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Enforce human rights in the criminal justice system

The OHRC agrees with and supports the recommendations laid out by the York University researchers. Specifically, the OPS should develop and implement solutions to address the anomalies of disproportionately high incidences of police stops of racialized groups. 

The results from the OPS data collection project are situated within a context of historical police/community relations with racialized and Indigenous peoples in Ottawa and Canada generally. Many Supreme Court of Canada decisions and research studies show that systemic discrimination in policing is a reality. The York University researchers’ findings are similar to the results of other research conducted on police bias.

4.1. “Proof” of racial profiling In response to the researchers’ findings, the Ottawa Police Service and others have asserted that the data does not “prove” racial profiling. This raises a question about the value of the data and what it can tell us. The purpose of the study was to assess whether racialized or Indigenous groups are over-represented in traffic stops, to provide clear evidence that the Ottawa Police Service, and others, could act on. The study met this goal. The researchers noted that the purpose of the study was not to prove causation.

From the OHRC’s perspective, the York University researchers’ findings are highly consistent with the phenomenon of racial profiling. Over-representation of various racialized groups and sub-groups (broken down by sex and age) exists when looking at traffic stops generally, the reason for the stop, the outcome of the stop and the police district where the stop took place.

The OHRC defines racial profiling as any action undertaken for reasons of safety, security or public protection that relies on stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion or place of origin rather than on reasonable suspicion, to single out an individual for greater scrutiny or different treatment.

November 26, 2016 - The OPS’s Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project (TSRDCP) arose as a result of a human rights complaint, in which a young Black man alleged that he experienced racial profiling by OPS officers. As part of the settlement, the OPS agreed that its officers would collect race-based data on traffic stops for two years beginning in 2013. The OPS fully complied with the settlement and even went beyond what was required in its data collection efforts, resulting in a comprehensive police data collection initiative. The research findings that have arisen from the data collection are alarming and are consistent with racial profiling.

On October 24, 2016, researchers from York University released their analysis of race-based data collected by the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) on traffic stops.[1] The OPS’s Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project (TSRDCP) came as a result of a human rights complaint made against the Ottawa Police Services Board by an Ottawa resident.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the OPS’s Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project. My deputation will be available online this afternoon, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s full report with our analysis of the findings will be available on our website tomorrow. This project was based on a 2012 settlement between the Ottawa Police Services Board and the Commission, after Chad Aiken, a young Black man, filed a human rights complaint alleging racial profiling.

Under the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code), employers, unions, housing providers and service providers have a legal duty to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities who are adversely affected by a requirement, rule or standard at work, at school, in housing, or any of the other “social areas” covered by the Code.

519 Community Centre Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto Aboriginal Women’s Roundtable Access Alliance Multicultural Health Advocacy Centre for Tenants of Ontario Advocacy Centre for the Elderly African Canadian Legal Clinic Arab Canadian Lawyers Association ARCH Disability Law Centre Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic Canada Without Poverty Canadian Arab Institute Canadian Association of Black Lawyers Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies

People who are transgender come from all walks of life. Yet they are some of the most disadvantaged individuals in society. Trans people routinely experience discrimination, harassment and even violence because their gender identity or gender expression is different from their birth-assigned sex.

There are two critical elements that together provide the framework for the Strategic Plan: substantive strategic focus areas and foundational strengths. There is an interdependent relationship between these two elements and together they can drive the OHRC towards its vision.

We will concentrate our proactive efforts on four strategic focus areas:

As an independent agency of government, the OHRC is entrusted by the public to provide leadership in promoting and enforcing human rights in Ontario. We are guided by the Code in all of our work. To fulfill this mandate, the OHRC will continue to provide timely and principled guidance on critical and emerging human rights issues. However, shifting systemic discrimination also requires proactive planning and long-term, sustained and focused effort.

We believe that lasting and systemic change requires sustained and courageous action informed by our foundational values. We commit to embodying the following in all of our work and ways of working:

We envision an inclusive society where everyone takes responsibility for promoting and protecting human rights; where everyone is valued and treated with equal dignity and respect; and where everyone’s human rights are a lived reality. We believe that the way to realize this vision is to activate and engage the full range of our functions and powers under the Ontario Human Rights Code and our institutional expertise to dismantle the complex, intersecting dynamics and conditions that foster and perpetuate systemic discrimination.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) was established as an arm’s length agency of government in 1961 to prevent discrimination and to promote and advance human rights in Ontario. The OHRC is one pillar of Ontario’s human rights system, alongside the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC).

December 8, 2016 - This Strategic Plan provides the framework for 2017 – 2022. It lays out our proactive areas of focus for the coming five years. It is geared toward achieving results and creating an environment that encourages and supports a commitment to human rights accountability in our community. This Strategic Plan allows for developing, each year, a focused list of valid, necessary and measurable actions that advance the OHRC towards results. Internally, it provides the basis for more detailed operational plans to make sure that all organizational activities connect to results.

November 2016 - For nearly two decades, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has raised concerns about systemic discrimination that are part of the culture of policing in our province. There have been far too many instances of racial profiling, discriminatory use of force on people with mental health disabilities and/or addictions, and racism and sexism in investigations of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Ontario to ignore. These incidents and related concerns have sparked multiple coroner’s inquests, recommendations, reviews and reports, stretching back for decades. Yet they all have failed to eliminate systemic discrimination in policing.

Thank you once again for your hospitality and candour. During the meeting, we discussed concerns that leaders and members of the Indigenous community brought to my attention earlier in the day; namely, alleged racism and systemic discrimination within the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS). We discussed more generally the relationship between the TBPS and Indigenous communities in light of recent events.

Background The applicant, Ian Cole, is a middle-aged man with a severe intellectual disability who lives in the community. To live in the community, Mr. Cole depends on the receipt of nursing services. The primary source of funding for the nursing services is his local Community Care Access Centre (CCAC). The maximum funding for nursing services is set out in a regulation made under the Home Care and Community Services Act, 1994.  At the time the application was filed, funding was available for nursing services to a maximum of four visits per day.

Toronto – Findings from the Ottawa Police Service’s Race Data and Traffic Stops in Ottawa report released today challenge all policing institutions to acknowledge the systemic nature of racial profiling, examine their practices and take action to address racial discrimination.

Toronto – In a supplementary submission released today, the OHRC again calls on the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) to end the practice of segregation (also known as solitary confinement) in Ontario’s correctional facilities.

September 2016 - The OHRC intervened in Misetich v. Value Village, a case before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), involving allegations of discrimination on the basis of family status. The OHRC intervened to ensure that the Federal Court of Appeal's decision in Johnstone v.