Human Rights - Inspire Law

Assisted Reproduction in Canada – Part 2 of 3 – The Wild West

August 14, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff
Photo: "Babies" by Mika Peltomaa is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0

I was surprised to learn several years ago that third party assisted reproduction is a frontier in which the wild, wild west remains largely intact. Nail salons and cattle breeding are more closely regulated that the creation of human beings. It...

Assisted Reproduction in Canada – Part 1 of 3 – New Draft Canadian Regulations

August 6, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff
"amorphous baby 2" by timbashape is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Many years ago, the federal government of Canada decided not to allow paid surrogates and “donors”, people who provide their reproductive material to assist someone else to conceive a child. As a nation, we decided not to promote a trade...

“…You Would Cry Too if it Happened to You” – Smoking in Condos Part 2

July 21, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff

In last week's article, "It's My Strata and I'll Smoke if I want to", we started looking at the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal case of Bowker v. Strata Plan NWS 2539. The case involved a militant smoker (LR) in...

“It’s My Strata, And I’ll Smoke If I Want To” – Part 1

July 14, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff
Photo: "We tried to save the innovation economy" by henribergius is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

What happens when a smoker does not want to stop smoking, but whose adjacent neighbor is a non-smoker with a health condition? Let's say the health condition worsens with exposure to second-hand smoke. Let's also say they live in a...

Parental Discrimination Against Babysitters

May 30, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff
Photo credit: Pexels Online

The Supreme Court of Canada recently declined to hear an interesting case that considered whether a parent had discriminated in a babysitting ad. The case arose from an ad posted on Kijiji by a mother looking for a babysitter to take...

Reluctant to Introduce Random Testing?

May 23, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff
DRUGS, ALCOHOL & WORK

Are you an employer with workers who may perform safety sensitive activities, but without a drug and alcohol policy and testing regime in place? Do you work with one or more colleagues who may perform safety sensitive activities? If so, and...

What Is Administrative Law?

April 11, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff

I am quite frequently asked this question. Administrative law is the body of law that governs administrative agencies. Administrative agencies are involved in virtually every aspect of our lives. Examples include agencies that regulate food and drug products, securities commissions, local building...

Is It Legal to Surreptitiously Record a Phone Call?

April 4, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Trudeau removed Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Dr. Jane Philpott from the Liberal party. The reason offered was that recording “conversations without consent” was unacceptable, and that an Attorney General recording a conversation with the Clerk of the...

What’s age got to do with it?

March 14, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff

Is age relevant in dismissals? Under Canadian common law, an employer is able to dismiss a non-unionized employee in only one of two ways. One is with just cause. This is generally difficult, though not impossible, for an employer to establish. The second...

Family Status Discrimination in Employment in BC

February 21, 2019
Susan Kootnekoff

In a recent decision in Envirocon Environmental Services, ULC v. Suen, the BC Court of Appeal confirmed that in order to establish discrimination in employment on the basis of family status, a human rights complainant must show: (1) a change in...