Explanatory Notes

SECTION 1: [Human Rights Code, section 1] substitutes the definition of "age" to remove the current upper age limit of 65 years.

SECTION 2: [Human Rights Code, section 7] ensures that communications related to activities permitted under the Code are not prohibited.

SECTION 3: [Human Rights Code, section 8]

• adds age as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the provision of any accommodation, service or facility customarily available to the public;
• provides that contracts of insurance may continue to differentiate on the basis of age without contravening the Code.

SECTION 4: [Human Rights Code, section 13] provides that bona fide group or employee insurance plans, whether provided by a third party insurer or through self-insurance, do not contravene the Code.

SECTION 5: [Human Rights Code, section 41] renumbers the existing section 41 of the Act and adds a new subsection that allows statutorily mandated mandatory retirement schemes, as well as other statutory schemes with age-related benefits such as the Workers Compensation Act, to continue without contravening the Human Rights Code.

 
Public Service Act

SECTION 6: [Public Service Act, section 23] repeals the section of the Public Service Act that requires employees to retire at age 65.

BILL 31 – 2007
HUMAN RIGHTS CODE (MANDATORY RETIREMENT ELIMINATION) AMENDMENT ACT, 2007

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 Section 1 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 210, is amended by repealing the definition of "age" and substituting the following:

"age" means an age of 19 years or more; .

2 Section 7 (2) is repealed and the following substituted:

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a private communication, a communication intended to be private or a communication related to an activity otherwise permitted by this Code.

3 Section 8 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by striking out "sex or sexual orientation" and substituting "sex, sexual orientation or age", and

(b) in subsection (2) (b) by adding "or age" after "physical or mental disability".

4 Section 13 (3) (b) is repealed and the following substituted:

(b) as it relates to marital status, physical or mental disability, sex or age, to the operation of a bona fide retirement, superannuation or pension plan or to a bona fide group or employee insurance plan, whether or not the plan is the subject of a contract of insurance between an insurer and an employer.

5 Section 41 is amended by renumbering the section as section 41 (1) and by adding the following subsection:

(2) Nothing in this Code prohibits a distinction on the basis of age if that distinction is permitted or required by any Act or regulation.

 
Consequential Amendment

 
Public Service Act

6 Section 23 of the Public Service Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 385, is repealed.

Commencement

7 This Act comes into force on January 1, 2008.

 
Explanatory Notes

SECTION 1: [Human Rights Code, section 1] substitutes the definition of "age" to remove the current upper age limit of 65 years.

SECTION 2: [Human Rights Code, section 7] ensures that communications related to activities permitted under the Code are not prohibited.

SECTION 3: [Human Rights Code, section 8]

• adds age as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the provision of any accommodation, service or facility customarily available to the public;
• provides that contracts of insurance may continue to differentiate on the basis of age without contravening the Code.

SECTION 4: [Human Rights Code, section 13] provides that bona fide group or employee insurance plans, whether provided by a third party insurer or through self-insurance, do not contravene the Code.

SECTION 5: [Human Rights Code, section 41] renumbers the existing section 41 of the Act and adds a new subsection that allows statutorily mandated mandatory retirement schemes, as well as other statutory schemes with age-related benefits such as the Workers Compensation Act, to continue without contravening the Human Rights Code.

 
Public Service Act

SECTION 6: [Public Service Act, section 23] repeals the section of the Public Service Act that requires employees to retire at age 65.