A Saskatoon woman is campaigning to have size and physical appearance added to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Legislation as protected grounds against discrimination.
“I don’t want other people to feel held back,” Hayley Roesler told CTV Saskatoon.
She wants to address stereotypes such as laziness and “give people the opportunity to show that they’re capable.”
In Canada, there are 11 protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act, including age, race, gender, sexual orientation and disability. However, there are no laws in place against appearance-based discrimination.
Roesler petition is part of a campaign launched in Ontario called “Sizeism Sucks,” which aims to amend laws across the country to ensure everybody has equal opportunity.
“It doesn’t matter what size you are on the spectrum, at the end of the day you’re a human being and every human being deserves human rights and deserves to be treated with dignity,” campaign founder Jill Andrew told CTV Saskatoon.
According to research from Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, 43 per cent of overweight people say they’ve experienced weight bias from employers and supervisors. More than 50 per cent of doctors felt overweight patients were “unlikely to comply with treatment.”
“We know that sometimes people who fall into the category of ‘not looking the way they're supposed to’ aren't given the promotions the same way that their thin, ‘conventionally’ attractive counterparts are.”
Andrew’s petition has more than 8,000 supporters in Ontario and there are also petitions in Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia.
The Saskatchewan petition has almost reached its 200 signature target.
It will be delivered to the Supreme Court of Canada, Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and other provincial decision makers.
With a report from CTV Saskatoon’s Angelina Irinci
