Tag: #Discrimination

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Is There a Financial Risk to Filing a Human Rights Complaint?

Filing a Human Rights Complaint is not the same as “suing” someone. When people say they are going to sue someone, they are talking about the civil litigation route. There are various types of courts, like small claims courts and tribunals. The Civil Resolution Tribunal is an example.

“You can bring many civil law disputes for amounts from $5,001 to $35,000 to the BC Provincial Court’s small claims court” – Provincial Court of BC

You don’t need to pay a fee to file a human rights complaint. The Human Rights Tribunal is an administrative body and is court-like, known as “quasi-judicial body”. It is a legal process, and so you are entering an adversarial legal process. You and the school district lawyers aren’t buddies working together to suss out the truth. Every move they make is going to be in the best interest of their clients. (Hint: look for the win-win for both of you)

In a civil process, you risk having to pay the legal fees of the person you filed against if you lose. But in the Human Rights Tribunal process, you don’t take that risk.

On the BC HRT’s website page, they state this:

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Costs in court cases

In court, “costs” has a special meaning. Costs are about the costs of going to court.

In court, the losing side usually pays “costs” to the winning side. The “costs” are usually a part of the winning side’s actual costs.

Costs of going to the Human Rights Tribunal

Unlike in court, parties at the Tribunal pay their own costs. The Tribunal does not order the losing side to pay “costs” to the winning side.

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Does a Human Rights Complaint Cost Anything?

If you are self-represented, the Human Rights Tribunal process can be a free process if you aren’t paying lawyers’ fees. If you do retain a lawyer for the full process of your human rights complaint, it is risky. Lawyers’ fees add up VERY quickly and human rights settlements tend to be low. So you could possibly come out with nothing or even be in the hole. You don’t want to have to pay more money than what you get back. Seeking a pro bono lawyer or getting legal advice at various parts of the way (either paid or through the Human Rights Clinic) and being self-represented can keep your costs low or down to absolutely nothing.)

BUT….

And this is a big BUT, so all eyes on this.

You may have to pay costs IF the respondents file an improper conduct complaint against you and apply for costs, or they can also ask that your human rights complaint be dismissed. They are going to want to frustrate you to the point that you lose your shit, and they hope you start attacking them personally and call them names. If you do this, they have got you. They also like to generally do these things in hopes that you will tire. For some people, it just pisses them off even more, and it puts gas in their gas tank to keep going at the injustice of it all. They just don’t know which group you belong to, and so they will test you to figure it out.

Getting you to lose your shit is an EASY way out for them.

Don’t take the bait.

Here is an example:

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Miremadi v. Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (No. 2), 2023 BCHRT 53

[3]               The Respondent applies to dismiss the Complaint under s. 27(1)(d)(ii) of the Human Rights Code [Code]. The Respondent says that Mr. Miremadi has communicated inappropriately with the Respondent’s legal counsel throughout the proceeding, and that in these circumstances, it would not further the purposes of the Code to proceed with the Complaint. The Respondent says that Mr. Miremadi has repeatedly sent rude, derogatory, and demeaning emails to Respondent’s counsel, targeting her personally, and that in some instances, inappropriate personal comments have been based on her race or ethnicity. The Respondent also says Mr. Miremadi has made serious and baseless allegations against Respondent’s counsel, and has refused to follow the Tribunal’s process and directions to address an issue related to disclosure of documents. If the Tribunal dismisses the Complaint, the Respondent also asks that Mr. Miremadi pay the Respondent $1,000 in costs for improper conduct.

[16]           On April 16, 2020, Respondent’s counsel wrote to the Tribunal to advise that Mr. Miremadi had sent her emails referring to her as an “asshole”, “dirtbag”, and “scumbag”, and telling her to “go to hell”. She attached copies of Mr. Miremadi’s correspondence, and referred to Rule 7(7). She requested that the Tribunal dismiss the Complaint, or at least restrict Mr. Miremadi’s continued involvement in the matter, due to the rude and vulgar language he used.  

