Repeal section 3 of Alberta’s Human Rights Act

To justice.minister@gov.ab.ca,

The Honourable Mickey Amery, K.C.
Minister of Justice
Government of Alberta
Office of the Minister of Justice
424 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, T5K 2B6

Dear Minister Amery,

RE: Repeal section 3 of Alberta’s Human Rights Act

I am writing to urge your government to repeal section 3 of Alberta’s Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5, which grants Alberta’s human rights system broad authority to regulate lawful speech and political expression.

Alberta’s Human Rights Act plays an important role in prohibiting genuine discrimination in employment, housing, public services, and other areas of civic life. These protections are already addressed throughout the Act’s provisions governing discriminatory conduct in employment, tenancy, services, accommodation, and related matters.

Section 3 is fundamentally different. It prohibits publishing or displaying before the public any statement, notice, symbol, or other representation that indicates discrimination or an intention to discriminate, or that is likely to expose a person or class of persons to hatred or contempt because of a protected characteristic.

Unlike the rest of Alberta’s Human Rights Act, section 3 regulates speech itself rather than discriminatory conduct. In recent years, similar provisions elsewhere in Canada have increasingly been used to investigate and penalize citizens for expressing lawful opinions on controversial social and political issues. In one recent case in British Columbia, the BC Human Rights Tribunal ordered former Chilliwack School Board Trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 over comments criticizing gender ideology policies in schools.

Repealing section 3 would not legalize discrimination. Alberta’s Human Rights Act would continue to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, services, and public accommodations. Nor would repeal affect the Criminal Code prohibition on the wilful promotion of hatred under section 319.

I therefore urge you and all Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to support legislation repealing section 3 of Alberta’s Human Rights Act.

Alberta should lead the way in protecting both genuine human rights and freedom of expression.

Sincerely,