Notice about timelines Currently, due to a high volume of complaints and limited resources, the Commission cannot guarantee processing times. We continue to triage and prioritize cases where the alleged discrimination is ongoing or severe. All cases are dealt with as efficiently as possible. The details of your complaint may result in faster or slower processing times.
How it works
Anyone in Canada has the right to file a discrimination complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act if they believe they have been discriminated against by the federal government or a federally regulated organization.
One of the roles of the Canadian Human Rights Commission is to screen human rights complaints from people across Canada. This means that the Commission looks at discrimination complaints and assesses whether these complaints need to go the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The Tribunal is separate and independent from the Commission. Only the Tribunal can decide if discrimination has happened.
Not every human rights complaint goes through the Commission's complaint process in the same way. A complaint may go through one or several steps, depending on the situation. The order of the steps can vary because every complaint is unique.
The time it takes the Commission to process your complaint varies depending on several factors, including the nature of the allegations and the volume of other complaints at that time.
Overall, our complaint process follows six main steps.
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Step 1: You file a complaint
A person, or group of people, can file a human rights complaint by sending us a completed complaint form online, by email, by fax or by mail. (There is no walk-in service available to file your complaint in person.)
Processing times for Step 1
When using the Online Complaint Form, you will receive a confirmation email when you submit your complaint. For complaints submitted by email, fax, or mail, a confirmation email or letter will be sent to you within 5 business days of receiving your complaint form. Note: Delays may occur if we are receiving a high volume of complaints.
Step 2: We receive your complaint and determine if it can be accepted
Once we receive your Complaint Form, we will review it to ensure that it meets all the necessary criteria of a human rights complaint. We may contact you to get more information.
After we have reviewed the complaint, we will decide whether it can be accepted. Not all complaints we receive are accepted. If your complaint is not accepted, we will explain why.
If your complaint is accepted, you are referred to as “the Complainant”. The person and / or organization you are complaining about is referred to as “the Respondent.”
Processing times for Step 2
We will contact the Complainant within 90 business days to confirm if we can accept the complaint. If we cannot accept the complaint, we will inform the Complainant of why, and we will let them know if there are other organizations that may be able to assist them.
Step 3: We process your complaint
Your complaint has now been accepted. At this step, we will process your complaint in one of two ways:
- Option A: Assess the preliminary issues
- Option B: Gather the Response and Reply
Option A: Assess the preliminary issues
Some complaints require a decision at this step.
When we review your Complaint Form, we may identify some preliminary issues [761 KB] that we need to address.
The assessment of these issues is under section 40/41 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Based on the review of any preliminary issues that apply to your complaint, the Commission may:
- decide not to deal with your complaint, or not to deal with your complaint at this time, in which case your file is then closed
- decides to deal with your complaint, in which case we will determine the next step, which can include asking for a Response and a Reply
- decide not to deal with your complaint at this time if another process is available to deal with your concerns
Option B: Gather the Response and Reply
This is the step where we ask the Respondent to fill out a Response Form. The Respondent will have 60 days to send you, the Complainant, and the Commission their completed Response. This is where the Respondent can tell their version of what happened.
We will then ask you, the Complainant, to fill out a Reply Form. You will be able to address any of the issues the Respondent shared in their Response Form. You will have 60 days to send the Respondent and the Commission your completed form.
The information provided in the Response Form and Reply Form helps us determine next steps.
It is important to note that if the Respondent or Complainant chooses not to provide a Response/Reply, the Commission can still proceed.
Next steps could include:
- mediation or conciliation
- a direct referral to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
- an assessment of preliminary issues, if any are raised that were not already examined
- an assessment of the allegations in the complaint
Processing times for Step 3
Step 3, Option A: Depending on the nature of the complaint, it takes the Commission 2 to 4 months to address the preliminary issues of a complaint. You will be informed at each stage of our process.
Step 3, Option B: If a Response Form and Reply Form are requested, the Respondent has 60 calendar days to provide a Response, after which the Complainant has 60 calendar days to provide their Reply, for a total of 120 calendar days for this step.
Note: Delays may occur when parties are late to submit their documents.
Step 4: We offer mediation and/or conciliation to the parties
Mediation is voluntary, confidential and optional. The goal is to bring about the settlement of a complaint.
