Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights

The Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights was an investigation into the status of civil rights in Ontario. It was commissioned by the Government of Ontario in 1964. It was completed in 1971. Chaired by judge James Chalmers McRuer, it was also known as the McRuer Commission of 1971. Its final report totalled 2,281 pages and included 976 suggested legal reforms. The inquiry was highly influential. It prioritized ideas of fairness, accessibility and equity within the justice system. It also led to reforms in other branches of government to protect those principles. It was an important precursor to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Background

In the 1960s, governments in Canada were still in the process of finalizing human rights laws. In 1948, Canada signed onto the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It mandated states to accept basic principles of equity, such as equality before the law and equal pay for equal work. As a result, various domestic anti-discrimination laws came into effect. These included the Canadian Bill of Rights of 1960 and the Ontario Human Rights Code of 1962. But enforcement mechanisms remained weak. Some legal advocates complained that individuals’ civil liberties remained far too vulnerable.

The Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights was called because the lack of clarity on individual rights had caused a brief political firestorm. Shortly after winning re-election in September 1963, Ontario premier John Robarts and his attorney general, Fred Cass, proposed cracking down on organized crime. Their draft amendment to the Police Act empowered law enforcement officers to arrest and imprison anyone suspected of holding knowledge or evidence related to a crime. The proposal provoked widespread backlash. In a moment of political damage control, Robarts replaced Cass. He also established the Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights. Its primary objective was to clarify the scope of individuals’ rights in relation to the state.

The Commission

Premier Robarts appointed James Chalmers McRuer to lead the inquiry. McRuer had been chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario since 1945. He resigned from that position to work full-time on this commission and another inquiry into judicial reform.

The main objective of the Commission was to ensure that the principles of Canada’s emerging human rights laws were actually implemented. To determine best practices, McRuer and the commissioners solicited testimonials from roughly 7,000 individuals and organizations in Canada. They also travelled to Britain, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. They released the first segment of the report in 1968. They published the remainder by the end of 1971.

The report generally sought to make the Canadian system of government more rational and fairer. It called for:

clarifying the structure and operational rules of judicial and administrative tribunals
enhancing the clarity of legislative language
introducing training programs for judges
the appointment of judges without discrimination against women, with one’s qualifications as “the only criterion for appointment”
the standardization of judicial processes
improved access to justice
proactive judicial reviews of drafted laws to ensure that they adhere to human rights standards.

Significance

The Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights influenced several legislative reforms in Ontario and beyond. In Quebec, a concurrent commission on criminal justice reform led by former minister of municipal affairs Yves Prévost had a similar impact. These reforms helped lead to a cultural change in which legislators and bureaucrats became much more deferential to human rights laws. Prior to these reports, as sociologist Dominique Clément has observed, Canadian judges “found it difficult to conceive of discrimination as a criminal act.” Indeed, “Rights discourse and the role of the state had traditionally favoured the discriminator; the rights to freedom of speech or association were interpreted to mean the right to refuse service to certain peoples or to express prejudicial ideas.”

The anti-discrimination orientation of the McRuer Commission contributed to a sea change in legal thinking. It led to the creation of what Clément has called a “human rights state” in Canada.