In recent years, the enforcement of Canadian human rights statutes has been the subject of
much criticism. That criticism comes not only from organizations that are required to change
their practices to comply with the statutes, but from advocates who question the effectiveness
of human rights enforcement. Studies which attempt to address these criticisms generally
review the criticisms and then seek to modify the enforcement models to ameliorate the
problems which have generated the criticism. This thesis considers the problem from a more
theoretical perspective. With a focus on disability, this thesis considers whether Canadian
anti-discrimination statutes, which were created when the prevailing theory of equality was a
formal one, are capable of achieving substantive equality as it is now conceived.
Applying a disability rights perspective, substantive equality for people with disabilities
requires that a wide and complex variety of barriers be removed. These barriers may result
from intended or unintended discrimination. They may be physical or attitudinal. They may
be isolated, individual acts or they may reflect widespread societal norms. To eliminate such
an array of barriers, anti-discrimination statutes must include a range of powers and
procedures: they must incorporate provisions that protect people with disabilities from such
barriers; they must provide mechanisms to identify the barriers; there must be mechanisms to
determine whether the barriers contravene the protected right; and the statutes must provide
effective remedies.
This thesis concludes that contemporary human rights enforcement models are capable of
effectively addressing many individual barriers to equality for people with disabilities.
However, under a complaint-based model, human rights agencies cannot effectively address
barriers that result from the operation of widespread norms. Canadian human rights agencies
are therefore limited in their ability to achieve the societal transformation that is necessary to
achieve substantive equality for people with disabilities. For such equality to be realized,
anti-discrimination statutes must be seen as just one facet of a much broader approach. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/16657 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Patch, Tom W. |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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