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.

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Wrapping up a series of online engagements with communities across the province, B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender will host a virtual townhall event with participants from […]

VANCOUVER, B.C. – On Tuesday, Sept.15, BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) will issue recommendations on how the provincial government could collect and use disaggregated demographic and race-based […]

Join us on Thursday, August 20, 2020, from 2:30-4:30 pm PDT, as BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender hosts an education and engagement session via Zoom with participants from B.C.’s […]

Join us on Thursday, August 6, 2020, from 2:30-4:30 pm PDT, as BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender hosts an education and engagement session via Zoom with participants from B.C.’s […]

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, from 1:00–3:00 pm, BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender will be hosting an education and engagement session via Zoom with participants from B.C.’s Fraser Valley. […]

On Thursday, July 9, 2020, from 2:30-4:30 pm PDT, BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender will be hosting an education and engagement session via Zoom with participants from BC’s coast […]

On Thursday, June 25, 2020, from 2:30-4:30 pm PDT, BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender will be hosting an education and engagement session via Zoom with participants from BC’s Northwest. […]

Dear Premier Horgan, Thank you for your letter of June 16, 2020 regarding the collection of race-based and disaggregated data. I appreciate you reaching out for my advice on this […]

On Thursday, June 11, 2020, from 2:30-4:30 pm, BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender will be hosting an education and engagement session via Zoom with participants from BC’s interior. The […]

Today, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial human rights commissions issued a letter calling on the Government of Canada to develop and implement a nation-wide strategy for the collection of disaggregated […]

British Columbia is currently marking Prevention of Violence Against Women Week (April 12-18). Never has this week been more important to mark than now, during the current COVID-19 pandemic. PDF […]

The following media release contains information about British Columbia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic that was current at the time of its publication. Provincial health orders and guidelines may have […]

Three years ago, Canada was rocked by shock and horror as a terrorist attack claimed the lives of six men at a Quebec City mosque and injured many others. “I […]

In response to an open letter addressed to Commissioner Govender from the First Nations LNG Alliance, dated January 19 2020, the Commissioner issued the following letter. The Commissioner’s statement of […]

B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender issued the following statement regarding the recent decision statement by the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). “In my lifetime, there […]

Each year, on Human Rights Day, people around the world mark the anniversary of United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—the first time in our history that […]

Vancouver– 30 YEARS AFTER THE ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE MASSACRE, THE HATEFUL IDEAS THAT LED TO THE MURDER OF 14 WOMEN ARE STILL WITH US. In 1989, a gunman walked into an engineering […]