This document calls for a human rights-based response to the pandemic, even as more people get vaccinated and transmission rates drop.

In the fall of 2020, BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) released a report with recommendations on how to collect, store, use and disclose disaggregated data in a way that furthers the aims of equity and justice without reinforcing marginalization.

This brief provides an overview of increased instances of discrimination on the basis of social condition within the current context of COVID-19, as well as previous reports and consultations that have documented the extent of this systemic discrimination.

Our five-year Strategic Plan (2020/21–2024/25) lays the foundation for all our work by outlining our vision, mandate, theory of change, guiding principles, strategic priorities and approach to understanding our impact on promoting and protecting human rights in the province.

A key accountability mechanism for our work is the Commissioner’s yearly budget, service plan and annual report submission and presentation to the all-party Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services of the Legislative Assembly of B.C.

This policy guidance from B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender details how mask-wearing requirements must accommodate people with disabilities or medical conditions that prevent them from using of non-medical masks.

Under international law, economic rights— like the right to an ‘adequate standard of living’ through necessities like food, water and housing— are protected.

This report both answers and echoes the calls to collect disaggregated data to advance human rights.