The Manitoba Liberal Party is trying to lead the way on amending the province’s human rights code to include discrimination based on weight and size.

The party held a public forum Sunday to raise the issue the Liberals previously brought up in the Legislature in October when River Heights MLA Jon Gerrard introduced a private member’s bill, which at the time aimed at discriminatory practices against overweight individuals.

The Liberals reintroduced it as Bill 200, the Human Rights Code Amendment Act, in November, and Gerrard is hopeful of a vote when the Legislative Assembly reconvenes in March.

Gerrard said there needs to be a “better general understanding among the public about why this is so important.”

“It’s taken me, personally, quite a long time to realize this is a serious issue, a serious human-rights issue,” he said. “Addressing this issue well can improve people’s health and, as a result of improving people’s health, this can save our health-care system dollars.”

Gerrard’s bill seeks to have size and weight protected under the human rights code, similar to how race, gender and disability are already protected. That would allow for mediation from the human rights commission.

“That, I think, is a reasonable solution here,” he said.

Samantha Rayburn Trubyk, the president of Little People of Manitoba, said discrimination based on size still exists and it manifests itself in a variety of ways. Rayburn Trubyk said she faces it regularly, discussing an incident in which a family at a restaurant recently “decided it was appropriate to make some really rude comments” toward her and her son, who both have dwarfism.

She said any attempt at bringing more awareness to human-rights issues is welcomed from her organization’s standpoint.

“There’s everything from public spaces still not being accessible to this day in Winnipeg even after new builds, so that’s still occurring,” he said. “There’s people who feel the need to make inappropriate comments. That discrimination is still happening.”

dlarkins@postmedia.com

Twitter: @LarkinsWSun