In 2011, Saskatchewan eliminated its Human Rights Tribunal and reassigned responsibility for adjudication of human rights complaints to the Court of King’s Bench. Since then, it has been the only jurisdiction in Canada without a specialized human rights tribunal. This study examines stakeholder perceptions of Saskatchewan’s unique human rights system in comparison with Alberta’s and Manitoba’s systems, which retain human rights tribunals. Using a survey instrument based on the methodology in Howe and Johnson’s 1999 Restraining Equality: Human Rights Commissions in Canada, key stakeholders across the Prairie provinces evaluated their provincial systems across eight criteria: accessibility, promptness, investigation, conciliation/mediation, objectivity, fair procedures, fair decisions, and compensation. Results reveal that Saskatchewan stakeholders reported higher satisfaction (69%) compared to Alberta (56%) and Manitoba (61%), with Saskatchewan scoring consistently higher across all eight evaluation areas. All three provinces struggled most with “promptness,” reflecting common criticisms about the speed of human rights systems in Canada. Despite Saskatchewan's higher performance scores, 59% of Saskatchewan respondents still expressed a preference for the tribunal model rather than the current court system. These findings suggest that Saskatchewan's departure from the tribunal model has not negatively impacted stakeholder perceptions of access to justice or system effectiveness. A brief analysis suggests funding levels may be partially responsible for Saskatchewan’s higher survey satisfaction scores.
R. C. Mowat (Wed,) studied this question.