SCC Refuses To Reconsider BCCA's Stricter Approach To Family Status Discrimination

Protections against discrimination are enshrined in federal and provincial human rights legislation across the country. Although there are commonalities, the methodology for determining discrimination is not the same across the various grounds of protection, nor is it the same across the provinces.

In British Columbia, as in other jurisdictions, the test for determining whether discrimination has occurred on the basis of family status is unsettled. At the heart of the conflict is the applicability of the tests established in Health Sciences Association of B.C. v. Campbell River and North Island Transition Society, 2004 BCCA 260 ("Campbell River") and Moore v. British Columbia (Education), 2012 SCC 6 ("Moore") to matters involving allegations of discrimination on the basis of family status.