Future of Human Rights Topic of Forum

The future of human rights in Nova Scotia was the topic of a day- long forum hosted by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission today in Halifax.

The forum is part of the commission's strategy for moving into the 21st century. At the heart of that strategy is the goal of making the province a centre of excellence in the field of human rights.

Mayann Francis, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, opened the forum by challenging participants to consider what kind of province they want to live in.

"Our eyes should be on the future today," she said. "The future of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. The future of the many communities who look to the commission and the Human Rights Act for protection and inspiration. The future of businesses who must compete, not just here at home, but must also reach for success in the wider world."

Three panel discussions gave participants different ways to formulate their answers to Ms. Francis' challenge.

The first, moderated by Senator Donald Oliver, brought an international perspective to the table through the comments and discussion of Senator Raynell Andreychuk, retired senator Ron Ghitter, Dr. Roland Chrisjohn of St. Thomas University and Jonathan Davies of the Nova Scotia Department of Justice.

A panel of experts representating youth, the media, business, unions, the legal profession and academia answered questions about the future role of the commission. Panellists offered and debated various recommendations, but agreed that education, already an important role for the commission, is the key to its future work.

"Government must put its resources into resolving systemic problems through education, not individual cases," said Wanda Thomas-Bernard of the Maritime School of Social Work.

Chris Finding, manager of media and investigation at the B.C. Human Rights Commission, talked about how the Supreme Court of Canada's Blencoe decision affected the work of his agency. The single biggest cause of delay is overloaded human rights officers.

"If you're keeping up generally, you will ultimately reduce case handling. It does take some money, but it's not as large an amount of money as you'd think, and the effect is dramatic," he said. He called for more training and better standards for the activities of human rights officers, and for commissions to support their officers' work.

The third panel -- executive directors of the P.E.I. and Nova Scotia human rights commissions -- responded to the presentation.

"The discussions today will help the commission and other organizations and individuals move forward in their work to create a better Nova Scotia," said Ms. Francis.