199]      Overall, the information before me suggests that any costs award may pose financial hardship for Mr. Miremadi. I considered this factor along with the seriousness of his conduct and the impact on the integrity of the Tribunal’s process. I find that in the circumstances, where Mr. Miremadi’s conduct has led to dismissal of his Complaint, one of (if not the) most significant consequence for a complainant at the Tribunal, an award of costs is not necessary for deterrence in the circumstances.

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There is a lot more to this case, and I suggest you read it in full. There is also a long list of leading cases on the BC HRT on improper conduct applications as well.

Lawyers will often intentionally put the wrong dates in emails, or send confusing emails seeking your response for clarification, report technical difficulties in receiving your files, ignore your emails, consistently ask for extensions, all to make you engage with them in hopes to get information and test how you communicate with them, or in hopes you will get frustrated and blow up at them. They are consistently interested in measuring your emotional capacity. It’s all information to them.

The good thing is, is that you can file an improper conduct on THEM as well.

You will want to read the important info page on this that is posted on the BC HRT website.

Here is a section from that page:

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Improper conduct is conduct that harms the process or the parties.

Conduct can be improper even if the party did not mean to harm the process or the parties.

Usually, the Tribunal will not order costs for minor problems.

Minor problem example:A party files a document late. Usually, this isn’t enough to order costs.

Examples of conduct that may be improper and result in a costs order:

  • Treating people in the process badly
    • Being rude or sarcastic during a hearing
    • Badmouthing other parties or Tribunal staff or members
    • Threatening other parties or Tribunal staff or members
    • Being disrespectful to other parties or Tribunal staff or members
  • Harming the hearing process
    • Destroying evidence
    • Lying to the Tribunal when giving evidence
  • Causing unnecessary cost or delay
    • Refusing to follow a Tribunal order
    • Saying you’ll attend the hearing then not showing up, with no excuse
    • Waiting until the hearing to say that the Tribunal doesn’t have power to deal with the complaint

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So, before you send emails to the lawyers, take a breather. Know that everything they do and do not do is strategic, and keep your eyes on them. Their strategy is information for you, too!

Collect and keep everything from them, and if you feel that what they are doing might meet the test for improper conduct, it might be something you wish to consider.

The BC HRT needs to know and be aware of what these lawyers are doing. As self-representative individuals, it already feels unfair that we are up against lawyers in a legal arena. It should at least be procedurally fair.

If nothing else, you can shine a light on what you have been dealing with. There is value in that!

Not everyone is going to be dealing with ruthless lawyers. Some of them are very focused on ending complaints and are solution-focused for a settlement, wanting as little disruption and lawyer fees costs for their clients as possible. This is when win-win solutions, early on, are very possible, and improper conduct complaints aren’t even on the radar.

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Compensation Amount

Getting compensation for your child who was harmed, is one of the reasons parents file complaints. Certainly not the only reason. There are lots of ways that your child can benefit beyond compensation. However, for this blog let us focus on the monetary benefits.

Historically, education cases have always been low in terms of what the tribunal has awarded. I have seen some cases that were quite surprising to me how much an adult got for not being able to bring a stroller into a store or having an appointment cancelled. Here we are talking about children and the impacts on them that could last a lifetime, and children don’t seem to be compensated enough. It seems a little off to me. This is an area that I think needs attention, but in this case, Student (by Parent) v. School District, 2023 BCHRT 237, there is some hope.

It was $5,000 for serious harm from the dates April 24 and June 27, 2019.

$5,000 for 64 days. AND this was only for one class out of 8 classes that took place every other day. Previously before this it was $4,000 and $10,000 that spanned years.

Previous cases, older cases, were Moore and Jubran. These were the only other public education cases for which complainants were awarded amounts that I am aware of in BC.

BC Human Rights Clinic has an awards chart that shows how much compensation has been given. This document was updated on April 3rd, 2025

The Moore case: Compensation for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect was for $10,000 for a time period that was years.

