2012 has been a big year for the concept of competing human rights.

In May, the Ontario  Human Rights Commission published a long-awaited Policy on Competing Human Rights.    Earlier this fall, the media reported widely the case of the woman who was denied a haircut by a  barber because his religion does not allow him to touch a woman.  And today the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on the complex N.S. case: a case that pitted the right of the key witness in a sexual assault trial – the victim – to wear her religious face covering, against the rights of two accused men – her uncle and cousin – to have fair trials.

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