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The Edmonton woman says she just wanted to get a feel for who was applying to babysit her three young children.

Now she has to respond in detail to a formal complaint that she violated one applicant’s human rights — by asking the man if he had children himself.

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It’s just the latest in a string of grievances Edmonton’s James Cyrynowski has filed with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, alleging discrimination based on gender or other grounds, usually when applying for babysitting jobs.

Employers are barred under the province’s rights law from rejecting someone based on their family status.

You should be able to ask any question necessary

Another complaint resulted in a recommendation that a different mother pay him $1,500 in damages, leading to a court battle that he lost.

A single father who failed to hire Cyrynowski now faces allegations of gender bias. That case, and the family-status case, have been taken up by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative NGO. It says the human rights commission should not even investigate what is clearly legal over-reach, and an assault on parental liberty.