is now, but which ones really made the difference? Canada used to be discriminatory when it came to immigration, now they are open to every race without question. It is now multicultural with large populations of many backgrounds. Canada is known for having a mix of cultures, as it accepts them instead of trying to mix them all together like the US has done. Women’s rights have changed significantly since the beginning of the 20th century. Suffrage groups had been around since the 1800’s, but through the 1900’s, women completely changed the way that they were viewed and the way that Canada treats women today. Thirdly, after World war one, the government became a much larger part of Canadians’ lives,

The nation of Canada has strived to be recognized as a long-standing picture of equal democratic rights and freedoms for all. Although mistakes and occasional aberrations do occur, we must always endeavour to be a nation that promotes equality and shuns discrimination, even if it means changing our laws in the process. Equality for all is a constitutionally entrenched law and we as citizens, lawmakers, and judges must uphold the constitution and ensure our nation evolves to demonstrate, in practice, the intent of words outlined in the constitution. In Vriend v. Alberta, the appellant Delwin Vriend was working as a laboratory coordinator in Alberta when he was terminated after revealing his sexual orientation (Vriend v. Alberta, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 493 2). It was well known that Vriend received positive reviews on his work and throughout the course of his employment he enjoyed the benefits of his hard work (Vriend v. Alberta 11). However, this all changed when Vriend shared with his employers that he was homosexual. Due to the fact Vriend refused to comply with the request to leave his position because his homosexuality offended the views of his employer, he was unceremoniously terminated solely on these grounds (Vriend v. Alberta 2). Vriend was understandably upset with this decision and moved to file a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (Vriend v. Alberta 2). Vriend was informed due to the fact sexual orientation was not included as a prohibited grounds for

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms embody the ideals of our nation and present a series of fundamental freedoms so that citizens are enabled to receive equality and can feel safe and included within their society. One of the main things that the Charter has promoted is that the enforcement of a law does not necessarily make it fair for everyone. Different people require different treatment in order for full equality to be attained. However, at one point the Charter failed to recognize the needs of a very prevalent group – homosexuals. The Charter was approved in 1982 and devised a list of protected cases such as gender, race, religion and etcetera, but it failed to acknowledge sexual orientation. However, in 1985 a report titled

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (2)“reflect the fondest dreams, the highest hopes and the finest aspirations of Canadian Society” and although “Sexual Orientation” is not recorded under the sections protected from discrimination, it was deemed by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Egan v. Canada, 1995 case to be an equivalent ground to make claims of discrimination; Gay men and women are all

The LGBTQ community has struggled for decades to receive equal treatment but despite many advancements, this group of people is still not treated justly. The prevalent discrimination and prejudice enacted against the LGBTQ community can be witnessed on accounts of the Stonewall Riots and laws that affect the community such as not allowing gay men to donate blood, sexual orientation in connection to the military, et cetera. The gay rights movement has united to eradicate these issues through support of the LBGTQ community and to help people understand the process, timing, advantages, dangers, and pitfalls of coming out, as well as recent local and international rulings of the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage and the methods, laws, and attitudes of having children.

Diversity has played an important role in Canada’s formative history. Today, Canada boasts the highest percentage of foreign-born citizens than any other G8 country. In Canada’s multicultural society it is important that any acts of discrimination are avoided since it can have grave consequences. Canadians are protected against discrimination by the Human Rights Act, which was formed in 1977 by the Parliament of Canada. The act ensures equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory actions based on a set of prohibited grounds such as sex, disability, or religion. This paper will discuss the legal issues in human resources in relation to the Human Rights Act and will focus in particular on the discrimination section in

Vriend filed a motion in the Court of Queen’s Bench for declaratory relief. The trial judge found that the omission of protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was an unjustified violation of s. 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She ordered that the words “sexual orientation” be read into ss. 2(1), 3, 4, 7(1), 8(1) and 10 of the IRPA as a prohibited ground of discrimination. The majority of the Court of Appeal allowed the Alberta government’s appeal. However, the Alberta government failed to demonstrate that it had a reasonable basis for excluding sexual orientation from the IRPA. Since they had failed to demonstrate any beneficial effect of the exclusion in promoting and protecting human rights, there was no proportionality between the attainment of the legislative goal and the infringement of the appellants’ equality

