The BC government will increase the funding up to $4.2 million per year for the tribunal and the Community Legal Assistance Society.
In a statement released on January 4, 2023, it said the funding will go towards clearing up the increased caseload and to help the Community Legal Assistance Society hire more lawyers, legal advocates and support staff.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, 1,460 cases were brought to the tribunal in 2019 and that number climbed to 3,192 in 2022.
The BC Human Rights Tribunal 2021/2022 annual report says of the 3,192 complaints, “one third related to public health measures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic,” including masking and mandatory vaccine requirements in the 2021-22 fiscal year, for a total of 888.
The top three complaints by area of discrimination are employment, services and tenancy.
In the past, 60% of the total cases handled by the Tribunal have been employment-related. This year, that proportion was 43 percent.
Service complaints, which typically account for about 23% of all complaints, went from 35% in the previous year to 40%. Pandemic-related services complaints related to mask wearing and proof of vaccination contributed to this change.
As in previous fiscal years, the most often cited grounds for discrimination in the 2021/22 fiscal year was disability (43%) followed by ethnicity at (14%) and sex (12%).
The report found the number of human rights complaints filed by Indigenous people to be “disproportionately low”, 15 according to the report which makes up less than 1% of all complaints submitted.
In an effort to drive up the number of complaints submitted by Indigenous people, the Province added “Indigenous identity” as a protected ground under the B.C. Human Rights Code in what they say is to better address racism and discrimination reported by Indigenous Peoples.
