Guiding recommendations

Recommendation 6: Increase the training for and number of lawyers available to support Indigenous Peoples in bringing human rights complaints, with an emphasis on Indigenous lawyers.

Increase Indigenous involvement within the BCHRT

Recommendation 16: Offer human rights clinics in remote regions (going back regularly) to both teach about human rights and to assist with filing claims. Approach law schools for options to work jointly in providing these clinics regionally and to create regional expertise.

Public outreach to Indigenous communities

Recommendation 18: Create a step-by-step process for Indigenous applicants, which includes: what you can ask for; outline what help or resources are available; and what adverse impacts may look like for Indigenous Peoples.

Create an Indigenous specific stream within the BCHRT

Recommendation 26: Create the position of Indigenous Advocates or Navigators to help guide, support and coach Indigenous Peoples through the BCHRT process, and to help them address administrative barriers.

Plain language

Recommendation 35: Use plain language, easily understood by the average person with a grade five education, when communicating with complainants. Review communications, including forms and template letters, to ensure that they use plain language.

Time limits

Recommendation 36: Provide public education for Indigenous Peoples that complaints should be filed at the same time that a complainant is pursuing internal or informal processes because the BCHRT time limits are strict.

Website

Recommendation 43: Develop a website using plain and easily accessible language to provide Indigenous Peoples with information and to guide them through stages of the application process. The website should feature case-based examples, specific to Indigenous Peoples; short videos to illustrate the BCHRT process; and a guide to help people through the BCHRT process.

Need for legal representation

Recommendation 44: Advocate, perhaps with the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, Indigenous political organizations and legal advocacy organizations, for legal representation at the filing stage through to resolution, for Indigenous claimants.

Need for legal representation

Recommendation 45: Explore options to support greater access to justice for Indigenous Peoples in this area, including Indigenous human rights legal aid funding, administered by the Legal Services Society or a similar organization, to support Indigenous Peoples in making and advancing claims.

Need for legal representation

Recommendation 48: Encourage the creation of regional, or circuit, human rights clinics to both educate and assist Indigenous Peoples in filing and carrying through human rights claims. Explore options for clinics or workshops that operate regionally over time so lawyers can stick with a case, including potentially working with the three BC law schools. Clinics should be led by leading Indigenous counsel and provide representation to Indigenous Peoples, individually and collectively.