Thursday, October 01, 2009

And Away We Go

On Thursday, October 1, 2009, the Canadian Human Rights Commission applied for Judicial Review of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's decision in the Warman v. Lemire case before the Federal Court.

I guess some folks will have to ream out Stephen Harper and Rob Nicholson even harder.

7 comments:

Ti-Guy said...

I guess some folks will have to ream out Stephen Harper and Rob Nicholson even harder.

Not "ream out." Just "ream."

Anonymous said...

I look forward to Mr. Levant now likening Stephen Harper to Bernie Farber. I mean what will he say hmmm..."Burny supports CHRC as PM "Harpoons" free speech"

Mitka said...

How sad, no one ever takes Levant seriously. Like a child who has acted out, his Tory Justice Minister just sent Ezra to bed without a cookie.

muscocamoca said...

All that time wasted by Ezra and his friends. Who would have believed given what Ezra wrote that Harper and the Conservatives would be supporting an Appeal. Hell if you read Ezra the Hajid's decision was all that was needed for s13 to be repealed. Instead the A-G backed by the PM are appealing the decision to save s13. Gotta love it.

Backseat Blogger said...

ummm... what am i missing here? it's the chrc that's appealing not the government.

no need to ream anyone out.. unless they want to be

Mitka said...

The CHRC could not appeal without the A-G being in support. The A-G would not be in support if the PM didnt give the go ahead.

Reality Bites said...

Nonsense. The CHRC is independent of the Minister of Justice. For Nicholson or Harper to interfere in the appeal process would have been a shocking abuse of power.

Levant was talking through his ass, as usual.


http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/canada-s-human-rights-commission-system-introduction-canadian-human-rights-commission-and-tribunal

Both the CHRC and the CHRT are to be independent of the government of the day. This requirement is important, due to the fact that both agencies often deal with complaints of discrimination against the federal government itself. Moreover, the CHRC and CHRT are meant to interpret and apply federal anti-discrimination legislation independently of the ideological views of the current government and governing political party.

In its early days, the CHRC was required to report to the federal Minister of Justice. In 1988, however, this process was changed to create greater independence for the agency. Today, both the CHRC and the CHRT report directly to Parliament through the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Minister of Justice, however, is still administratively responsible for the Canadian Human Rights Act, and is accountable for the policy actions of the CHRC.

In the context of the appointment process, the prime minister and cabinet have discretion in whom they may choose as a member of the CHRC and CHRT (although, they must meet the qualification criteria set out by the Act – see above). Once appointed, however, members do enjoy some independence. Most are appointed for fixed periods of time, and may only be removed for cause. This is meant to ensure that the government of the day cannot remove a member of the CHRC/CHRT simply on the grounds of ideological differences.