Hold That Pendulum

The 1960's ushered in a long period of turning noble goals into reality.  One clear example was the fight against discrimination - real discrimination where an individual was judged solely on the basis of his/her group characteristic - race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, disability and so on.  In the United States, the civil rights movement freed African Americans from an ugly stepin fetchit stereotype that held them in bondage for centuries;  in both Canada and the U.S.  The women's movement shattered the myth that females should be bare foot, pregnant kitchen workers;  then Human Rights Commissions in Canada and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice put teeth into these noble goals and like a giant pendulum swept aside injustice and opened the gates of opportunity and equality.  However, as sometimes happens, pendulums can swing too far in the opposite direction.

A Human Rights Tribunal in Alberta, Canada recently overturned the professional standards long established by the Alberta Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists.  The case involved an applicant from Europe who sought accreditation as an engineer in Alberta.  He failed the standard exam twice and tried to get an exemption from the whole process.  When that failed, he complained to the Human Rights Commission.   A one man trbunal ageed with him and proclaimed that the professional association had discriminated on the basis of "place of origin".  He ordered the association to pay $10,000 damages and to help the complainant get accredition.  The Tribunal even ordered the Engineers to "establish a committee"  to assist other applicants in similar circumstances.  So a professional body, responsible for public safety and maintaining high engineering standards, has been transformed into a social service agency.

Heaven help us if the Human Rights Tribunals get their hands on the Association of Neurological Surgeons.