Vancouver B.C. – BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) has released a five-year strategic plan with new priorities and grounding approaches aimed at driving transformative social and legal change in the province. BCOHRC is the only independent body legislatively mandated to focus on systemic human rights issues in British Columbia.
The plan, Rising to the Challenge: Path to 2030, is the second strategic plan issued under Commissioner Kasari Govender, KC, since she became B.C.’s first independent human rights commissioner in 2019. This is Commissioner Govender’s second five-year term.
Whereas BCOHRC’s inaugural strategic plan focused on establishing the Office in the context of COVID-19 and the rise of hate across the province, the new Path to 2030 plan positions the Office to stand up to threats to democracy, address public health emergencies and consider the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis.
“We are living in a time of significant economic uncertainty, rapid technological development and threats of authoritarianism on the world stage,” said Commissioner Govender, “and so now, more than ever, it is crucial that we rise to the challenges we face and stand up for human rights.”
“It is crucial that we rise to the challenges we face and stand up for human rights.”
The Path to 2030 plan focuses on areas where BCOHRC stands to make the most impact in promoting and protecting human rights in B.C. while being alert, agile and responsive to emerging issues. The five strategic priorities it outlines are:
- the right to participate in democratic systems
- the right to the highest attainable standard of health
- poverty as a cause and effect of inequality and injustice
- discrimination under B.C.’s Human Rights Code
- decolonization and Indigenous rights
The plan also adds a climate justice framework to BCOHRC’s grounding approaches.
“A more equal future is both possible and foreseeable.”
“Now, more than any other time in recent history, we must not lose sight of our vision for a world in which we are all treated as equals and our fundamental human dignity is respected,” said the Commissioner. “These goals may seem unduly optimistic in a time when current events feel overwhelming, but we have many tools in our toolkit, the backing of provincial, national and international human rights law and—importantly—support from thousands of people across the province dedicating themselves to the pursuit of justice. A more just and equal future is both possible and foreseeable.”
To learn more, read BCOHRC’s Strategic Plan 2025/26–2029/30, Rising to the Challenge: Path to 2030.
This media release is also available as a PDF (628 KB).
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About BCOHRC
BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner exists to address the root causes of inequality, discrimination and injustice in B.C. by shifting laws, policies, practices and cultures. We do this work through education, research, advocacy, inquiry and monitoring. Learn more at: bchumanrights.ca
About the Commissioner
Kasari Govender began her work as B.C.’s first independent human rights commissioner in September 2019. As an independent officer of the Legislature, Commissioner Govender is uniquely positioned to ensure human rights in B.C. are protected, respected and advanced on a systemic level. In her first five-year term, her work through BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner included a public inquiry into experiences of hate in the pandemic, a report on systemic discrimination in policing, community embedded research about a range of human rights issues experienced by British Columbians, public awareness campaigns about ableism and racism and guidance to government that, among other things, informed the creation of both the Anti-Racism Data Act and the Anti-Racism Act. Commissioner Govender was reappointed for a second term beginning in September 2024.
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