Alberta's human rights legislation review will consider sexuality, minister says

Alberta's minister of culture said an upcoming review of the province's human rights legislation will consider adding protection for sexual orientation.

Lindsay Blackett said officials in his department will consider Wednesday's call from gay rights activist Delwin Vriend to include gay rights in the legislation.

Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of a Supreme Court decision that ordered Alberta to include protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation in the provincial law. The province has not yet done so, but the Supreme Court ruling offers default protection to residents.

Vriend, who took the matter to the Supreme Court after he was fired from his job at an Edmonton university in 1991 when the school discovered he is gay, marked the decade-old victory by calling the government "childish" for not having made the changes already.

Blackett said his office will put the entire act under the microscope, not just the sections highlighted by Vriend.

"When you open up the legislation for review, you're looking at all aspects, you're not just going to look at one section," he explained.

"You don't simply just add a piece that says we won't discriminate based on sexual orientation. We have to consult and allow others to talk about all the other different sections in it as well."

Blackett said it is too early to say what groups will be involved in the review's consultation process.

He also said the culture ministry will not rush into any changes and the process will be slow in order to ensure they get it right the first time.

No date has been set for the completion of the review.