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Laying the Foundations Laying the foundations Annual Report 2019/20 and Service Plan 2020/21–2022/23 Plan Service and 2019/20 Report Annual Laying the foundations Annual Report 2019/20 and Service Plan 2020/21–2022/23 December 2020 British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) encourages the dissemination and exchange of information presented in this publication. All material presented in this publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence with the exception of photographs and images, BCOHRC’s logo, any branding or trademarks, content or material provided by third parties and where otherwise indicated. To review the licence, visit: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ BCOHRC recognizes the important relationship between protecting the natural environment and protecting human rights. One way we reduce our environmental impact is by limiting print copies of our reports. However, if you have difficulties reading this report in its electronic format, you are welcome to contact our office to request a printed copy. This publication can be found in electronic format on the website of British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner: bchumanrights.ca/annualreport2019 © British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner 536 - 999 Canada Place Vancouver, BC V6C 3E1 1-844-922-6472 | [email protected] Laying the foundations Annual Report 2019/20 and Service Plan 2020/21–2022/23 To the Indigenous peoples of this place we now call British Columbia: Today we turn our minds to you and to your ancestors. You have kept your unceded homelands strong. We are grateful to live and work here. Page4 BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner|bchumanrights.ca DECEMBER 2020 The Honourable Raj Chouhan Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Dear Mr. Speaker, It is my pleasure to present BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner’s 2019/2020 Annual Report and the 2020/21–2022/23 Service Plan to the Legislative Assembly. This document reports on the period from September 3, 2019 to March 31, 2020 and highlights activities underway and planned for April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023, and has been prepared in accordance with Section 47.23(1) of the Human Rights Code. Sincerely, Kasari Govender B.C.'s Human Rights Commissioner Province of British Columbia cc: Kate Ryan-Lloyd Clerk of the Legislative Assembly bchumanrights.ca | BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner Page 5 536-999 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E1 [email protected] | Toll Free: 1 844 922 6472 bchumanrights.ca Table of contents Message from the Commissioner ....................................................7 BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner ....................................11 Our vision ...........................................................................11 Our mandate .........................................................................11 Our role ............................................................................12 Our guiding principles ................................................................13 Our approach .......................................................................14 2019/20 highlights .................................................................. 17 Surveying the landscape .............................................................. 17 Defining our role. 17 Building relationships ................................................................18 Creating awareness ..................................................................18 Making progress .....................................................................19 Laying the foundations .............................................................21 Taking stock of previous recommendations .............................................21 Key Report: A Human Rights Commission for the 21st Century .............................22 Capturing a snapshot of human rights in B.C. ...........................................25 Building relationships with our peers .................................................. 30 Justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our operations ..................................33 Our strategic priorities .............................................................36 Discrimination under the Human Rights Code ...........................................38 Decolonization ......................................................................41 Hate and the rise of white supremacy ................................................. 44 Poverty as a cause and effect of inequality and injustice ..................................47 Human rights protections for those detained by the state ................................49 Special issue: COVID-19 .............................................................52 Service Plan 2020/21–2022/23 .....................................................54 Our approach to strategic planning ....................................................54 Our goals, objectives and activities ....................................................57 Our approach to monitoring and evaluation ............................................64 Budget and expenditures. 69 Our finances ....................................................................... 70 Appendix: Presentations to community groups ....................................72 If you are unsure about terminology used in this report, we invite you to visit our Human Rights Glossary at: bchumanrights.ca/glossary Message from the Commissioner BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner was created in 2019 to tackle systemic human rights issues and address obstacles that stand between us and the safe, equal B.C. in which we all want to live. I deeply appreciate the dedicated human rights activists and advocates, civil society organizations, public servants, elected officials and citizens whose calls for a more just society led to reinstatement of this Office at a critical time. I am also grateful for our team who pour their hearts, minds and energy into building an organization to do the work envisioned by so many in the community. I deeply appreciate the dedicated human rights activists and advocates, civil society organizations, public servants, elected officials and citizens whose calls for a more just society led to reinstatement of this Office at a critical time. Our vision is a province free from inequality, discrimination, and injustice, where we uphold human rights for all and fulfil our responsibilities to one another. To achieve this, we are focusing on five strategic priorities: discrimination under B.C.’s Human Rights Code, decolonization, hate and the rise of white supremacy, poverty as a cause and effect of inequality and injustice and human rights protections for those detained by the state in prisons and institutions. Since September 2019, we’ve been building our organization on the fundamental principles of systemic equality and decolonization, ensuring we can meet today’s human rights challenges. So much has changed since I took office as B.C.’s first independent Human Rights Commissioner just over one year ago. To date, COVID-19 has infected more than 72 million people worldwide, killed more than 1.6 million, cost millions of jobs, upended society and lit the fuse of racism and fear. This is unfolding amid a worsening provincial health emergency: a tainted opioid epidemic killing more British Columbians each month than coronavirus. From the Black Lives Matter protests to the Wet’suwet’en solidarity protests, people have been rising up against racism and colonization, sparking conversations about systemic racism in policing and social institutions. These crises present extraordinary obstacles to preserving human rights. This global pandemic has amplified racial tensions and fueled hatred, extremism and the rise of authoritarianism. The virus is exacerbating poverty, homelessness, hunger, mental illness and domestic abuse. The rights of children and youth are threatened as parents and educators race to find safe options bchumanrights.ca | BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner Page 7 for school. Unemployment has spiked and young people and women, particularly women of colour, are disproportionately affected. We know human rights abuses, racism and discrimination occur daily — these unprecedented times merely highlight society’s inequalities. The pandemic has increased our work, as we address injustices made visible by this critical situation, yet it also presents a unique opportunity to make change. While this Office is new and still building out basic operations, my small team has developed programs and resources at a rapid pace. We started to influence public policy on COVID-19 responses by launching two public surveys and issuing multiple submissions and letters to policy makers. We published a report with recommendations to government for collecting disaggregated demographic data while protecting citizens’ privacy and rights. We jumped into public outreach, meeting with over 3,000 people and hosting virtual townhalls and public engagements across B.C. Over the last year, our Office received 500 emails and nearly 300 public queries through our 1-800 number and established a legal assistance and crisis line referral system. Our human rights education plans are well under way. We launched a multilingual accessibility-enabled website and issued guidance for employers on their duties under the Code. We produced two videos: the first, an educational piece
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