Executive summary

In 2024/25, BC’s Office of Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) focused on holding the line against discrimination and hate in the face of a surge of authoritarianism, growing politicization of human rights issues and increasing mis- and disinformation—and continuing to push forward for a more just and equitable future.  

Strategic priority highlights

Reimagining human rights in B.C., our five-year strategic plan for 2020/21 through 2024/25, is the roadmap for the Office’s efforts to support and advance human rights across B.C. It describes five program-related priorities: 

• discrimination under B.C.’s Human Rights Code 
• decolonization 
• hate and the rise of white supremacy 
• poverty as a cause and effect of inequality and injustice  
• human rights protections for those being detained by the state 

The Strategic Plan also describes one operational priority: creating a strong and sustainable organization. 

The following are highlights from our 2024/25 work in these key areas.  

Discrimination

A key reason that BCOHRC exists is to ensure that the rights guaranteed by B.C.’s Human Rights Code are protected and respected. In support A key reason BCOHRC exists is to ensure that the rights guaranteed by B.C.’s Human Rights Code are protected and respected. We all have the right to be free from discrimination in employment and housing, when accessing services and in union membership. Under the Code, we are protected from discrimination based on several grounds, such as gender, race, Indigeneity and disability. In support of these rights, in 2024/25 we:  

• launched Rights in Focus: Lived Realities in B.C., a report that takes a focused look at 10 key systems impacting human rights in British Columbia 
• published an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) hiring practices question and answer resource to provide clear, factual information that empowers people to have constructive conversations about EDI and inclusive hiring practices 
• released educational resources to help workers in the restaurant and taxi industries understand their responsibilities to people who use guide dogs and service dogs, accompanied by a new I Love My Human Rights video featuring accessibility advocate and guide dog user Georgia Pike 
• launched the free online educational session, Systemic Discrimination: What We Can Do, which builds on our foundational Introduction to Systemic Discrimination webinar to provide learners with a more action-oriented look at the issue 

Read page 14 of the full annual report for further details about our work on discrimination under B.C.’s Human Rights Code.  

Decolonization

Historical and ongoing colonialism, including the dispossession of lands, has a devastating impact on Indigenous people and communities. Our Office works to change and improve structures that impede the full, equal and just participation of Indigenous peoples in all aspects of economic, social, cultural and political life. In 2024/25, the Commissioner:   

• intervened in Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society (VACFSS) v. R.R., in which the B.C. Court of Appeal ultimately decided to uphold the BC Human Rights Tribunal’s jurisdiction to make decisions about discrimination in cases relating to child welfare services 
• intervened in Gitxaala Nation v. Chief Gold Commissioner of B.C. et al. and Ehattesaht First Nation v. His Majesty the King in right of B.C. et al., arguing that the incorporation of UNDRIP into B.C. law through the Declaration Act means that the articles of UNDRIP must be given legal effect in B.C. 
• piloted a B.C. Human Rights Code workshop specifically intended for Indigenous people in B.C. 
• made a submission to the United Nations (UN) Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples study on “Indigenous Peoples’ right to data 

Read page 18 of the full annual report for further details about our work on decolonization. 

Hate

Combating hate in all its forms—from hateful speech to hateful violence—requires addressing fear and ignorance through a variety of mechanisms for social change. Our Office is committed to engaging in activities that build empathy, curiosity and connection across difference, while using the Commissioner’s powers to issue orders, make recommendations, advocate for changes to law, policy and practice, and advance public inquiries to meaningfully redress incidents of racism and hate. In 2024/25, we:  

• launched an immersive audio-visual exhibit, From Hate to Hope, that allows visitors to step inside the stories of the people impacted by hate in our province, amplifying the voices represented in the Commissioner’s Inquiry into Hate in the Pandemic and the large-scale works of art that emerged from it across B.C. 
• intervened in British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) on behalf of Chilliwack Teachers’ Association v Neufeld, through which the Commissioner argued that the BC Human Rights Tribunal has jurisdiction over hate and discriminatory speech published online 
• recognized the passing of the Anti-Racism Act, which followed extensive government consultation with BCOHRC and builds on the Anti-Racism Data Act (which implemented many of the recommendations from the Commissioner’s 2020 report, Disaggregated Demographic Data Collection in British Columbia: The Grandmother Perspective) 
• launched a new Commissioner’s Book Club to foster conversations and build deeper understanding of human rights issues through the power of stories 

Read page 22 of the full annual report for further details about our work on hate and the rise of white supremacy. 

Poverty

Our Office is committed to working towards effective protections for economic rights, engaging with poverty as a human rights issue and dismantling discrimination against people living in poverty. In 2024/25, our Office:  

• issued a letter jointly with the Federal Housing Advocate calling for local governments to take a human rights-based approach to addressing homelessness, including through specific and actionable plans 
• launched the Beyond the Headlines discussion series with a livestreamed conversation between the Commissioner and the Federal Housing Advocate about navigating the housing crisis while keeping human rights in focus 
• carried out an inquiry into restrictions placed on media by the Vancouver Police Department during an April 2023 decampment in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside 

Read page 26 of the full annual report for further details about our work on poverty as a cause and effect of inequality and injustice.  

Detention

BCOHRC believes that we all have the right to be free from arbitrary detention, abuse of power and other unfair treatment if we are detained by the police, in correctional centres, under community supervision or in mental health systems. We seek to ensure public bodies are held accountable for treating people in their custody in accordance with human rights protections. In 2024/25, we:  

• launched We’re Still Here, the final report of the Commissioner’s Inquiry into detentions under the Adult Guardianship Act, which revealed serious human rights issues and includes recommendations to ensure the human rights of vulnerable adults are respected 
• continued an inquiry into police use of force in B.C. against people who are racialized and/or have mental health issues 
• advanced work to implement the recommendations from our 2021 report, Equity is Safer: Human Rights Considerations for Policing Reform in British Columbia 
• issued a letter to Ministers of Education and Child Care and Public Safety and Solicitor General in response to developments regarding school police liaison officers and the firing of the SD61 School Board 

Read page 34 of the full annual report for further details about our work on human rights protections for those being detained by the state.  

