April 2, 1998 - Delwin Vriend - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Sexual orientation is “read in” to Alberta’s human rights legislation.Delwin Vriend worked as a laboratory coordinator for King’s College in Edmonton, Alberta, until fired when the institution discovered he was gay. When Vriend filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, he was told that sexual orientation was not a protected ground in Alberta. Vriend and others took their case to court, where the judge agreed there should be protection for gay men and lesbians. The court “read in” sexual orientation as a protected ground (that is, included it in their human rights legislation), but found that move overturned by a majority in the Alberta Court of Appeal.On April 2, 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed with the original trial judge and read in sexual orientation, saying that denying gays and lesbians protection from discrimination is contrary to the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court stated that although adding protections the legislature had not might be somewhat intrusive, it was much better than striking down the entire act and therefore depriving all Albertans of human rights protections. Premier Ralph Klein considered overriding the court’s decision, as allowed in the Charter, but hurtful public opinion swayed him to conclude that gays and lesbians really were in need of legal protections. While Albertans now receive sexual orientation protection from the Supreme Court, overt wording of this has yet to be passed by the province’s legislature.

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