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Race and related grounds

Under the Code, every person has the right to be free from racial discrimination and harassment in the social areas of employment, services, goods, facilities, housing accommodation, contracts and membership in trade and vocational associations. You should not be treated differently because of your race or other related grounds, such as your ancestry, ethnicity, religion or place of origin. 

Canada, its provinces and territories have strong human rights laws and systems in place to address discrimination. At the same time, we also have a legacy of racism – particularly towards Indigenous persons, but to other groups as well including African, Chinese, Japanese, South Asian, Jewish and Muslim Canadians – a legacy that profoundly permeates our systems and structures to this day, affecting the lives of not only racialized persons, but also all people in Canada.

Relevant policies: 

  1. Backgrounder - Human rights settlement reached with General Motors of Canada Ltd with respect to workers with citizenships other than Canadian Or American

    July 2007 - The Ontario Human Rights Commission has reached a settlement with a number of complainants and General Motors of Canada Limited, in complaints alleging discrimination on the ground of citizenship and place of origin.

  2. Backgrounder - Project Charter: Ontario Human Rights Commission / Toronto Police Service / Toronto Police Services Board

    July 2007 - Over the past few years in efforts to resolve human rights complaints, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) approached the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) and the Toronto Police Service (TPS) to include specific public interest remedies.

  3. Black History Month: let’s celebrate the past, eradicate anti-Black racism today

    February 1, 2016

    February is Black History Month. It’s a time to celebrate the stories and significant contributions of Black Canadians to our province and our country. In fact, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) came into being more than half a century ago under the leadership of Daniel G. Hill, who as a Black man faced prejudice and exclusion while simply trying to find a place to live.

  4. Building human rights into municipal planning is aim of new OHRC guide

    February 17, 2012

    Kingston - Attorney General John Gerretsen today joined Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, to launch In the zone: Housing, human rights and municipal planning. The guide offers municipalities information about their legal obligations, and about the tools and best practices they can apply to connect human rights and housing when making zoning and planning decisions.

  5. Call for a Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against racism

    October 16, 2006

    The Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCU) is calling for a Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism. This draft Preliminary Proposal for a coalition has been prepared by a Pan-Canadian Working Group lead by CCU. It is based on UNESCO’s initiative for an international coalition of cities against racism. The OHRC has lent its expertise and support to the CCU in developing the preliminary proposal.

  6. Campaign promotes "Housing as a human right"

    March 1, 2010

    Toronto - The Ontario Human Rights Commission, the City of Toronto, the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario, the Greater Toronto Apartment Association and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre have joined forces to promote housing as a human right. The partners are encouraging Toronto tenants and landlords to learn more about these rights by today launching a poster that will appear in 120 transit shelters across Toronto during the month of March.

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