Creating a strong and sustainable organization 

BCOHRC has a sixth, operational, strategic priority: to create a strong and sustainable organization capable of generating progressive impact on human rights in B.C. This includes building and sustaining a dynamic, healthy, diverse and inclusive team, establishing operational systems and processes in alignment with our goals and guiding principles. 2024/25 highlights include: 

• The B.C. Legislative Assembly unanimously reappointed Commissioner Kasari Govender for a second five-year term, which began Sept. 4, 2024. 
• BCOHRC transitioned to an in-house Corporate Services department (information management and technology, finance and human resources) following the conclusion of a shared services agreement the Representative for Children and Youth. 
• Our Office launched and implemented updates to an internal intranet site for BCOHRC to improve internal communication, access to information and efficiencies. 
• BCOHRC completed an evaluation of the Office’s first five years and began writing a new strategic plan for 2025/26 to 2029/30. 

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Highlights of our 2024/25 impact

To measure the impact of our work and its consequences for human rights across B.C., BCOHRC has developed an evaluation and impact frao measure the impact of our work and its consequences for human rights across B.C., BCOHRC has developed an evaluation and impact framework centered on five concepts:  

• building respectful and accountable relationships  
• creating accessible and relevant public education materials  
• providing recommendations to decision-makers on ways to improve systemic human rights issues  
• developing legal arguments to influence case law  
• building human rights-based policies, practices and culture  

Below we share highlights of our 2024/25 impacts in these key areas.  

Respectful relationships

The quality of our relationships will tell the story of our impact. In the 2024/25 period, BCOHRC responded to hundreds of incoming calls, emails and letters from members of the public with questions, comments and issues. In addition, the Commissioner reached more than 95 different groups through external speaking engagements. Read page 39 for more details. 

Public education

BCOHRC uses a wide variety of educational content to reach our audiences with the right information to influence attitudinal and behavioural change. In 2024/25, our Office hosted 19 free educational sessions, given to at least 1,975 people. BCOHRC also developed and launched Xenon 2, an innovative experiential learning session on systemic discrimination, updated our well-used Hate Speech Q and A, added to our plain language resources on B.C.’s Human Rights Code and more. Read page 42 for more details. 

Recommendations to decision makers

The Commissioner provides guidance and recommendations to duty holders—including elected officials, government leaders and responsible parties in other sectors—to help ensure systems cease to disadvantage and discriminate against marginalized communities. In 2024/25, the Commissioner wrote 52 letters to public bodies and BCOHRC engaged in more than 160 meetings with a range of external parties. BCOHRC also started its first recommendation verification process, to assess the implementation of the Commissioner’s recommendations to duty holders. Read page 48 for more details. 

Legal arguments

BCOHRC aims to improve human rights laws and systems in B.C. by holding public legal inquiries and intervening in court cases that may have a systemic impact on human rights. In 2024/25, the Commissioner intervened in three ongoing cases (mentioned above). BCOHRC also worked on three public inquiries (mentioned above) to shine a light in areas where there has been limited public scrutiny and limited access to information. Read page 49 for more details. 

Human rights-based policies, practices and culture

2024/25 marks the end of the first five years of BCOHRC since Commissioner Govender was first appointed in 2019. While we have grown quickly, we have done so with a view to building an Office that is sustainable and aligned with our guiding principles and with the structures and processes in place that support the Commissioner’s mandate into the future. The Office’s operations have been maturing through the work of our internal working groups that monitor and build on key priorities and our work co-chairing an Accessibility Committee with other independent offices of the Legislature, among other things. Read page 52 for more details. 

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Looking ahead: 2025/26–2027/28 service plan

Our service plan (2025/26–2027/28) flows from the above-mentioned strategic priorities and our evaluation plan. It outlines the objectives, key performance indicators and a sample of the activities we have envisioned undertaking over a three-year period to fulfil the Office’s mandate and to establish a baseline for setting future targets.   

Some of our activities in the service plan period include:  

• developing a public awareness campaign on mis- and disinformation (launching September 2025)  
• publishing resources on guide dog user’s rights related to public transportation 
• releasing a brief about the toxic drug crisis through a human rights lens 
• continuing advocacy on recommendations made to the Attorney General to amend the Human Rights Code to include social condition as a protected ground 
• producing guidance for elected officials on Human Rights Code compliance 
• releasing final reports from our Office’s three current inquiries and advocating for the adoption of recommendations 
• submitting applications for leave to intervene in additional cases, as capacity permits  
• ongoing relationship building with Indigenous leadership, communities and organizations 
• assessing, monitoring and improving on equity, diversity and inclusion through recruitment practices and ongoing improvements to BCOHRC’s employee resources 

Read page 56 of the full annual report for detailed tables of current and planned activities.   

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Budget and expenditures 2024/25

The 2024/25 operating budget for BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner was $7.668 million and the capital budget was $35,000.  

Going forward, the BCOHRC operating budget for 2025/26 is $7.856 million. The approved budget for the next three years will be confirmed with the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services in fall 2025. The capital budget remains $35,000 over the next three fiscal years. 

For more about how we developed our organization and made an impact in 2024/25—and about what we are planning in the years ahead—please read our full annual report, Holding the Line (PDF, 20MB).