Important

This is not legal advice! What you are getting here is just general legal information. It is not a substitute for advice from an actual lawyer about your specific situation. If you need legal advice, we urge you to find a lawyer who can help you. 

The Canadian Human Rights Commission and Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and what they do

The Canadian Human Rights Commission deals with discrimination cases. One law that protects you from discrimination is the Canadian Human Rights Act. If you are a federally regulated worker, you can file a formal complaint with the commission saying you’ve been sexually harassed. Sexual harassment under the act is discrimination based on sex. 

Your first step is to figure out if the Canadian Human Rights Commission is the right place to start, or if you should go to the human rights body where you live. The commission only deals with cases that happen in federally regulated workplaces. See Am I a federally regulated worker? (And why it matters). All other workplaces are handled by the commission or tribunal in your province or territory. Some people think that they can choose between the two or that the provincial commission can be appealed to the federal one—that is not how it works.

The commission helps people to mediate cases or it looks into the case and recommends it to Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for a hearing. If your case goes to the tribunal, the hearing will be less formal than in a court.

When you think about filing a complaint, you might imagine a process that ends in a definitive ruling that what happened to you was either right or wrong. But in reality, that almost never happens. In 2022-23, roughly 100 complaints were accepted by the commission; however, there was only one complaint of sexual harassment decided by a board of inquiry. The same year, a dozen cases were settled through the dispute resolution process.

We’re not saying don’t make a complaint to the commission, but it’s very unlikely the outcome will be a public acknowledgement of the fact that you were harassed. If you think you would be satisfied with a private settlement, which could involve such things as money to compensate you for the harm you experienced, an apology or a job reference, then participating in a dispute resolution process could be right for you.

Facts about the Canadian Human Rights Commission

  • In 2023, the commission accepted about 650 complaints from people who said they had been discriminated against or harassed at work or while getting services from a federally regulated company or a government body. 
  • Twenty percent of complaints to the commission are based on discrimination on the basis of sex.
  • Of all complaints dealt with by the commission in 2023, 26% were settled in mediation, 16% were dismissed, and 15% were referred to the tribunal for a hearing. The remainder were not moved forward for reasons like being filed too late or having to be dealt with through a union grievance.
  • About 10% of the 59 cases the tribunal ruled on or decided in 2023 involved sexual harassment.
  • Sources: Canadian Human Rights Commission 2023 Annual Report, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal 2023 Annual Report.  

Why consider filing a complaint with the commission

If you decide to file a complaint with the commission, here are a few things you may get out of the process:

  • It’s a chance to tell the harasser what they did is not okay.
  • You might get back money you lost because of the harassment—maybe you didn’t get a special project or a promotion, or were fired.
  • You might get your job back or get a reference for a new one.
  • You could request that your workplace make changes that would affect everyone there, not just you, such as improving their employee policies and training around sexual harassment.
  • It is possible to get some money to recognize the emotional harm you 

How to make a complaint to the commission

To start the process of filing a complaint, first check the Am I in the Right Place page of the commission’s website to see if you’re a federally regulated worker and so covered by the Canadian Human Rights Act. You can also learn whether your complaint can be considered by the commission. If it is, complete the online complaint form. You should receive an email confirming the receipt of your complaint within three business days.

Will the commission accept your complaint?

  • You must be a federally regulated worker to make a complaint to the commission. See Am I a federally regulated worker? (And why it matters.)
  • You have one year from when the harassment happened to file your application. If the harassment happened more than once, the deadline is one year from the last incident of harassment. 
  • Receiving a confirmation email after you submit your complaint form does not necessarily mean it has been accepted. You should receive another email within several weeks that will tell you what will happen next; this could say that the harassment you faced doesn’t relate to a ground of discrimination under the act. In that case, your application will not proceed.
  • The commission might decide that your complaint would be better dealt with through another process, like filing a grievance with your union.

How mediation works

While both you and the respondent—the person your complaint is about—will be encouraged to participate in mediation, no one can be forced to do this. It involves you and the respondent finding a solution to your complaint—something you both agree to.

The commission will assign you a mediator. How quickly you reach the mediation stage depends on things like how severe the discrimination was and how long it went on. 

Mediators are experts in dispute resolution and human rights law who listen to you and the respondent and work with both of you to come to a settlement. They’re not supposed to pick a side, and they aren’t supposed to favour either you or the respondent. Their goal is to try to reach a solution that both parties can approve. The purpose of this process is not to determine whether you were sexually harassed according to the Human Rights Act.

Early on, information will likely be exchanged by email or phone. Formal mediation meetings are almost always done remotely by videoconference; most sessions are scheduled for half a day. 

You and the respondent have four months to complete the mediation process. At the end, if you have reached an agreement, you will both sign a settlement agreement. This must be approved by the commission.

For more information

See step four on the commission’s About the Process page for the section on mediation.

