1972 Legislation is passed that creates
the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.
1973 Office opens in Saskatoon. The
Commission holds its first formal inquiry to hear a complaint
alleging discrimination on the basis of ancestry.
1974 Offices open in Regina and Prince Albert
1979 Existing human rights legislation
is consolidated into The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code
and significant new provisions are added. Three new prohibited
grounds are added, too - age, marital status and physical disability.
(Already existing prohibited grounds were race, religion, colour,
sex, nationality, ancestry, and place of origin.) In addition,
the Code makes legal provision for special programs such
as employment equity and education equity.
1980 The Commission grants its first
exemption and gives approval to the first employment equity program
and the first education equity program.
The Commission adopts Accessibility
Standards Guidelines, a formal guideline to assist in interpreting
the Code on accessibility matters.
1983 The first case to go to the Court
of Appeal is Peters v. the University Hospital Board which
establishes the right of people who are blind to take seeing-eye
dogs into public places, including hospitals.
1984 The Commission's first disability/employment
case to go to a board of inquiry is Sandiford v. Base Communications
Ltd. It is decided for the Commission.
The Commission's first sexual harassment
case to go to a board of inquiry is also decided in the Commission's
favour (Phillips v. Hermiz). The board affirms that sexual
harassment is discrimination on the basis of sex.
1985 Huck v. Canadian Odeon Theatres
is the first Canadian case at the Court of Appeal level to establish
a duty to accommodate. It also establishes the principle that
equality is not necessarily achieved by identical treatment. The
same principles were endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada later
that year in the Ontario case of O'Malley. The Saskatchewan
Commission was an intervenor when the O'Malley case went
to the Supreme Court.
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1986 The Commission initiates an education
equity program for K-12 designed to encourage Aboriginal children
to participate fully in the school system and to complete Grade
12.
A board of inquiry orders the City
of Saskatoon to repeal a bylaw that restricted postering on city
property, saying it limited freedom of expression (Robert Fink
v. The City of Saskatoon).
1988 In Chambers v. Saskatchewan
Social Services the Court of Appeal ruled it was discriminatory
for the Department of Social Services to pay less social assistance
to a single person than to a person who was married. The case
establishes that government services offered to the public come
under the Code.
1989 Mental disability is added to the
Code as a prohibited ground.
Section 14 of the Code is amended
to make it broader in scope. The Code was amended after
the Court of Appeal said The Red Eye - the Engineering
Students Society newspaper - affronted the dignity of women but
did not violate the Code because section 14 didn't include
written articles. After that decision was handed down, the Code
was amended to include articles and statements.
1990 The Commission applies for an injunction
asking that the owner of the Chop Shop be restrained from selling
or displaying racist stickers (SHRC v. Eugene Bell). Bell
voluntarily agreed not to sell or display the stickers until the
matter was heard by the courts. In 1994, the Court of Appeal said
displaying or selling the stickers was a violation of the Code.
Heidt v. City of Saskatoon
- the Court of Appeal says the City's sick-leave bank for employees
shouldn't have treated Heidt differently because of age.
1991 Karlenzig v. Thessaloniki Holdings
Ltd. and Papageorgiou reaffirms employers' liability for sexual
harassment in the workplace.
A board of inquiry orders MacMillan
Bloedel to implement an affirmative action plan, the first time
such an order has been made in Saskatchewan (Canning and McConnell
v. MacMillan Bloedel). The complaint was one of sex discrimination
in a non-traditional workplace.
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