Notice of changes to Alberta's human rights legislation

A printable PDF version of this notice is available.

The Government of Alberta has amended the province's human rights legislation. Here are some of the changes that are effective as of October 1, 2009:

  1. Alberta's human rights legislation is now named Alberta Human Rights Act.

  2. Alberta Human Rights Commission is the new name of the commission.

  3. Effective October 1, 2009, sexual orientation is written in as a protected ground under the Alberta Human Rights Act. Between April 2, 1998 and October 1, 2009, sexual orientation had been "read in" as a protected ground under Alberta's human rights legislation.

  4. The definition of marital status is now "the state of being married, single, widowed, divorced, separated or living with a person in a conjugal relationship outside marriage." Previously, the word "state" was "status," and the word "person" was followed by "of the opposite sex."

  5. The Chief Commissioner is now called the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals.

  6. Human rights panels are now called human rights tribunals.

One amendment will take effect on September 1, 2010. It requires school boards to provide notice to parents or guardians of students in certain teaching situations involving subject matter that deals primarily and explicitly with religion, human sexuality or sexual orientation. On written request from a parent or guardian, it also requires a teacher to exclude a student from certain teaching situations involving this subject matter.

The Alberta Human Rights Commission has developed an information sheet titled Amendments to Alberta's human rights legislation, which offers a more detailed list of the changes. 

The Alberta Human Rights Commission is in the process of updating its publications and website to reflect the amendments to the legislation. In the meantime, if you are reading a Commission publication dated before October 1, 2009, please note that the amendments have not yet been incorporated into the publication. If you are visiting the Commission website, you will see a "date created" or "date revised" notation at the bottom of any pages created or revised on or after October 1, 2009. If a page does not have a notation, it has not been updated to reflect the amendments.               

Please note: A complaint must be made to the Alberta Human Rights Commission within one year after the alleged incident of discrimination. The one-year period starts the day after the date on which the incident occurred. For help calculating the one-year period, contact the Commission.

October 2009

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