The Future of Human Rights: National Conference on Race and Access to Justice in Canada

Event Description

Debates about race and the disproportionate barriers to accessing justice for racialized communities are persistent in Canadian human rights and equality jurisprudence. Human rights models—whether designed as ‘gate-keeping’ or ‘direct access’—create additional limits to the accessibility of human rights commissions and tribunals, especially for racialized groups. While critics have reviewed the strengths and limits of these models, there is less dialogue about the impact of these structures, along with broader procedural and systemic limits, on access to justice for racialized populations. In light of concerns about rhetorical practices that advance a colour-blind jurisprudence in Canada, systemic barriers, lack of cultural sensitivity, case dismissals, lengthy delays, and inadequate engagement with the systemic nature of racial discrimination, as well as a lack of diversity on the bench, this national conference explores pressing issues that can shape discourse on the future of human rights in Canada. With a formal keynote address followed by a panel of distinguished speakers, as well as debates by leading legal scholars and human rights experts, this conference provides an unparalleled opportunity to address issues of race and access to justice within Canada’s human rights system and the possibilities for reform.