The provincial government will be restoring B.C.香蕉视频直播檚 Human Rights Commission.

Premier John Horgan made the announcement in Vancouver香蕉视频直播檚 Davie Village on Friday, Aug. 4 as the city香蕉视频直播檚 Pride Festival got underway.

香蕉视频直播淚t香蕉视频直播檚 great to be here at a time of celebration but also at a time that we resolve to work together to fight inequality, to fight discrimination in all of its forms and work together as a community to ensure that all of our diversity is reflected everyday in our lives and our communities and in our province,香蕉视频直播� Horgan said.

香蕉视频直播淓very person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of physical ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It香蕉视频直播檚 our responsibility, all of us, to ensure that our society is free from discrimination.香蕉视频直播�

Restoring the commission was part of the NDP香蕉视频直播檚 platform in the last provincial election. B.C. became the only province in Canada without a human rights commission after it was scrapped by Premier Gordon Campbell香蕉视频直播檚 Liberal government in 2002.

The government retained the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, an an independent, quasi-judicial body that 香蕉视频直播渋s responsible for accepting, screening, mediating, and adjudicating human rights complaints,香蕉视频直播� according to its .

However, the tribunal is limited in its mandate and can not investigate alleged human rights violations. Critics point to this, as well its lack of education, advocacy and preventative work, as reasons to bring back the B.C. Human Rights Commission.

Attorney General David Eby said the Human Rights Tribunal has done a good job, but 香蕉视频直播渞elies on people taking the initiative and having the ability to go file a claim and wait the long period of time it takes to have a decision rendered, and then to enforce it. We need a commission with the power to do more.香蕉视频直播�

Eby said an important part of the commission香蕉视频直播檚 work will be to make sure that British Columbians everywhere can access human rights protections and that the education and outreach efforts that need to end racism and other forms of discrimination 香蕉视频直播渆xists, is active and successful.香蕉视频直播�

The attorney general will be working with Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Multiculturalism Ravi Kahlon to restore the commission. Kahlon, who is the MLA for Delta North, will be speaking with human rights advocates, lawyers and other stakeholders to identify a time frame for consultations, determine the scope and the reach of the commission, and decide what model the commission will be based on.

香蕉视频直播淎 human rights commission can be a very collaborative thing. It doesn香蕉视频直播檛 have to be a police officer; it could be working with the community,香蕉视频直播� Kahlon told the Reporter. 香蕉视频直播淚 believe that most people have good intentions and sometimes systematic racism or homophobia is not an issue that people are doing on purpose. And so I believe that there is a collaborative way for us to go forward.香蕉视频直播�

Neither Kahlon, Eby nor Horgan would give a timeline for when the consultations will begin, how long they will take, or when British Columbians can expect to see the new commission take shape.

香蕉视频直播淚t will not be an overnight process. We will take the time necessary to make sure that the commission that is designed is responsive to the needs of British Columbians,香蕉视频直播� Eby said. 香蕉视频直播淚 expect [Kahlon] to bring back that time frame for us around the consultations and the plan in the near-term, and we香蕉视频直播檒l have more information about that in the days to come.香蕉视频直播�

Kahlon told the Reporter that he thinks the consultations will be starting 香蕉视频直播渇airly soon.香蕉视频直播�

香蕉视频直播淚 suspect the attorney general will want an answer within a few months, and not necessarily in a year, so I would say it would be sooner rather than later,香蕉视频直播� he said. 香蕉视频直播淏ut there has been a lot of interest from many groups who have been advocating for various issues to be involved in the consultation, and so we want to make sure that they have that space to be involved.香蕉视频直播�

Premier said there have been incidents of intolerance, and commission can do education work to help BC community "stomp it out."

香蕉视频直播� James Smith (@JamesWESmith)