Incorporate Indigenous laws

Recommendation 11: The BCHRT, working in concert with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, could approach other human rights agencies to institute an Indigenous ombuds office across jurisdictions, per the recommendation of the MMIWG2S Inquiry.

Increase Indigenous involvement within the BCHRT

Recommendation 12: Priority should be given to hiring or appointing Indigenous staff and tribunal members.

Increase Indigenous involvement within the BCHRT

Recommendation 13: Audit the current HR process to identify why Indigenous Peoples are not being recruited or hired. Provide specific training to HR staff on how to actively recruit and fairly assess Indigenous applicants. Seek specific mentoring advice from other organizations with higher Indigenous staff ratios about how to address this underrepresentation. The BCHRT should set yearly hiring targets for the first five years, and report on success in meeting those targets in annual reports.

Increase Indigenous involvement within the BCHRT

Recommendation 14: Audit the tribunal appointment process to identify why Indigenous Peoples are not applying or being appointed as tribunal members. Set specific recruitment and appointment goals for BCHRT Indigenous tribunal members.

Increase Indigenous involvement within the BCHRT

Recommendation 15: Implement options for part-time appointments to qualified Indigenous tribunal members, who may not be available full-time. This could provide a way to reflect Indigenous adjudicative and dispute resolution traditions within the tribunal’s expertise.

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 17: Create a public education campaign for Indigenous Peoples which addresses human rights from an Indigenous perspective:

1. Make materials easily accessible at Band offices, Métis organizations, Friendship Centres, Indigenous political organizations, and universities.
2. Emphasize cases where Indigenous individuals have successfully brought human rights claims.

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.

Public outreach to Indigenous communities

Recommendation 19: Create videos or fact sheets to talk about cases that have been successful to assist Indigenous Peoples in situating their experiences as discrimination within the BCHRT framework.

Micro-discriminations

Recommendation 20: The BCHRT, partnering with the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, should create public education and awareness about micro-discriminations against Indigenous Peoples. The focus of the education would be to bring unconscious and pervasive bias to light so that it can be addressed.