Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Abandoning Human Rights Tribunals: Costly Or No?

The Aboriginal Affairs Coalition of Saskatchewan is worried that the provincial government's plan to dissolve the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal will render the process "too costly for many individuals who can't afford lawyers and court fees". However, Sask. Justice Minister Don Morgan disagrees, and his response is worth noting:

"The government's intent -- outlined in its recent throne speech -- is that the system will work almost exactly the same for individuals, including cost.

"The only difference will be is that they are going to be in front of a Court of Queen's Bench judge rather than a tribunal member. So everything else will be exactly the same as it was. So the people that are the applicants that are before the court ... will bear no cost, as they do under the existing system."

I think its a given that the cost of processing and resolving complaints will go up. What the provincial government is quite clearly saying is that it will bear these costs rather than slough them off on the complainants. Such "reforms" would hardly be a win for the Speechys, it would seem to me. And that's a good thing.

4 comments:

Kim said...

Beware of backlogs, justice delayed is justice denied.

ridenrain said...

If judges make the decisions maybe nagging legal details like the burden of proof and the truth might actually come back into play? I'm as terribly sorry as the next person about these poor babies hurt feelings but these trials have become a joke.

Jerome Bastien said...

Sorry to burst your bubble BCL but having a real judge (as opposed to some untrained hack) adjudicate these matters is in fact a real win for the speechies, because it's a win for justice.

Gerrard787 said...

BCL is just offering spin Jerome. He realizes full well that this will mean the end of the Left's assault on our free speech traditions.