Race, Colour, Ancestry, Place of origin, Ethnic origin, and Nationality: These grounds are related and, because it is often difficult to draw clear distinctions between them. They are generally intended to get at allegations of racism.
Religion or Creed: These include religious beliefs and practices, as well as sets of personal beliefs that can be categorized as spiritual or religious in nature.
Age: Age is not defined in the Act. There are times when age discrimination is acceptable, such as a minimum age of driving, working, drinking and voting, or some services to seniors.
Disability: The Act provides examples of disability (see Section 1, Definitions). For the purposes of human rights complaints, a medical or physical condition is considered a disability when it:
Sex: includes whether you are male or female and pregnancy.
Sexual orientation: includes gay, lesbian, heterosexual, or bi-sexual.
Gender identity: includes transgendered persons and those who identify with or live as a gender that is different from their biological sex.
Marital status: includes civil status - married, single, divorced, widowed/er - and discrimination based on whom you are married to.
Family status: includes whether you are a parent or not, and discrimination based on who you are related to.
Family Affiliation: The NWT is the first jurisdiction to include this ground. The Act does not provide a definition. The definition of this ground will evolve with decisions and precedents set by adjudicators and the courts.
Political belief, political association: includes political beliefs associated with a formal political party; membership in a political party; political persuasions such as socialism, neo-liberalism; and, opinions on current political issues.
Social condition: defined in the Act as, “inclusion, other than on a temporary basis, in a socially identifiable group that suffers from social or economic disadvantage resulting from poverty, source of income, illiteracy, level of education or any other similar circumstance.”
Pardoned Criminal Conviction: includes discrimination because of a conviction for which someone has received a pardon. It does not include unpardoned convictions. This leaves it open for employers to screen out job applicants based on criminal records, regardless of whether the convictions are related to the job.
To contact the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission:
PO Box 1860
Yellowknife, NT X1A 2P4
Toll Free: 1-888-669-5575
Yellowknife: 867-669-5575
Fax: 867-873-0357
E-mail: info@nwthumanrights.ca
Web:www.nwthumanrights.ca