Age Discrimination in Alberta Human Rights Legislation: New Developments.

• Author: McKay-Panos, Linda

Alberta will be amending its Alberta Human Rights Act RSA 2000, c A-25.5 ("Act"), to expand protections for age discrimination and include improved program protections. Bill 23, which introduced amendments to the Act, was passed on November 14, 2017. These amendments were scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2018. The changes were prompted by a Charter challenge by elder advocate Ruth Adria, who argued that the exclusion of protections against age discrimination in the areas of services available to the public and tenancies (in sections 4 and 5 of the Act) violated her Charter equality rights. In early 2017, the Alberta government agreed to a court order that required age discrimination to be added to the Act by January 2018.

The Alberta government then undertook consultations on the issue of how the amendments might affect adults-only condominiums, cooperatives and rental apartments (I attended one of the consultation meetings on behalf of Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre). Bill 23 attempts to provide a compromise to these concerns by providing some exceptions to the new protections against age discrimination in these areas. In addition, to address some other expressed concerns, the Act will add a new section 10.1, which will protect policies and programs aimed at improving or ameliorating some situations.

"Age" is still defined in the Act as being 18 years of age or older, which means that people under 18 will still not to be protected from age discrimination (although they can be protected from discrimination on other grounds).

Bill 23 adds "age" as a protected ground to section 4 of the Act, which prohibits discrimination in the area of goods, services, accommodations or facilities that are customarily available to the public. By virtue of a legal decision (Condominium Corporation No 052 0580 v Alberta (Human Rights Commission), 2016 ABQB 183), section 4 also applies to condominiums. Age is also added as a protected ground to section 5, which prohibits discrimination in the area of tenancies (commercial and self-contained dwelling units) and mobile home sites. As of January 1, 2018, the Alberta Human Rights Commission can accept complaints of age discrimination in these areas, unless one of the exceptions found in Bill 23 applies.

There are three exceptions in the new provisions that will allow some types of age distinctions to continue without finding there is a violation of the Act. First, new section 4.1 would permit...