The country’s human rights commissions have had a front row seat to witness the outcry or excesses over the health measures imposed for nearly two years. With each new announcement from governments, which have in turn imposed confinements, the wearing of masks or compulsory vaccination proof, the number of complaints has jumped, reveal data collected by The duty.
In Quebec, appeals lodged with the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ) exploded in the weeks following these successive announcements. The increase in volume was of the order of 50%.
Some bosses were looking for clarifications on the application of the various measures. Many citizens called to complain that their rights were being violated. “We even had to add a message to our answering machine to warn people that, if they were aggressive, we gave ourselves the right to end the conversation”, relates to the Duty the communications coordinator of the CDPDJQ, Meissoon Azzaria. “There was a period when it was difficult for the reception staff. “
Of the 839 complaints lodged with the Commission in 2020-2021, nearly 20% (138 plains) concerned the wearing of the compulsory mask in public places, imposed by the government of François Legault during the summer of 2020. And 37 other complaints have been filed since April 2021, according to the latest data from the CDPDJQ.
“If there are 138 complaints, out of more than 800 for the year, it is a lot on a single subject”, observes Mme Azzaria. By way of comparison, the CDPDJQ received 296 complaints related to the labor sector last year, all grounds of discrimination combined, and 63 relating to access to housing.
Wearing a mask can be challenged by evoking a disability – being asthmatic, autistic, unable to wear a face covering – which is prohibited as a ground of discrimination by the Charter of human rights and freedoms.
The obligation to be vaccinated in order to have access to the vaccination passport and to non-essential public places, introduced in September, also motivated a large number of calls to the CDPDJ. But the Commission received only four formal complaints (none of them based on religion). The grounds for medical exemption accepted by the Quebec Ministry of Health to avoid vaccination are very limited – a confirmed allergy to all COVID-19 vaccines, or myocarditis or pericarditis following the administration of one of these vaccines.
Ten times more complaints in Ontario
The protesters of the sanitary measures were much more numerous in the neighboring province. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has identified no less than 1,175 petitions related to the pandemic since April 2020. Of these, 504 petitions related to the wearing of the mandatory mask. Almost all (398) related to access to services and establishments.
The number of monthly complaints also reached a record when Doug Ford’s government announced the requirement for proof of vaccination: 138 complaints in September 2021 alone, then 83 in October and 80 in November, according to the latest data available.
Other motions brought before the Ontario court concerned various grounds of discrimination: a clinic allegedly refused to see a patient because he had been exposed to COVID-19; a hospital which prevented the parents of a disabled child from accompanying him to the establishment; or a citizen who has seen his government aid cut off by his province after receiving federal benefits.
The effect will have been the same across the country.
The Office of the British Columbia Human Rights Commissioner reported to the Globe and Mail recently saw an increase of 775% in the volume of inquiries related to COVID-19 between April 2020 and last October. In Alberta, the Human Rights Commission reported almost 100 appeals a day, compared to 15 or 20 normally.
On the side of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the organization confirmed to the Duty having “noted an increase in the volume of complaints” at the beginning of 2021, “more specifically related to the wearing of a mask or face cover”. The commission also reports an increase in complaints since September “concerning vaccines”, which is “in constant increase”.