To close the health inequity gap between people living in poverty and people who are not, systemic social condition discrimination must be eradicated, and human rights codes are one avenue to change.

There are virtually no protections for [people] who experience social condition-related discrimination and stigma in BC, because social condition is not a protected characteristic in the BC Human Rights Code. [People] who experience poverty-related discrimination and stigma in healthcare settings are, therefore, structurally disenfranchised from seeking reparations for their experiences.

Steph Wiafe, Pivot Legal Society

Social condition discrimination has overwhelming impacts on public health, the same way that racial and gender-based discrimination do. The difference is that racial and gender-based discrimination are legally prohibited under BC's Human Rights Code but if someone is being discriminated against based on their perceived income level, housing status or education level, they have no legal protections.

People and communities who experience social condition discrimination are at an increased risk of developing and dying from virtually all health conditions - many of which are preventable and treatable. Social condition discrimination also creates significant barriers in accessing affordable, high quality, timely, and culturally safe healthcare.

Therefore, negative health outcomes are the norm for people who experience stigmatization and poor socioeconomic status, exacerbating health inequities. Further, social condition discrimination and stigma have negative structural impacts on our health systems. Discrimination and stigma ultimately contribute to increased wait times and bottlenecks, workload pressures for healthcare staff, and inequitable burdens of disease between communities.

People with poor social condition are not the reason why our health systems are strained, systemic social condition discrimination is!

Add “social condition” to the BC Human’s Rights Code to provide legal protections for people who experience poverty-related discrimination, incentivize institutions to take this type of discrimination seriously, and add avenues of justice and accountability for people who have experienced this type of discrimination.

References

• Pivot Legal Society. (2025). Marked: Poverty Discrimination is a Public Health Issue and the Human Rights Code Can Help.
• Solanke, Iyiola. (2017). Discrimination as Stigma: A Theory of Anti-discrimination Law. Bloomsbury, Hart Publishing.
• Kelowna Area Network of Drug Users. (2022). Anti-Stigma 2022 [Video].
• Deering, K. N., Logie, C., Krüsi, A., Ranville, F., Braschel, M., Duff, P., & Shannon, K. (2021). Prevalence and Correlates of HIV Stigma Among Women Living with HIV in Metro Vancouver, Canada. AIDS and behavior, 25(6), 1688–1698.
• Pivot Legal Society. (2018). Project Inclusion: Confronting Anti-Homeless and Anti-Substance User Stigma in British Columbia [Review of Project Inclusion: Confronting Anti-Homeless and Anti-Substance User Stigma in British Columbia]. Pivot Legal Society.
• (2007). Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism (M. Young, S. B. Boyd, G. Brodsky, & S. Day, Eds.) [Review of Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism]. UBC Press.
• Iding, L. A. (2003). In a Poor State: The Long Road to Human Rights Protection on the Basis of Social Condition [Review of In a Poor State: The Long Road to Human Rights Protection on the Basis of Social Condition]. Alberta Law Review., 41(2), 513–525.
• Turpel-Lafond, M.E. (2020). In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care [Addressing Racism Review Summary Report].
• BC and Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors. (2021). We Are Somebody: Drug User Liberation Movement from the Grassroots [Review of We Are Somebody: Drug User Liberation Movement from the Grassroots]. In VANDU. Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.