B.C. government to bring back human rights commission after 15 years
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s NDP government is bringing back the province’s human rights commission, which was scuttled by the previous Liberal regime in 2002 in favour of a complaint-driven tribunal.
Premier John Horgan said B.C. is the only province without a commission that can take proactive steps to address systemic inequalities and prevent discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.
“We have to ensure that if we allow intolerance to rear its head, we together have to stand and push it back down again,” Horgan said Friday, speaking in Vancouver’s gay-friendly West End neighbourhood two days before the city’s Pride parade.
“One critical element to make sure we do that is establishing again in British Columbia, like every other province in the country, a human rights commission.”