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IQALUIT - "This is going to set the human rights of women back 30 years."

During his visit to Iqaluit last week, Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada's regional executive vice-president for the North, spoke out against a proposed federal legislation.

Jean-Francois Des Lauriers: "Pay equity is a constitutionally protected human right that we have spent decades fighting for." - Carolyn Sloan/NNSL photo

The law would prevent women in federal public service sector from filing pay equity complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Alternatively, the government is proposing equitable compensation be ensured through collective bargaining between unions and employers, and that grievances be directed to the Public Service Labour Relations Board as opposed to going through the courts, which is a lengthy and costly process.

The proposed legislation falls under the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act, which was introduced to parliament as part of a larger omnibus bill, the Budget Implementation Act.

"I am in full support of speeding the process up," said Leona Aglukkaq, federal cabinet minister and Nunavut MP, while in Iqaluit last week.

Going through the courts is "a cumbersome process, a very costly process to Northerners, and I think there has to be a way to address that and what's been proposed."

But Des Lauriers said the bill would force women to bargain for a right guaranteed in the Canadian Human Rights Act and prevent unions from supporting members filing a complaint, under penalty of a $50,000 fine.

"The Harper government has a track record of attacking women's rights and of weakening human rights legislation in general," Des Lauriers told media on Thursday. "What they're trying to do is to make it so cumbersome, so difficult and so expensive for anyone in the federal public sector to have their rights upheld that no one will file a complaint."

The union representative estimated that of approximately 1,200 federal public sector employees within the three Northern territories, more than 60 per cent are women.

"It's our legal obligation to represent our members," Des Lauriers said. "If an individual felt that there was a pay discrepancy and wanted to file a complaint, they would have to do it by themselves."

But Aglukkaq said pay equity legislation is necessary in order to resolve complaints in a "timely manner," making reference to a pay equity complaint that was taken to court in 1982.

"Back in the 80s, I was working for the territorial government when we were dealing with a pay equity issue," she said. "That particular pay equity complaint took over 20 years to resolve.

"Many, many people at that time left the workforce, retired somewhere or may have even passed on before they even saw the end results of the pay equity issue."

Regardless of the time it takes to battle it out in the courts, pay equity needs to be addressed as a right, said Des Lauriers.

"Pay equity is a constitutionally protected human right that we have spent decades fighting for," he said. "If (this legislation) were to pass, it would be a court case. We would seriously consider taking it to court."