NEW PUBLICATION – KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
The Yukon Human Rights Commission was pleased to collaborate with the NWT Human Rights Commission in the development of the plain language publication Know Your Rights in both English (2.8MB PDF) and French (2.8MB PDF). You can either print off a copy from our website or phone our office to get a copy. We acknowledge the contribution of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, which provided permission for us to model this project on their plain language publication Human rights in Alberta.

NEWS release

Malcolm Baker Letter to the Editor ~ 148Kb PDF
(November 3rd, 2011)

Letter to the Editer - Questions about Rental Ads ~ 254Kb PDF
(November 1st, 2011)

Human rights recommendations for Police Review ~ 45Kb PDF
(September 16th, 2010) The Yukon Human Rights Commission has made six recommendations with a focus on human rights for the Review of the Yukon’s Police Force.

Yukon Human Rights Commission Submission to Police Review ~ 68Kb PDF

Human Rights Commission makes recommendations to Yukon Landlord and Tenant Act ~ 45Kb PDF
(September 27, 2010) The Yukon Human Rights Commission has made six recommendations to the Select Committee on the Yukon Landlord and Tenant Act.

Commission chair, Melissa Atkinson said, “Many Yukon landlords take their human rights responsibilities seriously, but the Commission has taken complaints alleging violations of human rights in some residential tenancy situations. In our submission we discuss some examples of these situations and provide recommendations for changes to the Landlord and Tenant Act.”

Submission of Yukon Human Rights Commission to the Select Committee on Yukon Landlord and Tenant Act ~ 37Kb PDF

CHANGES TO YUKON HUMAN RIGHTS ACT AND REGULATIONS

Human Rights Commission Submission to the Justice Department’s Discussion Paper on Law Reform “Modernizing the Yukon Human Rights System in Yukon" ~ 283Kb PDF (October 8, 2010).

TAKE NOTE (Disclaimer):
Any reference to the “Unofficial Consolidation” of the Yukon Human Rights Act or Regulations refers to documents which incorporate the new 2009 amendments to the Act and Regulations. When using the legislation for official purposes, individuals should refer to the official original documents of the Acts and Regulations printed and published by the Yukon Queen’s Printer which are available from queens.printer@gov.yk.ca or at the Yukon Public Law Library yukon.law.library@gov.yk.ca and at Yukon public libraries.

The Yukon Legislature passed Bill 71 on May 14, 2009 making changes to the Yukon Human Rights Act.  Over the summer and fall, the Department of Justice worked on Regulations to harmonize with the changes in Bill 71 and consulted with the Commission on the draft Regulations. On December 10, 2009 the new Act and amended Regulations (includes French) were brought into effect.

• See the Unofficial Consolidation of the Yukon Human Rights Act | French Version
• See the Unofficial Consolidation of the Yukon Human Rights Regulations | French Version

MAJOR CHANGES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

• Time limit for making a human rights complaint has been increased from 6 months to 18 months, and the Commission may extend the time limit in certain cases.
• The person making the complaint must now have reasonable grounds for believing that he/she has experienced discrimination.
• Commission has the ability to refer some complaints directly to a hearing before a Board of Adjudication without an investigation in certain cases. Examples of cases where the Commission may do this are:
• where a speedy resolution is needed because of urgent circumstances; or
• where there is agreement on the facts but not on how the law applies to the facts; or 
• where there are no witnesses to the alleged discrimination other than the complainant and respondent who do not agree on what happened.
• Commission may decide not to investigate a complaint when the person who made the complaint:
• declines a settlement offer  that the Commission considers fair and reasonable; or
• has used or could  first use other processes such as internal grievance or review procedures, which are available within an organization; or
• abandons his/her complaint; or
•  fails to cooperate with the investigation.
• Updated definitions eliminating the term “mental retardation”, replacing “seeing eye dog” with “service animal” and eliminating a discriminatory definition of “sexual orientation”.  The Act will now protect people of all ages from discrimination based on their sexual orientation.

The Yukon Legislature established the Select Committee on Human Rights on April 9, 2008. The all-party Committee held public hearings to receive the views and opinions of Yukon citizens and interested groups on legislative options for amending the Yukon Human Rights Act. The Committee members were Chair Marian Horne (Minister of Justice), and MLA’s Don Inverarity and Steve Cardiff. The Committee presented their report to the Legislative Assembly on November 20th. See “Report of the Select Committee on Human Rights – November 2008” (1225Kb PDF).  This report led to Bill 71, which made changes to the Yukon Human Rights Act and to subsequent changes to the Regulations.