Systemic Patterns of Discrimination
The Code allows the Commission to address important human rights issues for groups of people other than through individual complaint processes, traditional public education, or equity programs. Indeed, the Code requires the Commission to “promote and pursue measures to prevent and address systemic patterns of discrimination.”
The Commission’s approach to addressing systemic discrimination is a rights-based approach that responds to the concerns of a “class,” or classes, of individuals to which a single complainant might belong.
Systemic Initiatives
The Commission has successfully helped to address inequality that affects individuals and groups by examining the systems which, sometimes by design and sometimes unintentionally, create barriers, disadvantage, and discrimination.
Some of the Commission’s systemic initiatives include:
Appropriate Resolution
All of the Commission’s work is also about using the most appropriate form of resolution. In some cases, a systemic remedy might be achieved through mediation or litigation. In other cases there are opportunities to work proactively and incrementally to achieve resolution. The Commission may choose, for example, to facilitate input from stakeholders, organizations, experts, and the general public. By working in this manner, rather than through individual complaints, it is hoped that lives of larger cohorts of individuals, who are affected by the same or similar issues, will be improved.
Recognizing that change often requires time, the Commission acknowledges that outcomes can also become apparent over time. In this way solutions are “living” outcomes which may need to evolve over time.