A glorious posting was made on May 7th, 2024 on the BC Human Rights Tribunal website and it was something I have never seen before or even knew was possible.
Hats off to the lawyers who came up with this idea. I did a search on CANLII and I can’t find another Consent Order connected to a human rights decision.
If anyone knows of one, I’d love it if you could send it along to me.
So, what in the world is a Consent Order?
From Kimball (by Kuebler) v. Kelowna Actors Studio Inc., 2024 BCHRT 136
(3) The Tribunal did not hold a hearing but the Complainant and the Respondent advised the Tribunal that they agree about the background facts and the remedies set out below, and they requested that the Tribunal enter those facts and remedies in a consent order. I am satisfied the order is consistent with the Code and I am prepared to make the requested order under s. 17(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act.
It is friggen glorious, that is what it is!!!
It outlines all of the wrongness and the agreed-upon remedies (details of the settlement). This decision gets posted for everyone to read about and learn from, and it becomes a decision that future lawyers and self-represented applicants can use to assist themselves in their own case or know how much is fair for compensation.
It’s the exact opposite of an NDA.
For information on NDA’s you can read my blog with the video from lawyers discussing the topic, called To NDA or Not to NDA, that is the Question.
Can you imagine if parents in education made this the norm for settlement agreements?
We would be exposing the reality of the education system for all people and government systems to see.
This is the beginning stages of how CHANGE happens.
Through awareness, education, and decisions by human rights tribunals. Then we can take these decisions, raise awareness, shine a light and APPLY it.
Human rights decisions or laws are only as good as the systems that enforce it.
Some parents enter the human rights tribunal system to make systemic changes. Not everyone is. I totally respect that. If you are wanting compensation for your child, I TOTALLY get it. Now, this is an option that we could possibly get both.
The big question is….. how often would the tribunal be willing to post these?
It needs to advance the code….
Only time will tell, and only people willing to test the system will be able to tell us.
But this is definitely something to think about. Wow. Consent Orders.
Think of how much changes have happened in education in the last 6 months with all of the recent human rights decisions, 2 – connected to students’ cases , BOTH by self-representing parents, family status confirmed as not novel, successful OIPC cases won by parents, and now we have consent orders to think about.
A new world.