Human Rights Clinic

The Law Centre will assist Complainants from the Capital Regional District who contact or are referred to it for assistance in filing a human rights complaint. It will also help Respondents from all parts of the province who have been notified that a complaint under the Human Rights Code has been filed against them. The Law Centre will help Complainants and Respondents with understanding the Human Rights Code and the Human Rights Tribunal process, preparing an initial complaint or reply, mediating the complaint with or without involvement of the Human RightsTribunal, and representing the Complainants or Respondents at Tribunal hearings as required.

Specific Services

Complainants and Respondents can receive:

• initial advice about how to make or respond to a complaint so they will have information to allow them to deal with the matter on their own;
• advice on the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence to support a complaint, and on reasonable settlement options;
• assistance in the mediation of the complaint;
• preparation of written submissions;
• representation at preliminary or other hearings of the Human RightsTribunal, either by telephone or through personal appearance;
• preparation for a hearing before the Human Rights Tribunal, including:
• legal research, contacting witnesses, preparing evidence, doing pre-hearing motions, preparing documents, complying with disclosure of documents, and discussing settlement options.

Eligibility

To be eligible a Complainant or Respondent must:

• Meet a financial eligibility test;
• Agree to and sign a Retainer (which does not call for the payment of fees);
• Provide demographic and business profile information required by the Province under a Memorandum of Agreement pursuant to which services to Respondents are being provided. This information includes:
• For a Respondent business: business type, size of business in annual revenue and number of employees, type of business organization (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc.), and geographic location of business;
• For an individual Respondent: the person's age, gender, languages the person is fluent in, income level, education level, the size of the population centre where the person lives, and if the individual Respondent has special needs.

If You Would Like Us To Help You

Complainants:

If you live in the Capital Health Region and think you may have a complaint under the Human Rights Code please call the Law Centre to make an appointment. The telephone number is: 250-385-1221.

Respondents:

If you live in the Capital Regional District and have been notified by the Human Rights Tribunal that a complaint has been made against you, please telephone the Law Centre to make an appointment. The telephone number is: 250-385-1221.

If you live outside of the Capital Regional District and have been notified by the Human Rights Tribunal that a complaint has been made against you, please call the Law Centre and use our toll free number: 1-866-385-1221

We will then forward to you an Application and Retainer.

We look forward to assisting you.