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What is discrimination?
Discrimination prohibited under the Charter exists
when:
- the facts, actions or words in question produce a distinction, exclusion or
preference that concerns you personally;
- this distinction, exclusion or preference is based on one of the grounds set
out in section
10 of the Charter;
- this distinction, exclusion or preference deprives you of the right to equality
in the recognition and exercise of your human rights and freedoms.
The discrimination may be:
- direct (for instance, you are dismissed because you are Black or Asian);
- indirect (for example, a company's hiring standards result in your
being excluded because of your near-sightedness);
- systemic (as a result of the overall policies and practices of a company,
for example, a disproportionate number of women are excluded, or prevented from
progressing within the company).
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The
grounds for prohibited discrimination
Prohibited discrimination exists when an individual
or organization uses a "personnal characteristic " as grounds for refusing
a job, housing, access to a public place or the exercise of any other right under
the Charter.
Discrimination need not necessarily be direct. It may also arise out of an apparently
neutral, generally applicable rule that has a prejudicial effect on a specific
person because of a "personal characteristic" defined as a ground for
discrimination.
Section 10 of the Charter lists the personal characteristics that
constitute grounds for prohibited discrimination.
These are:
Age: applies to any age or age group. (Exceptions provided for in some
legislation may not be discriminatory, for exemple, the legal age for voting at
18 years…)
Social condition: a specific place or position in society as a result of
particular facts or circumstances (income, occupation, education); for example,
socially underprivileged people including welfare recipients or the homeless.
Political convictions: firm convictions expressed by open support of a
political ideology, activism on behalf of a political party or social lobby group,
participation in the activities of a trade union acting as a social pressure group…
Civil status: being single, married, divorced, adopted, a member of a single-parent
family, any form of family ties or kinship…
Pregnancy: state of pregnancy, maternity leave…
Handicap: actual or presumed disadvantage arising from a deficiency
of some kind, including loss, malformation or abnormality of an anatomical
organ or of a mental, psychological or physiological structure or
function, (or the means used to palliate a handicap),
such as a wheelchair, guide dog, prosthesis...
Language: any spoken language, including an accent, although
the status of French as Québec's official language is not in
itself discriminatory.
Sexual orientation: heterosexuality, homosexuality.
Race, colour, ethnic or national origin: any country of origin or skin
colour.
Religion: membership or non-membership of a religious denomination, the
practice of a given religion or the fact of not practising a religion.
Sex: female or male, transsexuality.
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What is harassment?
Harassment is behaviour characterized in particular
by:
- the repetition of words, acts or gestures,
- of a vexatious or contemptuous nature,
- with regard to a person or a group of persons, on the basis of one of the grounds
listed in section 10 of the Charter.
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What
is exploitation?
Exploitation prohibited under the Charter exists when:
- you are an elderly or handicapped person and have
suffered a moral or material prejudice from another person or an organization
;
- your old age or handicap affects you physically, mentally or psychologically
to the extent that it places you in a situation of dependence.
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Addresses
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