We encourage people to participate in mediation, voluntarily. Since the Commission's role is to work in the interest of the public, the Commission can decide to make mediation mandatory at any point in the process. When that happens, it is called conciliation.
Mediation and conciliation give both parties the opportunity to explain what happened, and to try to resolve the concerns that led to the complaint.
We schedule and provide mediation and conciliation services free of charge. Mediation and conciliation are usually scheduled for a half-day session.
Our mediation services are offered remotely through video or teleconferencing. This is a practice that has been in place since the onset of the pandemic, and we have found it to be the most effective and efficient way to support parties in finding resolutions to their complaints. It eliminates the need for travel. It reduces the time required to hold a meeting. It makes scheduling easier, and it speeds up the process overall.
Our priority is to offer a barrier-free human rights complaint process for all. We will continue to offer in-person mediation if requested as a form of accommodation.
Please speak with your assigned mediator if you require any form of accommodation or have any access needs during the mediation process. For more information on the Commission's accommodation policy please visit: Accommodation in the Human Rights Commission's Complaint Process Policy.
If mediation or conciliation results in a settlement, the Complainant and the Respondent will sign a settlement agreement. This agreement states what the parties have committed to do to resolve the dispute. It will still have to be reviewed and approved by the Commission.
If mediation or conciliation does not result in a settlement, we will decide on next steps.
Processing times for Step 4
Once your complaint is assigned to a Mediator, it takes approximately 4 months for the parties to complete the mediation or conciliation process. Note: Delays may occur if parties have difficulty with scheduling.
Step 5: We review and assess your complaint
During this step, a Human Rights Officer will assess:
- the preliminary issues (if any are raised that were not already examined, or if any new preliminary issues have been raised or are relevant), and / or
- the allegations in the complaint
The Human Rights Officer will:
- review the Complaint Form
- review the information in the Respondent's Response Form
- review the information in the Complainant's Reply Form
- request additional information from the Respondent and/or Complainant, if required
- interview witnesses, if required
- consider whether there is information to support the allegations in the Complaint
- prepare a Report for Decision
A Report for Decision is the Report prepared by the Human Rights Officer about your complaint. It includes an assessment of the preliminary issues and / or the allegations in the complaint. The Report also contains one or more recommendations for the Commissioner to decide on – the Report is not a decision. Both the Complainant and the Respondent will have an opportunity to provide comments on the Report before it is sent to a Commissioner for a decision.
The Commissioner (sometimes referred to as “the Commission”) will review the Report and any comments requested and received from the parties. The Commissioner will then decide what will happen with the complaint. Both the Complainant and the Respondent will receive a copy of the Commission decision.
Processing times for Step 5
Once a Human Rights Officer is assigned to a complaint, the Report for Decision will be ready to share with the parties within approximately 6 months. Both parties will have the opportunity to provide comments on the Report for Decision. Once we receive the requested comments from the parties, we will send the Report for Decision, along with the parties' comments, to a Commissioner within 5-10 business days. Note: Delays may occur due to a significant backlog of files in our system.
Step 6: The Commission makes a decision
A decision on a human rights complaint is made by a Commissioner (sometimes referred to as “the Commission”). The Commissioners, including the Chief Commissioner, are all appointed by The Governor in Council to make informed, impartial and independent decisions on human rights complaints.
The Commission does not decide whether the alleged discrimination has occurred. It is the Commission's job to screen discrimination complaints. The Commission can decide to send a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for further inquiry. It is the Tribunal's job to decide if discrimination occurred. The Tribunal is separate and independent from the Commission.
When making the decision on about a complaint, the Commissioner can decide:
- To request more information and / or further assessment before making a decision
- “Not to deal with the complaint”Footnote 1
- “Not to deal with the complaint at this time”Footnote 1
- “To deal with the complaint”Footnote 1
- To send the complaint to Conciliation
- To refer the complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
- To approve a settlement
- To “dismiss” the complaintFootnote 2
The wording used in the Commission's decisions comes from the Act.
Decisions made by the Commissioners are final.
If a party disagrees with a decision, they can file an application for judicial review to the Federal Court.
Processing times for Step 6
The independent Commissioners will make their decisions within 2 weeks. We will then communicate the decision to the parties in writing, within 10 business days.