Worldwide: Human Rights

For decades, over 4,000 residents of Pikangikum First Nation in northwestern Ontario have been denied reliable access to clean drinking water, with only 109 of 500 homes having working taps.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has approved an $8.5-billion Ontario Final Agreement aimed at reforming on-reserve First Nations Child and Family Services, marking a pivotal shift toward prevention-focused care and community control. This decision follows years of litigation stemming from a 2016 finding that Canada's underfunding and policy choices constituted systemic racial discrimination, contributing to the unnecessary removal of First Nations children from their families.

This year has introduced important changes across the employment and labour landscape. We have highlighted below the ten Canadian decisions from 2025 that we consider most significant for employers.