Canadian Human Rights Tribunal access to official records policy

(2024-04-30)

1. Overview: commitment to openness


The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) is committed to transparency, accountability and accessibility in its decision-making functions. The open court principle guides access to Tribunal records.

Openness and transparency enhance the public’s understanding of, and confidence in, our systems of administrative justice. In most cases, hearings and the official records of proceedings are publicly accessible.

In human rights proceedings, sensitive information is often provided in testimony or included in documents. This information may become public in open hearings, decisions and other documents in the official record.

In some cases, legislation, common law rule, or a tribunal or court order or policy may limit access to a hearing or documents in the official record of a proceeding.

Most decisions and orders are available on the Tribunal’s website or through CanLII at no cost. Plain language summaries of Tribunal decisions are provided with each decision.

2. Accessing documents

The official records of most proceedings at the Tribunal are available to the public on request with exceptions.

The official record of a proceeding may include:

  • Documents that start an inquiry or appeal at the Tribunal (i.e., referral letters from the Canadian Human Rights Commission or Pay Equity Commissioner, and notices of appeal) as well as complaint forms that may be forwarded by the Canadian Human Rights Commission with their referral;
  • Case management conference summaries;
  • Motion materials;
  • Correspondence; 
  • Documents scheduling the time for a hearing;
  • Documents describing a party’s arguments (such as Statements of Particulars and written submissions);
  • Books of authorities;
  • Recordings of hearings; 
  • Transcripts of hearings, if any; and
  • Directions, orders, rulings and decisions.

Personal notes, draft decisions, draft orders and communications related to draft decisions and orders are not part of the official record of a proceeding.

A requester must provide enough information about the documents they seek so that the Tribunal can identify and retrieve them. Please use this request form and be as specific as possible when making your request. Staff cannot conduct research or extract, compile or aggregate data on behalf of requesters. Records are subject to retention schedules established by the Chairperson under Rule 47 of the Canadian Human Rights Rules of Procedure, 2021 and may not be retrievable.

Questions and any completed request form for documents in the official record of a proceeding can be sent to: registry.office@chrt-tcdp.gc.ca.

Annual Reports provide further information about Tribunal activities, such as caseload information. Requests for other documents outside the official record may be subject to limitations on access based on the common law or legislation. Some documents outside the official record may be available for disclosure under the Access to Information Act. 

For more information about requests under the Access to Information Act, please contact the Access to Information and Privacy office.

2.1. Restrictions on access to records

Specific statutory, regulatory or rules-based restrictions on access may apply. Portions of a Tribunal proceeding may also be closed to the public. Documents related to closed portions of proceedings may also be unavailable to the public. Access requests may be determined by a Tribunal member on a case-by-case basis. For recently received cases that were confidential at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Tribunal makes best efforts to ensure parties know that Tribunal proceedings are public. For this reason, responses to requests for access to a file that is in early stages may, in some cases, be delayed.

2.2. Records related to mediation and settlement

Mediation and settlement discussions can occur at any stage of Tribunal proceedings. Parties may agree to resolve their dispute in full or may agree to narrow the issues. Mediation and settlement discussions are confidential. Materials filed solely for the purposes of mediation are not part of the official record and are not available to the public.

2.3. Timeframes for public access

Staff support the Tribunal’s work to provide access to documents as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, the time it takes to provide access can be affected by various factors, including whether records are required for an active proceeding, whether they have been sufficiently identified so that they may be retrieved, how specific or broad the request is, as well as other staff and adjudicator responsibilities and priorities.

3. Confidentiality orders and redactions 

Information contained in the official record of a proceeding is public unless the common law, legislation or a Tribunal order or policy restricts access. The Tribunal may issue a confidentiality order under the applicable legislation law (for example, section 52 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and section 166 of the Pay Equity Act).

The Tribunal also routinely removes “Personal Identifiers” before releasing a document. Personal Identifiers are information about an individual that, when combined with a person’s name or with other information, identifies the individual in a way that poses a serious threat to the individual’s personal security.

In this policy, Personal Identifier means:

  1. Date of birth;
  2. Addresses (e.g., residential civic, residential postal or personal email);
  3. Unique numbers (e.g., phone, social insurance or financial accounts); 
  4. Biometric information, excluding voice recording (e.g., fingerprints and facial image); and
  5. Other information that, in the opinion of the presiding Member, Panel or Chairperson, poses a serious threat to the individual’s personal security if made public.

Personal Identifier does not include:

  1. The names of parties, interested persons, interested parties or witnesses;
  2. The name and contact information of a lawyer or other representative who is acting as counsel or representative for any party;
  3. Job titles, workplace addresses and workplace telephone numbers; or
  4. The name of an individual who is not participating in a proceeding but who may be mentioned by a party, interested person, interested party, witness or other participant in a proceeding;

unless otherwise ordered by the presiding Member, Panel or Chairperson.

3.1. Requesting a confidentiality order

In exceptional circumstances the Tribunal may restrict access to a hearing or the official record to protect important personal or public security interests, privacy, fairness of the proceedings or other matters that would cause undue hardship if disclosed. The presiding Member or Panel will decide, pursuant to the relevant legislation (for example, section 52 of the Canadian Human Rights Act or section 166 of the Pay Equity Act), on a case-by-case basis, if any measures are necessary to restrict access to sensitive information. The Member or Panel may make an order to:

  1. Restrict public attendance at a hearing;
  2. Restrict access to all or parts of the documents filed with the Tribunal;
  3. Restrict the publication of certain information; or
  4. Anonymize or black out (redact) an individual’s name or other sensitive information in one or more documents in a proceeding.

Requests for confidentiality orders should be made as early as possible.

4. Questions about getting access to documents

Requests and questions about requests for documents can be sent to the Registry at registry.office@chrt-tcdp.gc.ca. Please use this form to make a request for documents.