PERFORM Publications

Title:	The legality of weight discrimination in Canada: an environmental scan of case law and the limits of Canadian legislation
Authors:	Nutter S , Waugh R , McEachran E , Toor A , Shelley J , Alberga AS , Forhan M , Kirk SF , Nagpal TS , Patton I , Ramos Salas X , Russell-Mayhew S ,
Link:	https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41029703/
DOI:	10.1186/s12939-025-02606-z
Category:
PMID:	41029703
Dept Affiliation:	SOH 1 Faculty of Health, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada. snutter@uvic.ca. 2 Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada. snutter@uvic.ca. 3 Faculty of Health, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada. 4 Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada. 5 Faculty of Law, Western University, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada. 6 Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Applied Physiology, Concordia University, 1455 Blvd. de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3G 1M8, Canada. 7 Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, 27 King's College Cir, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A1, Canada. 8 School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, 6299 South St, Halifax, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada. 9 Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, 116 St & 85 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada. 10 Obesity Canada, 104 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB, 1100-10004, T5J, Canada. 11 , Bias180, Dundas, ON, Canada. 12 Counselling Psychology, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.

Description:

Weight stigma negatively impacts people with higher weights across the lifespan as well as social contexts and can lead to weight discrimination. As weight is not a protected identity in Canadian human rights legislation, it is important to better understand how weight discrimination is being argued in Canada's legal system. The purpose of this environmental scan was to examine and describe Canadian case law and scholarly articles pertaining to the argumentation of weight discrimination in Canada. A three-step search process was taken to identify relevant cases and articles that included; (1) Boolean keyword searches in HeinOnline, WestLaw, and LexisPlus; (2) citation searching within all results that met inclusion criteria; and (3) a keyword search in CanLII. These searches yielded a total of 33 documents that were included for analysis, including 8 scholarly articles and 25 cases. Scholarly articles highlighted consistent criticisms of existing human rights protections for higher-weight people in Canada, mostly pertaining to Limitations of disability protections. Of the 25 cases included, 16 were unsuccessful and 9 were successful, with most cases related to employment (n = 19). Our findings point to significant gaps in Canada's legal system for identifying and correcting instances of weight discrimination. Current Canadian disability protections are inadequate for those who experience weight discrimination, especially those who do not experience disability due to their weight. Our results highlight that weight ought to be a bona fide human rights issue, independent from disability protections.

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