News release

Four Boards Of Inquiry Appointed

Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission

Nova Scotia's Human Rights Commission has appointed four boards of inquiry to consider complaints of discrimination based on political affiliation, race and color and religion.

Two of the boards will look at the issue of political affiliation, which has been a protected characteristic under the province's Human Rights Act since 1991.

In the first complaint, against the Office of the Premier and the Nova Scotia Department of Human Resources, Donald Rochford of Dartmouth alleges that even though he placed first in a competition for the province's chief of protocol position, he was not offered the job in December 1994 because of political affiliation.

In the second case, Archie Kaiser, a Dalhousie law professor, alleges that the Executive Council did not consider his applications for 1995 and 1996 appointments to the Criminal Review Board and the Review Board under the Hospitals Act because he is not affiliated with the Liberal Party. Both Kaiser and Rochford signed formal complaint forms with the commission in March 1996.

The third board will look at the issue of race and color, which has been protected under the Human Rights Act since 1969. In the complaint, Glenfield Brathwaite, of Elmsdale, alleges he had been continuously discriminated against on the basis of his race from 1973 until 1995 by his former employer, the Department of Natural Resources. Brathwaite brought a formal complaint against the department in June 1995. He has subsequently retired.

The fourth board will look at the issue of religion. Religion has been a protected characteristic under the Human Rights Act since 1969. Noreen Nicholson, of Sydney, complained to the commission in January 1995 that her former employer, the Breton Bay Nursing Home, had refused since October 1992 to schedule her shifts to accommodate her religious beliefs.

Also, the commission discontinued three complaints of political affiliation against the Department of Transportation. The complaints stem from the 1994 restructuring of the department. Two of the complaints were lodged in April and September 1994, and the third complaint was filed in January 1997. The commission decided that the evidence did not support the complaints.

Boards of inquiry are the final step in Nova Scotia's human rights complaint process. Though the commission decides if boards will be appointed, the Chief Judge of the Provincial Court selects who will chair them. Boards are independent and public hearings into complaints of discrimination. Only a board of inquiry can decide if discrimination has taken place. Dates for the four boards are yet to be set.

Nova Scotia' Human Rights Commission is an independent government agency charged with administering the province's Human Rights Act.