B.C. Human Rights Tribunal chair Emily Ohler quits over backlog and resource shortages

Emily Ohler, chair of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, is stepping down two years before her term ends, citing frustration with a ballooning caseload and insufficient resources to address it.

Ohler announced her departure on July 6, planning to leave at the end of November instead of August 2028. In her statement, she said fighting for the same pressures and resources "in the absence of the tools we have needed" had drained her energy.

The tribunal faces a severe backlog. From 2020 to 2023, it received an average of 2,824 complaints per year but closed only 1,322 annually. By the end of the 2025 fiscal year, roughly 6,000 complaints were open—twice as many as four years earlier. This backlog means complaints now take years to resolve.

Ohler took over at an unprecedented crisis point: the tribunal was severely understaffed, lacked basic organizational infrastructure, and had significant gaps in policies and procedures. Since 2023, the province increased funding and the tribunal adopted a backlog strategy, which slowed growth but did not resolve the underlying shortfall.

The tribunal's work has drawn political fire. Conservative MLA Tara Armstrong attempted to abolish it in February following a decision that fined school trustee Barry Neufeld $750,000 for discriminatory conduct and hate speech. Her bill was defeated on first reading.

Despite some recent progress, Ohler's departure signals deeper systemic failure: even with increased funding and management overhaul, the tribunal cannot keep pace with demand for human rights protection.