By Chad Klassen

Eby addresses TRU Law students about revived B.C. Human Rights Commission

Nov 17, 2017 | 4:14 PM

KAMLOOPS — It was in 2002 when the B.C. Human Rights Commission was eliminated by the Liberal government, and with it the commission’s purpose of dealing with issues of discrimination and inequality around the province disappeared.

For the past 15 years, B.C. has been the only province to not have a human rights commission. But under the direction of the NDP government, that is about to change.

The commission is being revived, and on Friday, talking to a group of TRU Law students, Attorney General David Eby outlined the newly reformed commission on the final day of his province-wide tour.

“This is a body that will do public education around discrimination, racism, and one of the main reasons that we’re doing this is I think a lot of people recognize that we’re seeing a rise in extremist, hateful content, both online and internationally.”

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Eby, who was a human-rights lawyer in Vancouver before entering politics, says it’s a commission that should’ve never been cancelled by the Liberals 15 years ago. He hopes it will help in pursuing cases of injustice.

“Our feedback has been consistently that people want public education component from the perspective of employers and landlords,” said Eby. “They want to know what their rights and obligations are when it comes to marginalized groups. They want to know that they’re going to have access if they have a complaint or a concern, or they need a question answered.”

Eby cited cases in Richmond, where several racist flyers targeted the Chinese community last year. Most recently, there were similar notes around the campus of UVic. 

They are incidents Eby hopes the commission can help with. But he says human rights violations are everywhere in the province, including Kamloops. 

“I know that one of the issues that has been flagged for my attention is some of the commentary online in relation to First Nations communities in the area,” he noted. “Anti-First Nations discrimination and racism, and making people feel very unwelcome. It’s exacerbating division in the community, and not bringing people together.”

As for racist comments posted online, Eby says the commission – to be implemented next year – would also work with organizations to manage defamatory statements. 

A report on the commission’s role moving forward, partly based on citizen feedback, will roll out in early 2018 with it becoming part of legislation later next year.