Nunavut human rights law a welcome step

Justice Minister Paul Okalik deserves praise for his attempt this week to correct a longstanding deficiency in territorial law: the absence of a modern, credible human rights act.

Nunavut’s human rights bill received first reading at the legislative assembly’s sitting in Pangnirtung this week, just as Nunatsiaq News went to press with this week’s issue. For that reason, we haven’t had a chance to read it in detail.

Until now, however, residents of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have had to make do with two inadequate instruments for resolving human rights complaints.

One of them, the old territorial Fair Practices Act, has been considered to be an anachronism for nearly 15 years. Nunavut’s version is identical to the one used in the NWT. Its main weaknesses are a narrow range of grounds for discrimination, and toothless enforcement provisions. The Fair Practices Act doesn’t deal with things that weren’t public issues in the early 1970s — such as sexual harassment or sexual orientation.

The Fair Practices Act is administered by a mid-level territorial government employee called the “Fair Practices Officer” — so there are no absolute guarantees that complaints will be handled without political or bureaucratic interference. Since large numbers of Nunavummiut work for the territorial government and its various agencies, this provides little assurance to territorial government employees that any complaints they might bring against their employer will be dealt with fairly.

For that reason, territorial government workers have tended to use the grievance procedure set out in their collective agreement — where it’s possible for them to seek the assistance of union staff and union lawyers.

The Fair Practices Act provides next to nothing for Nunavummiut who don’t work for the government and who don’t the enjoy the protection of a union. Many Nunavummiut don’t even know that the Fair Practices Act exists, or how to use it.

Of course, Nunavut residents have always, in theory, had recourse to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, a federal body that normally deals with human rights complaints involving the federal government or areas of life that are regulated by the federal government.

But in practice, the Canadian Human Rights Commission is a faraway body that’s inaccessible to most Nunavummiut. To make a complaint, Nunavut residents must deal with the commission’s Prairies and Nunavut office in Winnipeg. Some Nunavummiut who complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission have waited years for their complaints to be decided, and for compensation to be paid to them.

Nunavut residents need access to a human rights body that’s close to home, free from political influence, and capable of resolving complaints without undue delays.

And, as Okalik pointed out in an interview with Nunatsiaq News, it must also acknowledge that Inuit, though a majority in Nunavut, are a tiny minority in Canada. As an aboriginal people, Inuit were victims of blatant discrimination until at least the 1960s, and even throughout the 1970s and 1980s were victims of more subtle forms of discrimination within their own homeland.

Outside Nunavut, Inuit are a nearly invisible minority. Growing numbers of urban Inuit, far too many, are joining the ranks of the underprivileged and marginalized on the streets of Montreal and Ottawa.

So Nunavut’s non-Inuit must accept that Nunavut’s human rights law will permit governments and others to pursue reasonable affirmative action — or “positive discrimination” on behalf of Inuit.

On the other hand, the act must also recognize that human rights are inherent limitations on the power of the state — or any other collectivity — to interfere unreasonably with individual freedoms. That includes the freedom to work, travel, worship, rent an apartment, speak your mind, or walk down the street without being insulted just for being who you are.

Balancing the need for affirmative action against the need to protect individuals against the arbitrary power of the collective may turn out to be the greastest challenge posed by Nunavut’s human rights project.

JB