Hold offenders accountable for discrimination: human rights lawyer

A CBC story about a controversial Kijiji ad has prompted a lawyer to encourage Indigenous people who have been discriminated against to file human rights applications.

An ad by a North Bay fishing hut rental company in early January said status card holders were not welcome to rent ice fishing huts.

• Status card holders will 'not get the time of day,' ice hut rental company's Kijiji ad said
• Provincial ministry taking controversial ice hut ad 'very seriously'

Lori Mishibinijima, a lawyer with Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre, said although the burden of proving racist intent can be difficult without evidence, the process shouldn't deter people from filing the application.

"Although it is difficult, filing the application itself," Mishibinijimasaid, "it holds service providers accountable because then somebody has written to them in a legal action and said this is what you didand we believe that's a breach of the code."

• Debate erupts over what's best for Lake Nipissing after contentious ice hut ad

Also, cases are often settled before a hearing takes place, which means offences often remain out of the public eye.

According to latest 2013-14 figures, 22 per cent of human rights applications have to do with race, while 17 per cent have to do with ethnic origin.

"Race obviously is still an issue," Mishibinijima said, "otherwise, we wouldn't be see postings like this.

"The only way that service providers, housing providers and employers are going to know that they did something wrong is if you hold them accountable."