This past year, the Commission was committed as ever to improving and modernizing our complaints process. Improving access to human rights justice for people in Canada remains a constant priority.
Over the past few years, informed by user and stakeholder feedback, we have been working to make our complaints process more accessible for all, and provide an overall easier experience for the people who come to us for help.
In 2022, this work carried on. We identified where we need to focus our efforts to continue creating a sustainable, efficient, accessible system, and address some of the obstacles raised in our preliminary review of our new process. Here are the highlights:
- We launched a new online complaint form. It has been tailored to help complainants provide us with the precise information we need to get them to the right place faster, and file a complaint more easily.
- We introduced Modernization.modernisation@chrc-ccdp.gc.ca, a generic email address dedicated to our modernization efforts. It allows us to receive accommodation requests from parties, better engage with stakeholders, and conduct user testing of our online complaints platform.
- We continued to make improvements to our online services and platforms to ensure that they are accessible for all. This work includes working with both screen reader software and plain language software.
- We continued to engage with individuals with lived experience in order to test our modernization improvements, and give us ongoing feedback.
- We updated our Complaint Rules to make them more inclusive for all.
- We launched an improved and illustrated section of our website that takes the reader through the various steps of the Commission's complaint process.
- We continued to provide staff training to human rights officers in our Complaints Branch.
- We established a new contract with a local distress center so that our officers can better support clients in crisis.