Pros and cons of mediation

  • The mediation process is free.
  • You don’t need a lawyer to participate in mediation.
  • You are the one to decide what you will accept from the respondent to make up for the harm they caused.
  • Reaching a settlement through mediation is faster than a hearing, which could take years to happen.
  • More creativity is possible in mediation. For example, you can’t ask for an apology in a hearing.
  • Everything you say is considered confidential, or “without prejudice”—it can’t be used against you later.
  • Mediation doesn’t give you a chance to publicly say what happened to you or be told that it was wrong.
  • You will likely not get everything you ask for—you have to be ready to compromise. 

What you might ask for

Money to compensate you for:

  • The harm to your dignity, feelings, and self-respect.
  • Lost wages.
  • The cost of counselling sessions you’ve needed and/or money to cover future counselling.

Besides money:

  • An apology.
  • A reference letter or a letter confirming your employment.
  • A change at the workplace, like including a sexual harassment section in the policies handbook.
  • Your employer having to take a course about preventing and dealing with sexual harassment. 

What are you likely to get?

Details of mediated settlements are private. We do know that in a number of cases the agreements don’t involve money at all; instead, the respondents are ordered to do things like take human rights training or create a human rights policy that all managers have to be trained about. When money is involved, the types of monetary awards when sexual harassment cases are decided by the tribunal are a guide. In 2023 there were three tribunal decisions that involved sexual harassment; the awards for pain and suffering were between $9,000 and $12,000; there is a cap of $20,000 for such awards.

Beyond mediation 

If you and the respondent don’t participate in mediation or the process isn’t successful, a human rights officer reviews and assesses your complaint. This involves carefully considering all the related documents as well as requesting more information and interviewing witnesses, if necessary. At the end of this process, they write a report that recommends what happens next. This can take six months. 

You and the respondent then write your responses to the report. The report and your responses are considered by the commission, which decides what will happen to your complaint. This can involve it being dismissed, sent to conciliation, or referred to the tribunal for a hearing. This occurs about 15% of the time. For more information, see steps five and six on the commission’s About the Process page. 

Pros and cons of your case being decided at a hearing

  • The tribunal has expertise in harassment. All it does is handle complaints of discrimination, including harassment.
  • The tribunal has the power to say that, yes, you were harassed, and that what happened to you was wrong.
  • The tribunal can order many different remedies. It can award you money. If you were fired or had to quit because of the harassment, it can order your employer to give you your job back or compensate you for lost wages. 
  • If you go to civil court instead of the tribunal, you might end up having to pay the other party’s legal costs if you lose your case. With the tribunal process that can’t happen. You will never end up needing to pay the other party’s legal costs.
  • It can take years for a hearing to be held.
  • If you hire a lawyer to represent you, that will be expensive. If you don’t hire a lawyer, as about half the people whose cases are referred to the tribunal don’t, your chances of success are much lower. People who represent themselves at the tribunal are less likely to have their complaints found justified.
  • Very few people end up being told by the tribunal that they were harassed and what happened to them was wrong—in the last three years, fewer than half a dozen.
  • Tribunal financial awards for pain and suffering due to sexual harassment are capped at $20,000 and most awards are lower. The amount of an award is affected by how severe the harassment was and how long it went on. And remember, in many tribunal cases, people don’t end up receiving any money at all.
  • Even if the tribunal awards you money or other things, that doesn’t mean you will necessarily get them. It can be hard to force your employer or the harasser to give you everything the tribunal ordered.
  • Like in any legal process, your opponents will try to undermine your credibility and make you look bad. You could end up feeling disbelieved and unsupported.
  • Some psychologists believe it’s a bad idea for people who have experienced sexual harassment to get involved in any legal process. They say legal processes can slow down your ability to heal emotionally from what happened to you, because they keep you focused on the past. These experts believe that it can be healthier for the person who experienced harassment to put the past behind them and focus on their present and their future.

If your case goes ahead

The tribunal’s website includes a guide that covers all the steps involved when a complaint reaches that level. 

While theoretically it is possible to proceed with a complaint representing yourself, this is very challenging, time-consuming, and potentially harmful to your mental health. Your chances of success are much greater with legal help.

Here are some ways for find legal help, including some free or low-cost services:

  • The commission staff provide free help and support to people throughout the process. The level of help the commission staff will be able to give you is decided on a case-by-case basis.   
  • The 211 service in your province or territory can lead you to programs that offer support to people making a legal claim. 211 is a free and confidential 24/7 phone and text service that connects you with trained professionals who can help you find support resources, including legal help. Search online for 211 plus the name of your jurisdiction—for example, 211NB. 
  • Read the “best ways to find a lawyer” section of How to find and work with a lawyer. Note that legal aid is only available to low-income individuals. 
  • Justice Net is a not-for-profit service for those whose income is too high to qualify for legal aid but too low to afford regular legal fees. To qualify you must have a net family income under $70,000, or $90,000 if there are three or more people in your family, and be experiencing financial difficulties. Participating lawyers’ reduced rates vary depending on your family size and income.