Lucie Lamarche

Le Processus québécois d'enquête en matière de plaintes de discrimination: Quelques raisons de s'inquiéter.

Quebecs Human Rights Tribunal is a unique phenomenon in Canada. The creation of a forum to adjudicate human rights violations does not, however, solve the inadequacies and inefficacies of a system designed to resolve complaints of discrimination. In this essay, the author first examines the accessibility of the complaint processing system while attempting to circumscribe and characterize the outlook on intervention of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse responsible for handling complaints of discrimination. Seventy five percent of the files open yearly are rejected at one point or another of the complaint investigation process. Moreover, most of the pending files are settled between the parties involved. Treatment and settlement of complaints on an individual basis may be satisfactory enough in a context in which a complainant is viewed as a client but it is unsatisfactory in terms of fundamental human rights. Taking into account the peculiarities of the Commissions “clientele,” this essay concludes with a statistical and sociological analysis of the effect of out-of-court settlements and this clienteles prevalent non-accessibility to the justice system. These clients must be satisfied with an administrative reformulation of their right to equality. Such a transformation of how equality rights are determined is troubling.