Futhermore, another sector mentioned in the Ontario Human Rights Code that set precedent to Canadian courts is racial discrimination. Racial discrimination was a social injustice towards people of colour, ethnicity, and religion in the workplace. At around the same time as the Female Employees Fair Remuneration Act (1951) came the social movement of Fair Employment Practices Act (1951). This was a social movement to reverse social discrimination in the workplace. Frager and Patrias (2001) proposed a rationale on the issue of not challenging racial discrimination in Canada in their article “This is our country, These Are Our Rights': Minorities and the Origins of Ontario's Human Rights Campaigns.” In this article, the authors examined

Every nation in the world has unique characteristics that make its county and citizens unique. Although it may be hard to quantify the things that distinguish countries from one another, there is a universal recognition of an acceptable standard of living and human rights, which can be measured quantitatively. If you ask almost any Canadian where in the world is the best place to live, their answer out of patriotism, experience, or possibly lack of education will quite unequivocally be, Canada! However, if we look at the idea of basic human rights, Canada's history shows a considerable lack of fluidity when it comes to racism and discrimination to what is now in today's society socially acceptable. As famous South African President Nelson

“Since August 26th, 1969, homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada.” This great choice was made by Canada’s current Prime Minister in 1969, Pierre Trudeau because it was time for a change. This was part of the first major changes of Canada’s Criminal Code. Being criminalized against your sexuality would go against Canada’s current Human Rights. This was the first major step of change for LGBT rights but there was still more to come. Even after decriminalizing homosexuality, there was still a lot of hate crimes against people whose sexual orientation was something other than heterosexual. Canada’s government decided to take effect about this matter and “on June 20th, 1996, Canada’s Criminal Code provided stricter penalties for crimes motivated by hate based on certain personal characteristics, including sexual orientation.” At this certain time Jean Chrétien was running Canada as Prime Minister and therefore decided to make this decision. Hate crimes against LGBT people was severe at this time so Chrétien thought to make it a law. Human Rights was created for equality, dignity and respect and discriminating someone

​Canada is often seen as a leader in the gay rights movement and it has a long history of providing rights to those that identify as homosexual (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016; Cotler, 2015). As far back as 1969, Prime Minister Trudeau passed Bill C-150 which amended the Criminal Code to decriminalize “gross indecency” and “buggery”; if committed between two consenting adults if they are over 21 (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016). The Code was further amended to drop the age of consent for anal sex from 18 and 14 for other sexual activity and it was recognized that a higher age for consent of anal sex was unconstitutional (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016). Since then there have been many changes to the political and social system in Canada to be able to improve the rights not only individuals whom are part of the LGBTQ community, but also for those whom are in same sex relationships (BC Teachers’ Federation, 2016). As of 2005, same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada; however, there is still debate of whether or not same-sex legalization has legitimized same-sex partnerships within society (Colter, 2015). Many cases that have come before the court regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriages have argued that the actions of society are a direct violation of people’s s.15 rights in the Constitution; which allows for every person to be treated equally and bear the freedom of religion (Supreme Court Judgements, 2004). It will be argued that Canada has created equal rights for

Discrimination concerns have also become a problem regarding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the past, homosexuals were discriminated and penalized for their sexual orientation. They were murdered in the early twentieth century and then later on imprisoned as time passed. Discrimination also arose if employers discovered of their employees homosexual orientation, which caused them to lose their employment. The equality rights have also been violated concerning marriage benefits and the definition as well – (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. Before the definition of marriage was changed, homosexuals were not included under the law stating marriage as the union between a man and a woman. The government found it unconstitutional and changed it so it would correspond to the changes in the twenty-first century and reflect Canadian society in the present stating that marriage is a civil act