Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 03/99) - Human rights are important because they protect an individual's inherent right to dignity as a human being.

That is why the Northern Women's Human Rights Committee sent all MLA candidates in the NWT a questionnaire focused on the topic.

"The replies have all been supportive of the goal of human rights legislation for the NWT," said committee member Marsha Argue.

"There's been some variation in how people see that happening."

Twelve of the 14 replies came from the 25 Yellowknife MLA candidates: Brendan Bell, Alex Debogorski, Charles Dent, Roy Erasmus, Joe Handley, Bernie Hughes, Everett Kasteel, Suzette Montreuil, Steve Petersen, Blake Rasmussen, Tony Whitford and David Wind.

"Some people pointed out that there are some protections that are not included under the Fair Practices Act such as protection against discrimination on the basis of political belief, sexual orientation and income or social-economic condition," Argue said.

"I think all the responses were thoughtful where they differed a bit was on how it should be done."

Committee member Addena Sumter-Freitag said she is encouraged at the number of candidates who put their names behind the recommendations.

"Seeing someone's signature on something says that they're really standing behind it. They're not just putting it out to the air," Sumter-Freitag said.

She said one candidate mentioned his own family's history with their own human rights infringed upon.

"They had an experience when they didn't have any rights at all, in a time like during a war, so he was very aware of how important it is to have human rights and dignity. You could tell that he actually knew from his personal experience."

One candidate said in the short term it would be appropriate to amend the Fair Practices Act and then wait until constitutional development and the aboriginal and inherent right to self- government has evolved.

The main difference between a Human Rights Act and the Fair Practices Act is that the Fair Practices Act doesn't provide for any kind of human rights commission -- an independent body that brings together all sectors of society and can do a thorough job of looking at complaints while also increasing awareness. Neither Argue nor Sumter-Freitag wanted to get into naming which candidates said what because all the candidates who responded were in favour of the principle of equal rights for all individuals.