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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. OHRC update: COVID-19 pandemic and the OHRC’s inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is working hard to continue its inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service (TPS).

  2. OHRC statement on human rights, extreme heat waves and air conditioning

    August 19, 2022

    The Ontario Human Rights Commission calls on the Government of Ontario to include air conditioning as a vital service, like the provision of heat, under RTA regulations and to establish a provincial maximum temperature to make sure that vulnerable Code-protected tenants are protected against threats of eviction for using safely installed air conditioning units.

  3. Ontario Human Rights Commission comment on Canada’s upcoming 24th and 25th Reports to the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination

    The OHRC has prepared a submission in response to Canadian Heritage’s request for the views of human rights commissions to inform the Government of Canada as it prepares Canada's combined 24th and 25th periodic report to the United Nations on its implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

  4. OHRC letter and submission on Canada's report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

    August 12, 2022

    The OHRC has prepared a submission in response to Canadian Heritage’s request for the views of human rights commissions to inform the Government of Canada as it prepares Canada's combined 24th and 25th periodic report to the United Nations on its implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

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