The Yukon Human Rights Commission has been encouraging accused parties to settle their cases, and this is unfair, according to the province’s ombudsman.
Ombudsman Jason Pedlar, in a report, identified “operational issues that are unfair”, including gaps in policies and procedures, incorrectly interpretating the Human Rights Act (HRA) to meet their statutory obligations and “overreliance on settlement to manage an ever-increasing caseload”.
“A lack of such impartiality can be real or perceived and we found that the [commission] operates in such a way that unfairly creates at least the appearance of bias towards complainants during settlement discussions,” reads Pedlar’s report. “Bias, real or perceived, can undermine public trust in the operation of the [commission] and is a hallmark of fairness.”
