There are a lot of people self-representing themselves in many legal avenues. Small claims courts, family law, and residential tribunals are just to name a few. Most people navigating the human rights tribunal are self-represented as well.
What all these legal avenues have in common is that they are swamped with work, backed up, and everyone in these systems experiences way longer delays than anyone should ever have to experience. Navigating the human rights tribunal system has taught me patience and the art of waiting like no other experience has or would.
Fairness for a self-represented person is very important. We always want to make sure we are experiencing a fair process, especially when we are in an adversarial legal situation against lawyers. Already, it feels unfair. Because it is. So the process becomes extra important. The term you want to research is “procedural fairness”.
Tribunal members, adjudicators and judges are very used to dealing with the self-represented litigant vs. lawyer situations. This happens A LOT! To start out with, between 50-80% of the people are self-representing, depending on the area of law. That is already incredibly high. Then, of the self-representing litigants in this study “89.3% of respondents said that the other side in their case was represented by counsel, while 10.6% percent stated that the other side was also self-representing.” (p. 6) Wow, so most people are representing themselves in legal proceedings and most of the time they are up against lawyers.
There is a lot of case law already on trying to ensure a fair process.
There are cases that will point this out, and I encourage you to earmark these and use them just in case you feel you need them. There are lots on the procedural fairness page on the BC HRT below.
Here is one example of the HRT bending to ensure fairness:
Teacher v. School District and others, 2025 BCHRT 179
[3] The Teacher provided further evidence and argument in her Form 5 – Time Limit Reply, which I decided to consider because she is self-represented and should be given some latitude in raising new allegations and arguments in reply. In fairness to the Respondents, I considered their further submissions responding to the Teacher’s reply. Finally, I considered the Teacher’s reply to the Respondent’s further submissions as a matter of fairness.
Here is another case regarding making submissions
Taylor v Mallany, 2019 NLCA 25
[24] At paragraph 53 of the decision, Green J.A. notes that the Principles impose responsibility on judges, court officials, and members to the Bar to “ensure that self-represented persons are provided with fair access and equal treatment by the court” which includes “opportunities for all persons to understand and meaningfully present their case.” And further at paragraph 54, he suggests that the Principles should be treated as having some legal effect:
The Right to Make Submissions
[26] A fundamental element of the right to be heard is the right of a party to present their case to the decision-maker.
Procedural Fairness at the HRT
Here is the page on procedural fairness for the BC Human Rights Tribunal. I encourage you to read this if you are going to be navigating the process.
Here are some things that I have learned:
- If you are having meetings, you can ask for an agenda to be created so that you know what to expect and can do some research beforehand to prepare for the meeting
- ALWAYS ask questions. If you think something is fishy, ask! You have a right to ask questions.
- Push the line. If you think something isn’t fair, say so. People can’t read your mind and you are the one with all of the information about your situation. These systems aren’t designed for anyone in particular, so if your situation doesn’t fit the mold, speak up. Always ask for something that you want. If they say no, then you at least got your answer. Don’t assume the answer will be no.
- Lawyers aren’t allowed to take advantage of you becuase you are self-representing, so if you they are messing with you, you can call them on it by filing an improper conduct complaint with the HRT or file a complaint with the law society.
Here are some of my tips for navigating the HRT.
The tribunal members have their hands tied in many ways, but I can tell you, I have noticed when they are still able to stay in their lane, uphold case law, they will be flexible to ensure fairness to both sides. Which I have appreciated.
The HRT is a legal process. It’s a legal test. Doesn’t mean your experience didn’t happen.
Like any self-representing person, reading case law is a great place to learn about law. Here are the instructions to navigate Canlii. There are lots of great YouTube videos for people self-representing.
And for those who are interested, here is a fascinating report on self-represented litigants in Canada.