The Northwest Territories Adjudication Panel recently handed down a decision that is important beyond the tiny Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, which is the respondent in the case, and beyond the borders of the Territory (Bates v. Northwest Territories (Education, Culture and Employment), CHRR Doc. 17-3097). It is a decision on the meaning of the ground “social condition”. Because there are not many such decisions, each one is significant.

Only Quebec and the Northwest Territories have human rights laws that include the ground social condition. Other provincial and territorial laws include source of income or receipt of public assistance, but sometimes only in the prohibitions against discrimination in tenancy (Ontario and British Columbia). The Canadian Human Rights Act...