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The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute originally passed by the Government of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vicitims of discriminatory practices based on a set prohibited grounds such as gender, disability, or religion.
The act outlines the creation of a Human Rights Commission that investigates claims of descrimination as well as the creation of a Human Rights Tribunal to judge the cases.
Before a case can be brought to the Tribunal it must go through several stages of investigation and remediation, after which, if the parties are not satisfied will go to the tribunal. If a complainant can show a valid case of discrimination the defendant can rebut it by showing that their practice was for a justified reason. The process is generally known as the "Meiorin Test" which is similar to the Oakes test justification in a charter challenge.
Decisions from the Tribunal are binding as any other court with the option to appeal to a higher court.
External link
Dept of Justice : Human Rights Act (http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/H-6/)
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