Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Three have been sent to the tribunal, all of those cases because they're against the federal government, which did not have the three-year time period applying. The three-year time period was only as against a first nations government.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are several before us that deal with the funding of education. As well, the status ones are ones that we would still be processing. Just to clarify, the respondents are able to raise the jurisdiction issue before the commission as well, and we could reject them under section 41 and not deal with them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, and really, the mandates of the various commissions--federal, provincial, and territorial--are based on the constitutional powers of each. The federal commission has those powers the federal government has, so as the chief commissioner indicated at the outset, we cover all federal departments and agencies and federally regulated employers, whereas the provinces have jurisdiction within those provinces.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Oh, certainly. We're bound by the decisions of the tribunal, absolutely. The courts obviously inform us greatly, but the tribunal decisions are the ones we follow when we refer a case on. It might be on an issue of duty to accommodate, for example. The tribunal will make a decision, and then those decisions of the tribunal and the superior courts--the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada--are what we follow in our investigations and our consideration of the case.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thanks for the opportunity.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Perhaps I might be permitted to respond to the preamble before the question. The fact of the matter is that some of the information that has been in the media and some of the descriptions of what we have done we feel are untrue. As part of our special report, we have detailed what our process is.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can honestly say I'm not aware of what awards Richard Warman has received. As you know, we're not the tribunal. I do not know. I do not have a number. We can certainly look into that. I certainly have no knowledge of any amounts the commission has paid to Richard Warman. I'm not aware of that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can't give you the origin of its existence, but certainly obviously from our perspective it came from Parliament in terms of our mandate to deal with hate on the Internet. Section 13 is a creature of statute, as you know, and it came from the mandate of Parliament. In terms of the balancing and the limit, that was, as you know as well, considered head-on in light of the charter by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Taylor case in 1990.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. I appreciate the opportunity, albeit briefly, to describe our processes. As you well know, of course, we are an administrative tribunal, and as such are subject to the rules of procedural fairness. All of our decisions are subject to review on judicial review.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have operating procedures that we follow, certainly, which are more in terms of the time periods within which complaints and responses must be filed and so on.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The legal tactics, if you will, are conducted in the same way before the tribunal in virtually every case. When we would make any kind of special request, we have to establish that before the tribunal. As you know, there are no hearings at the commission.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  On one occasion when an application was made before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to permit one of the witnesses to give evidence, our lawyer had to state the case as to why a great exception would be made to the usual. The foundation of that was based on concerns of potential security or safety.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. Certainly it has been the position of the commission. As you know, we did table a special report to Parliament last Thursday, which we're pleased to provide to you as well. It really talked about the balancing, in saying that in virtually all jurisdictions there is a balance.