In most jurisdictions in Canada, human rights legislation
prohibits discrimination on the basis of "family status."
Until recently, few cases were brought alleging discrimination
under this branch. However, recent decisions across several
jurisdictions have made it clear that employers must be attentive
to this ground of discrimination or risk exposing themselves to
significant liability.
There are two different ways in which employees have argued that
they have been argued against due to family status. One is when
they are treated differently due to the identity of specific family
members. For example, in B v Ontario, the applicant was fired
because his daughter had accused the applicant's brother and
President of the employer of molesting her. The Supreme Court
accepted that the applicant was fired because of his biological
relationship to his daughter, which was discriminatory. There does
not appear to be much controversy surrounding this type of
complaint.
