Housing tops list of human rights issues in B.C., report finds [Video]

Inequalities are baked into British Columbia’s justice, health and child-welfare systems, and rights issues in the province abound in schools, hospitals and workplaces, says the province’s human rights commissioner. 

Kasari Govender’s office released its latest report Wednesday, spotlighting human rights issues people face when they come into contact with 10 provincial systems, especially Indigenous people, women and other marginalized groups. 

She said the report was based on “deep listening” to the experiences of people in communities affected by entrenched inequalities, such as Indigenous Peoples and their long-standing disproportionate clashes with criminal justice and child-welfare systems. 

“What we need to do is to shift our thinking to understanding how our laws, our policies, our systems, impact people disproportionately and that’s the kind of analysis that we’ve used here,” Govender said Wednesday during a news conference. 

“Indigenous children are far over-represented, and Indigenous families are far over-represented in the child-welfare system. That’s …