Jubran v. Board of Trustees, 2002 BCHRT 10: Compensation for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect was $4,000. This was for years of bullying and harassment.

These cases are older. The tribunals’ compensation amounts have been increasing, which they have acknowledged.

When it comes to an amount, it is important to note:

Spielberger v. Sofo Kitchens Ltd., 2025 BCHRT 1

160]      I start by noting that the Tribunal is not bound by its past decisions regarding how much compensation it orders for injury to dignity. However, I will keep Gardner in mind. I will also keep in mind that Gardner is ten years old, and that the value of the award in it must be viewed considering inflation.

[161]      In deciding an appropriate amount of compensation, I am guided by the factors considered in Gichuru v. The Law Society of British Columbia (No. 9) 2011 BCHRT 185, which include the time and nature of the discrimination, the period and frequency of the discrimination, any vulnerability of the complainant, the impact of the discrimination upon the complainant, and the totality of the relationship between the complainant and respondent: at para. 260; upheld in 2014 BCCA 396.

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Settlement will go into a Trust Account

It is also important to note that the money you get for your child will need to go into a trust account. This trust account will be managed until they are 19 years old by a government trust organization. If you get money from a hearing, it too will need to go into a trust account that you will need to manage until they are 19 years old. You can take money out before they are 19 years old; it just needs to be logged and recorded what was spent on the child.

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More than just Compensation

When you go into a mediation meeting, you can ask for certain things that you would never get out of a decision from the tribunal.

What does your kid need? What supports do you want for them at school?

Do you want policy? Do you want the schools to change an administrative procedure? What other kind of systemic changes do you think are important?

There are things beyond just compensation that may be very helpful for your child and your community.

Mediation Meetings

Mediation meetings are a cost-risk analysis. They are trying to determine how expensive they think you are going to be and what the chances are of you succeeding.

Be prepared. Write it out in terms of what you feel is fair based on the criteria above. It sounds horrible, but you are going to need to articulate the level of harm. You may find this uncomfortable or maybe liberating, but if you hold back, you may be compensated less because of it. As usual, the more evidence you have to support this, the better of a position you will be in. Schools assess everything in terms of risk management and liability.

Settlements are typically higher than what you will get at a hearing. The closer you get to a hearing than if you settle early on, the amount tends to increase as well. It just means that you need to be prepared and do the work for a hearing, just in case. You can also hire a lawyer to assist you in just the mediation part.

There are a lot of reasons people file human rights complaints.

  • People want change – advocacy reasons
  • They want their harm acknowledged
  • They want certain things to happen that they can get from a settlement
  • They want to ensure the schools are providing reasonable accommodations, and filing a human rights complaint forces schools to consider the damage period.
  • They want the discrimination to stop, and for schools not to do this to anyone else or at least think twice before they do.
  • They are pissed off and need to do something, anything, but have what their child experienced just swept under the rug

Lots of good reasons.

Compensation is one of those reasons, too. Most people I know want a specific amount because of the acknowledgment piece, or they want their kids to have counselling/tutoring or other services to undue the harm that has occurred. They feel their kids are owed a repair. Rightly so.

I highly suggest you do your research and look at other decisions and what was awarded to people. It will give you a good idea of the range to expect. Also, what arguments were used to justify why it was high or why it was lower. Looking at decisions when the lawyers offer a with prejudice offer and people reject them, can be interesting and eye-opening.

Here are instructions on how to look up case law. Or you can just go to the awards chart that the BC Human Rights Clinic on their website in the resource section, and they link the cases in the chart too! Very helpful.

For more information on the mediation meeting process, BC Human Rights Tribunal has this mediation policy page.

Family Status – Filing a Complaint for YOU

You are representing your child in a human rights complaint. This is not a family human rights complaint. If you want to be compensated for your lost days of work, and/or emotional harm than you will need to file a separate complaint for yourself under family status.

For more detailed information on this click here.