Human Rights & Equity OfficeOur mandate
To ensure that the community's needs in the area of human rights are being addressed.
For individuals who have questions or concerns about human rights at Queen’s, a human rights advisor can assist in identifying and articulating concerns (such as discrimination, harassment, failure to accommodate), explain relevant Queen’s policies and procedures, make referrals where appropriate, and offer options for addressing concerns. An advisor can, with your permission, speak to people on your behalf in order to help resolve the problem and may, where appropriate, attend meetings as a support person, but is not your advocate or representative. Advisors can also provide information and guidance to academic and administrative units at Queen’s with regard to ensuring non-discriminatory policies, procedures, publications, and materials.
With some exceptions*, the service provided by human rights advisors is confidential. An advisor will encourage you to share only limited information in an initial consultation and advise you at that time about the limits of confidentiality.
*As advisors we observe the following exceptions to confidentiality (i) when disclosure is required to prevent clear and imminent danger to the client or others;(ii) when legal requirements demand that confidential material be revealed;(iii) when a child is in need of protection.” (Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, Standards of Practice, 5th Edition)
The role of the human rights advisor is to help you to understand what options are available, what each is likely to entail, and what the likely outcomes are for each. It is up to you to decide which actions, if any, to take. Once you have made a decision to begin a formal process—for instance, filing a report to trigger an investigation—there may be procedural requirements you must follow, but you decide when, or if, you want to go forward.
The Human Rights and Equity Office safeguards anonymity by aggregating data, including statistics on types of incidents reported by equity-seeking individuals. You can choose to take no action beyond discussing your concerns with an advisor, but be confident that you have contributed to an aggregate picture of human rights and equity at Queen’s, one that can be drawn upon in offering advice to units at Queen’s.
Human Rights Advisory Services is a unit under the Human Rights and Equity Office (HREO). The below links will direct you to external resources affiliated with the Human Rights and Equity Office and other external sites.