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 Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and what it does

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission is the agency that receives and investigates human rights complaints regarding violations of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. It helps people to mediate or settle their complaints. If a complaint can’t be resolved, the commission may refer the case to the Court of King’s Bench for a hearing. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and the Court of King’s Bench deal with discrimination cases. Sexual harassment is considered sex discrimination.

When you think about filing a complaint, you might imagine a process that ends in an adjudicator definitively ruling that what happened to you was either right or wrong. But in reality, that almost never happens. The majority of cases are settled through mediation, not by an adjudicator.

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 having your complaint mediated could be right for you.

Facts about the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission

  • Every year about 500 people file a complaint with the commission. Just 20% of these are accepted, or formalized.
  • Roughly 10% of the people whose complaints are formalized say that they have been discriminated against or harassed on the basis of sex.
  • More than 60% of formalized human rights complaints are settled through mediation.
  • About 15% of formalized human rights complaints are settled by the Court of King’s Bench. 
  • Sources: Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2023-24, CanLII

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 a reference for a new job.
  • You could request that your workplace make changes that would affect everyone there, not just you, like improving its employee policies and training around sexual harassment.
  • It is possible you might get some money to recognize the emotional harm you suffered from the harassment.

How to make a complaint to the commission

To start the process of filing a complaint, you should first check the Am I in the right place? page of the commission’s website to see whether your complaint is covered by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. If it is, then you must contact the commission’s office, which will put you in touch with an intake officer. The intake officer will assess whether your complaint can go forward. If so, you will be asked to complete an intake questionnaire, and the intake officer will draft a formal complaint. 
You can file a complaint against anybody who is sexually harassing you at work—your employer, a co-worker, a supervisor, a customer, or a contractor. In your application, you can also name the company or organization you were or are working for. Even if your employer is not the one who’s harassing you, they have to protect you from sexual harassment and a harassing environment. See How to report sexual harassment to your employer.

Will the commission accept your complaint?

  • You have one year from when the harassment happened to file your complaint with the commission. If the harassment happened more than once, the deadline is one year from the last incident of harassment. In certain situations, the commission will accept late complaints if you can show there was a good reason for the delay.
  • The intake consultant may try to settle your issue through pre-complaint resolution before the complaint becomes formal. This approach is most likely if your complaint might be resolved quickly. This usually involves calling your employer and explaining the law, with the aim of resolving the case right away so that you can safely return to work. 
  • You can file a complaint with the commission if you work in Saskatchewan or if the harassment happened in Saskatchewan, but not if you work at a federally regulated workplace. See Am I a federally regulated worker? (And why it matters.)
  • You’re covered if you’re unionized or non-unionized, temporary or permanent, an independent contractor, or undocumented. 
  • Your complaint may be delayed if you have filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board. See Should you apply for workers comp?

How mediation works

Sometimes complaints can be resolved before they have been accepted, or formalized. Otherwise, once you and the respondent—the person your complaint is about—have submitted your versions of events, a commission mediator will facilitate mediation. This process might involve in-person mediation; it can also be shuttle mediation by phone or correspondence. The goal is to try to reach a solution that both parties can agree to within 90 days. Close to half of complaints are resolved through this process.

Mediators are human rights experts who listen to you and the respondent and work with both of you to come to a settlement. They are expected to behave neutrally. They’re not supposed to pick a side, and they aren’t supposed to favour either you or the respondent or advise you to accept a settlement. The purpose of this process is not to determine whether you were sexually harassed according to the Human Rights Act. 

Pros and cons of mediation

  • The mediation process is free.
  • Many people participate in mediation without a lawyer.
  • Mediation can be less stressful and simpler than a hearing. It doesn’t involve calling witnesses or testifying. 
  • You are the one to decide what you will accept from the respondent to make up for the harm they caused.
  • 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.
  • There is no risk in participating in mediation. If it fails, your complaint will move to the investigation stage.
  • 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 settlements reached through mediation are private. However, we know that in a number of cases the agreement doesn’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. A maximum of $20,000 can be awarded for emotional harm, although the average settlement in mediation for this is about $8,700. 

Beyond mediation

If you and the respondent can’t come to an agreement through mediation in 90 days, the next phase is investigation. The investigator puts together an investigation plan, then interviews witnesses and examines evidence, which they can request the parties provide. They are starting fresh: They not allowed to know what was discussed or revealed in the mediation process. At any time during the investigation the parties can ask the investigator to mediate. This process may take six months or more. 

In the end, the investigator presents a disclosure report outlining their findings, which is sent to you and the respondent. This report contains the investigator’s recommendation as to whether the complaint should be dismissed or continue to the Court of King’s Bench for a hearing. The final decision about what should happen is made by the chief commissioner, who can agree with the investigator’s recommendation or return the case to them for more review. It may take several months before the chief commissioner makes their decision.

Before a complaint goes to a hearing, there is one more attempt to resolve it through what’s called directed mediation. The respondent is asked to make a final offer; if the commission believes that it is reasonable, but you don’t accept it, the chief commissioner will dismiss the complaint. Otherwise, your case will go to the Court of King’s Bench for a hearing.

Pros and cons of your case being decided at a hearing

  • The court has expertise in harassment. All it does is handle complaints of discrimination, including harassment.
  • The court has the power to say that, yes, you were harassed, and that what happened to you was wrong.
  • The court 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. It can order your employer to make a donation to a charity, or to provide anti-harassment training.
  • It can take years to get to court.
  • If you hire a lawyer to represent you, that will be expensive. If you don’t hire a lawyer, your chances of success are much lower.
  • People who represent themselves are less likely to have their complaints found justified.
  • Very few people end up being told by the court that they were harassed and what happened to them was wrong.
  • Financial awards for harm to dignity are small. The maximum amount possible is $20,000, but the average is several thousand dollars less. In many 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 future.

If your case goes ahead

The commission staff are trained to help you with the process, and the commission’s counsel will argue the case in court and will call evidence and witnesses. You don’t need to have a lawyer or present your own evidence, though some complainants chose to.

Here are some places that offer free or lower-cost legal services:

  • Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan provides free legal services to low-income Saskatchewan residents through 13 clinics across the province. Clients receive up to one hour of free legal advice from a volunteer lawyer. In some situations, lawyers from this service will represent clients through the whole legal process.
  • 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.
  • 211 Saskatchewan is a free and confidential 24/7 phone and text service that connects individuals to services in the province. You can call or text 2-1-1 to be connected with trained professionals to help find support services.
  • Your workplace union, association, or employee assistance program may be able to help you find legal services or cover part of your legal fees.