- ABOUT THE HRO
-
Educational Guides
- Overview
- Guide to the Human Rights Policy and the Complaint Process
- Human Rights Guide for Students
- Human Rights Guide for Faculty and Staff
- Discrimination in the Hiring Process
- Disability Accommodation
- Religious Accommodation
- Multifaith Calendar
- Pregnancy and Breast/Chestfeeding Accommodation
- Guide to Pronouns
- Annual Reports
- Human Rights Policy Board
- FAQs
- GET HELP
- Contact Us
About the Human Rights Office
What we do
At SFU, the Human Rights Office (HRO) is responsible for administering the Human Rights Policy (GP 18) and Procedures.
The HRO provides safe, timely, confidential and impartial advice, support, referrals and information to members of the SFU community on issues related to human rights, including:
- Discrimination;
- Harassment based on a protected ground (such as sexual or race-based harassment); and
- GP 18 retaliation.
If you have experienced or observed discrimination or discriminatory harassment, or if you would like advice on how to manage a situation involving potential discrimination or discriminatory harassment, please visit our contact page to get in touch or make an appointment.
In addition to providing confidential advice and support, the HRO also:
- Receives complaints of discrimination, harassment based on a protected ground, and GP 18 retaliation from members of the SFU community.
- Facilitates resolution of complaints through voluntary informal resolution, mediation, and/or referrals to investigation.
- Advises on non-disability related academic accommodation for students (e.g. religious accommodation).
- Implements and promotes education, awareness, prevention, and training to address discrimination, harassment based on a protected ground, and GP 18 retaliation.
- Acts as an impartial advisory and information resource for members of the SFU community, including with respect to the duty to accommodate, policy review, and conflict resolution coaching.
- Systematically collects data and maintains annual statistics, without identifying information, for the purposes of community education and reporting to the SFU community.
For more information about the complaint process, support services, and more, you can access the following resources:
What we don't do
The HRO is not responsible for:
- Providing advocacy services to individuals, groups, or causes.
- Engaging in advocacy for international human rights issues (such as economic, social, and cultural rights, civil and political rights, women’s rights, LGBTQIA2S+ rights, refugee and migrant rights, and climate justice) or democratic rights and freedoms (such as freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and equality rights). While these rights and freedoms play a fundamental role in our society, the HRO’s role is to act as an impartial advisor, facilitator, and educator, not as an advocate.
- Providing counselling services to individuals or groups.
- Handling requests from students for disability related academic accommodation under the Accessibility for Students with Disabilities Policy (GP 26). If you are a student with a request for disability related academic accommodation, please contact the Centre for Accessible Learning.
- Handling requests from faculty or staff for non-disability related workplace accommodation (e.g. religious accommodation) or disability related workplace accommodation under the Disability Accommodation in the Workplace Policy (GP 40). If you are a faculty or staff member with a request for accommodation, please contact the Wellness and Recovery Office.
- Handling personal bullying and harassment complaints (harassment with no connection to a protected ground under the B.C. Human Rights Code) under the Bullying and Harassment Policy (GP 47). If you are an SFU community member with a question, concern, or experience related to personal harassment, please contact the Bullying and Harassment Central Hub.
For more information about other resources and supports available to the SFU community, visit our list of SFU and External Resources.
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