COVID-19 AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Visit the COVID-19 and human rights page for more information about general principles on maintaining best practices in human rights in Alberta.
 
The Commission remains open. In order to comply with social distancing recommendations, there are no in-person services for conciliations, walk-in inquiry service, or appointments. Commission offices are open during regular hours for drop-off only. Tribunal offices are only open for hearings, which have limited availability to permit public attendance.
 
We encourage people to communicate with us by phone, email, fax, and mail. Please contact the area of the Commission that relates to your issue:
 
  • Confidential Inquiry Line
    In-person services are not available. Please use our website to find the information you need or contact the confidential inquiry line if you require further assistance.
  • Complaint Resolution
    Conciliation meetings take place by telephone or videoconference, rather than in-person.
  • Tribunal Office
    Tribunal Dispute Resolution (TDR) meetings take place by videoconference or teleconference, rather than in-person. Tribunal hearings take place by videoconference, or in person. See the schedule of upcoming hearings for details. If you have questions about TDR meetings or tribunal hearings, contact the Tribunal Office.

  • Education and Engagement
    E-learning and other education resources are available online. Community engagements continue by videoconference or in-person when safe to do so.
The Commission has information about mask-wearing on our COVID-19 and human rights page. The Commission has not published or posted any online graphics or posters about mask-wearing.
The Commission will continue to monitor the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) situation closely.
By Ministerial Order (M.O. 27/2020), limitation periods pertaining to the Alberta Human Rights Act were suspended starting March 17, 2020 and resumed June 1, 2020. This impacted the set period of time that people had to 1) make a complaint to the Commission, and 2) submit a Section 26 appeal to the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals.

COMMISSION NEWSLETTER
You can read the June 18, 2020 regular issue of the Commission newsletter.
CHIEF'S MESSAGE ON RAISING OUR VOICES AGAINST ANTI-BLACK RACISM
You can read a message from the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals.
REVISIONS TO THE TRIBUNAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION (TDR) PROCESS
To help further the Commission's efforts to continually improve our service provision and find efficiencies, the Tribunal Office is making changes to the scheduling process for Tribunal Dispute Resolution (TDR).
For any TDR scheduled after May 19, 2020, the Tribunal Office will schedule a date for the full-day TDR and provide that date to the parties six weeks in advance. If a party has a scheduling conflict, they have five business days to make a request to reschedule the TDR. In their request, the party must provide alternate dates that fall within 45 days of the scheduled TDR date. Any request to reschedule made more than five business after receiving the date will not be granted, unless there are exceptional circumstances (for example, an illness).
You can read more about TDRs here.
CHIEF'S MESSAGE ON COUNTERING RACISM DURING COVID-19
You can read a message from the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals.
REVISIONS TO THE COMPLAINT RESOLUTION PROCESS
In December 2019 the Commission launched revisions to its complaint resolution process to ensure that the large volume of complaints the Commission receives are resolved in a timely, effective, and fair manner. All human rights complaints received after January 1, 2019 will be assessed by a human rights officer to determine if the complaint will be resolved through an early resolution process, the Investigation Process, or the Conciliation Process. You can read more about the revisions to the complaint resolution process.

Please note: For complaints received before January 1, 2019, refer to the Complaint Inventory Resolution Project webpage.
RECENT TRIBUNAL DECISIONS
All tribunal decisions can be accessed free of charge through the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) website.

AMENDMENTS TO AL​BERTA HUMAN RIGHTS ACT COME INTO FORCE ON JANUARY 1, 2018
(January 2018)
The Government of Alberta has amended the Alberta Human Rights Act, effective January 1, 2018. Age discrimination is now prohibited in the protected areas of goods, services, accommodation or facilities, and in the area of tenancy. There are exceptions that allow specific types of age restrictions in the area of goods, services, accommodation or facilities. In the area of tenancy, age restrictions will not be permitted in rental buildings as of January 1, 2018. In addition, the Act is amended to protect ameliorative policies, programs and activities that are designed to improve the conditions of disadvantaged persons and that achieve or are reasonably likely to achieve that objective.

For details, read the January 2018 Notice of Changes to Alberta’s Human Rights Legislation.

Important information about making a human rights complaint relating to age under sections 4 and 5:
  • The Commission cannot accept complaints on the ground of age under sections 4 and 5 until the amendments come into force on January 1, 2018.
  • Only incidents that occur on or after January 1, 2018 will be covered by the new protection.

GENDER IDENTITY AND GENDER EXPRESSION NOW EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED GROUNDS OF DISCRIMINATION
Bill 7 is now in force. The Bill amends the Alberta Human Rights Act to add gender identity and gender expression to the Act as expressly prohibited grounds of discrimination.

PLEASE NOTE:
The Commission is in the process of updating its publications and website to reflect the amendments to the legislation. In the meantime, if you are reading a Commission publication or web page dated before December 11, 2015, please note that the amendments have not yet been incorporated into the publication or web page.

For more information, see the Notice of Changes to Alberta's Human Rights Legislation.

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ABOUT THE COMMISSION
The Alberta Human Rights Commission is an independent commission of the Government of Alberta. Our mandate is to foster equality and reduce discrimination. We provide public information and education programs, and help Albertans resolve human rights complaints.

The Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund has provided funding for this website.

Revised: September 11, 2020


Our vision is a vibrant and inclusive Alberta where the rich diversity of people is celebrated and respected, and where everyone has the opportunity to fully participate in society, free from discrimination.