Undermining Human Rights is Not a New Strategy for Kenney #ableg #abpoli #cdnpoli

When Jason Kenney suggested young people and those with “modest human capital” should be paid less than others, it resonated with some. When he said that a 15 year old and a 25 year old single mother should not be paid the same, some people agreed. What others noted right away was that the knowledge of these personal details are protected under Alberta’s Human Rights Act. 

Just to clarify, a potential employer may ask if a person is over the age of 14 or 18 if the job requires such. An employer cannot ask if a potential employee has children, if they are married, or if they are planning either. Most potential employees offer this information freely, in response to innocuous questions, but that is another story. 

There is support for Kenney’s proposal however and this would require amending the Alberta Human Rights Act to make age discrimination, or discrimination based on marital or parenthood status, legal. If the Human Rights Act is up for amendment, why stop at just a couple of the rights Albertans take for granted? 

Jason Kenney has been a lifetime advocate against human rights for gay people.

He proudly claimed his work on successfully petitioning to overturn a spousal rights law in California that kept gay partners from seeing their loved ones while they were dying in hospitals “brought (him) closer to the heart of the Catholic Church”. 

As a Member of Parliament, he suggested that Ralph Klein invoke the notwithstanding clause in Alberta to allow employers to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation. 

As Minister of Immigration, he removed references to human rights for gay people from the Immigration and Citizenship guide. 

Between December 2018 and January 2019, there were over 40 articles published including interviews with Catholic School employees and former employees calling the legality of a current practice of “lifestyle” expectations of employees into question.  

Now he’s offering a moderately conservative way to get support for amending the Human Rights Act to accommodate businesses. Do Albertans seriously trust Jason Kenney to stop at age or marital and family status? This Albertan doesn’t. 

This post contains fact and opinion. 

Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean

[email protected]

@Mitchell_AB @thisweekinAB

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1 reply »

  1. Could you please put in credits for when & where statements were made? I don’t doubt he made them (totally consistent with other statements) but its better if know .