Our Mission

The ACLRC’s mission is to promote respect for civil liberties and human rights in Alberta through research and education to contribute to a more just and inclusive community.

History of the ACLRC

The ACLRC was founded in 1982, shortly after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) became law, by lawyer and activist Sheldon Chumir (1940-1992) and Janet Keeping, an articling student, who eventually became its first Executive Director.

In its early days, the Centre addressed research questions about the Charter and its impact on Albertans, but with time, its focus expanded to several human rights and civil liberties issues connected not only to the Charter but other provincial and international laws. Some of these issues are:

·      Racism and racial profiling;

·      hate crimes;

·      seniors’ rights in Alberta;

·      lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual and two-spirited (LGBTQIA2S+) community rights in Alberta;

·      privacy issues;

·      freedom of expression;

·      freedom of movement;

·      policing in Alberta, and

·      laws in a pandemic era.

The ACLRC also makes research presentations to a diverse audience, such as students, charities and professional groups in and out of Alberta. In the last thirty-eight years, we made over 2,000 presentations and published over 400 articles, papers, submissions, videos and podcasts on human rights issues. Rights Angle, our blog, provides general public access to research articles on Alberta’s human rights issues.

Although the Centre provides legal education and research and not legal representation and advocacy, it facilitates access to justice through legal referrals to patrons.  

As a registered charity, the Alberta Law Foundation primarily funds our operation. A board of directors, staff and contractors manage the Centre’s affairs; its current Executive Director is Linda Mckay-Panos.