BC Human Rights Clinic

The BC Human Rights Clinic was created in 2003 (when B.C. moved to a "direct access" model of human rights), and is operated jointly by CLAS and the BC Human Rights Coalition to represent people throughout the province with complaints before the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Generally, the Coalition provides assistance at the earlier stages of the complaint process and CLAS at the later stages:

• If you require help completing a BC human rights complaint form, you may attend a complaint drafting workshop put on by the Coalition.
• Once the BC Human RightsTribunal accepts your complaint, you can contact the Coalition to request they take on your file.  If the Coalition accepts your file, they will help with the early steps of the case like exchanging documents, negotiating with the other side or dealing with preliminary applications.
• If your complaint is still not resolved after these early steps have been completed, the Coalition may transfer your file to a lawyer at CLAS.  If CLAS takes on your human rights case, we will continue to work to resolve your complaint by continuing negotiations with the other side, dealing with any ongoing or late applications or by even representing you at hearing, if necessary.
• If CLAS cannot take on your human rights case, due to our workload or for any other reason, or you are simply someone who wants to represent themselves, we offer self-help workshops to help people prepare to represent themselves at hearing.  
• Our lawyers also represent some people from the outset of more complex human rights cases or in judicial reviews of human rights decisions. These services are provided at our discretion based on factors such as our resources, any other representation that might be available, and the merit and importance of the case.