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1. Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Are the initiatives completed? If they are longer term, are they in development? The initiatives are completed. Has the organization committed time, resources and money to the issue?

In the human rights context, both quantitative data (numbers, for example) and qualitative data (stories, for example) is collected on Code and non-Code grounds. An organization may decide to collect both kinds of data for many reasons. Some organizations may collect data to:

There are many benefits for regularly collecting data using accepted data collection research methods. Some examples are:

There are potential challenges when deciding to collect data based on Code grounds such as race, disability or sexual orientation. Some questions and concerns organizations may encounter, in the employment or service delivery context, include:

Collecting information about characteristics based on Code and non-Code grounds may lead to fears that the information might be used to treat a person or group in a discriminatory way, give unmerited preference to a particular group that does face historical discrimination, or lead to individuals being identified or “outed.” To address such fears, the following guidelines are strongly recommended to make sure that data involving Code and non-Code grounds is collected and used in a legitimate and appropriate way:

If an organization is considering whether to collect data on its own or get help from an external consultant, it will need to have enough information to make an informed decision about how to proceed.

Note: The summaries found in Appendices A to F are largely based on in-depth interviews with representatives from organizations about their data collection experiences. The terminology used here reflects the terminology used by each organization, and may not be consistent with terms the OHRC uses. More detailed summaries for each organization will be included on the OHRC website. As well, other summaries and examples will be added to the website as the project evolves.  

Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) is a large patient care, teaching and research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. Since 2007, Media Corp Inc. has named MSH one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers. MSH seeks to be a national leader in all of its diversity and human rights programs, and to have a staff team that reflects the diverse patients they serve.

KPMG LLP (KPMG) is the Canadian member firm affiliated with KPMG International, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services to clients in over 140 countries. KPMG in Canada has 33 offices nationally and over 5,000 professional staff.

Ontario’s New Approach to Aboriginal Affairs commits the government to working with Aboriginal leaders and organizations to improve education outcomes among Aboriginal students.[32] The challenge for the Ministry of Education (MOE) in helping Aboriginal students and assessing progress “was the absence of reliable student-specific data on the achievement of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students across Ontario.”

The University of Guelph (U of G) includes seven colleges, with programs spanning the natural and physical sciences, social sciences and the humanities. The U of G, which is committed to equity, is ranked as one of Canada's top comprehensive universities for its commitment to student learning and innovative research.

DiverseCity Counts, a three-year research project, is tracking the diversity in leadership across the corporate, public, not-for-profit and education sectors in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The resulting report, DiverseCity Counts: A Snapshot of Diversity in the Greater Toronto Area, is the first research effort offering a benchmark of the representation of the GTA’s visible minorities in senior leadership roles across sectors.

Develop a plan: Interested in starting initiatives to raise awareness about discrimination? Interested in addressing diversity issues or promoting inclusion, or anti-racism and anti-discrimination practices? If you are, you start by developing a plan of action that meets the needs. A plan is a “must” for anti-racism work because it encourages a sustained commitment and awareness; anti-racism work is not a one-time event.

3.1 Taking stock of activities Know what is happening: First, look at all your existing activities. Some municipalities may already have committees set up or a city councillor or mayor who is interested in taking on issues of anti-racism. Are there departments or agencies in the city’s governance structure, such as health or the police, which have committees or individuals looking into race-related issues? Make a list of what is being done now, and by whom, to avoid duplication and to find ways of building on each other’s work.

Many municipalities have First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations that border the municipality or visit the municipality for services such as health care, education and business. Other municipalities have large urban Aboriginal populations within the community. Aboriginal people have historically experienced significant racism and discrimination. To address their unique historical experience as part of anti-racism and anti-discrimination work requires recognition of their unique history and status in Canada.

Look at successful efforts by other municipalities as a starting point for anti-racism and anti-discrimination activities for your municipality. This section covers five key areas:

Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA) www.amssa.org Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination (CCMARD) unesco.ca/home-accueil/ccmard-ccmcrd Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCU) www.unesco.ca Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) www.crrf.ca

This chart provides a useful tool to identify possible stakeholders in your municipality, and useful information related to these that should help in planning anti-racism and anti-discrimination initiatives. Questions posed in the boxes are intended to help gather the information that will specify the chart for your municipal context. You can also add other stakeholders to the chart.

Abbotsford Community Services. (2010). Cultural Diversity Awards. Retrieved from http://www.abbotsfordcommunityservices.com/Our-Programs/Immigrants-Multicultural/Cultural-Diversity-Awards

Human rights in rental housing are not just a concern for housing providers and government, although they clearly share a large part of the responsibility. Nor are they a matter only of interest to a small group of tenants and their advocates. We all have a stake in ensuring that the human rights protections we value have meaning in our communities.

Adequate housing is essential to one’s sense of dignity, safety, inclusion and ability to contribute to the fabric of our neighbourhoods and societies.[3] As the Commission heard in this consultation, without appropriate housing it is often not possible to get and keep employment, to recover from mental illness or other disabilities, to integrate into the community, to escape physical or emotional violence or to keep custody of children.

This section discusses the most significant rental housing issues affecting individual tenants and housing providers. Many of the experiences of discrimination and harassment, tenant screening and accommodation are intrinsically linked to the systemic elements discussed in section 5. For example, the individual barriers to housing experienced by tenants in receipt of social assistance are, in many cases, linked to the broader societal issues of inadequate income levels and poverty.

The Commission heard that the eligibility criteria for some of these programs make them inaccessible to people on disability pensions or social assistance. MMAH noted that some service managers allow or disallow social assistance recipients and social housing tenants from accessing rent bank assistance because they already benefit from other programs.

Protecting the human rights of vulnerable Ontarians requires a radically different response to the issues of discrimination identified in this report, and the reports of numerous international bodies. We must all bring housing human rights into our homes, apartment buildings, property management offices, government offices, tribunals and commissions, and most importantly, into our collective awareness. This framework suggests concrete action to address the human rights issues identified in the consultation and in numerous reports on housing.