Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If that's a question, I think there is a danger, by referring to other rights in even the opening provision and rights in customary law and tradition, that those may be.... If a tribunal were to interpret “abrogate” or “derogate” to mean a complete bar to applying the Human Right

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a very tall order. I'll address the point about the last point, and that is customary laws or traditions. In the balancing that the act currently creates, it creates an access to our right to non-discrimination under employment or services, and on the other hand, it crea

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, they're bound to consider those factors that are relevant to the justification provisions that have been established in the act in order to deal with employment justifications and service justifications. And so to the extent that a party before a tribunal has good reasons f

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, if a tribunal read this to mean that this protected all customary laws or traditions, that might possibly be the effect. But once again, this area is largely unexplored and we're just at this point trying to develop the thinking that would go into this consideration.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Once again, I did mention the Jacobs case, where a membership law was accepted by the Mohawk band, and it was used as a means of saying the two complainants could not get certain services. The case was examined within the means created by Parliament for the balancing of rights an

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe it was a law that was accepted by the band, so it presumably would become the custom for that particular purpose. The result was that they did not receive some services because he was adopted and the rules prohibited those who are adopted from being members. She was a m

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  At this point, as far as I know, the courts have not defined an “other right” for the purposes of section 25 of the charter. There has been some discussion in some of the lower courts, for example, on some fishing rights, but they would presumably be separate and apart from the a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I might start off by saying that the reference to other rights in proposed new clause 1.1 and paragraph (c) and perhaps even (b) raises issues that really have not been resolved by the courts. Other rights may include a number of things that have not yet been defined, and I suppo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think we're not allowed to provide the advice that was given by the Department of Justice. It is protected by solicitor-client privilege. But as Mr. Reiher said, what we can say is that the Department of Justice was involved in the development of the bill.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, there are a number of prohibitions against discrimination in employment services, accommodations, and so on. That's what they enforce.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The commission just decides what it's going to do with a complaint; the tribunal is the one that actually makes the decision. They're distinct organizations. The commission does have some flexibility in making policy and can make quasi-legislative guidelines to help interpret the

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Human Rights Tribunal simply applies the law. They find out whether there's discrimination, based on the evidence, and then they apply the defence as is required by, say, a shipping company or a band council. So the evidence will depend on the kind of case.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. I think each sort of defence has a structure by which each element is proved by evidence. I think what we're trying to say is that in a case that involves, say, a band council and its actions, that evidence will probably take into account the collective concerns this band cou

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think that's a matter of policy.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It was Jacobs.