The Ontario Human Rights Commission is developing a new policy statement on the discriminatory display of names, words and images, and wants to hear from the public about this quickly-evolving issue.
While receiving a COVID-19 vaccine remains voluntary, the OHRC takes the position that mandating and requiring proof of vaccination to protect people at work or when receiving services is generally permissible under the Human Rights Code (Code) as long as protections are put in place to make sure people who are unable to be vaccinated for Code-related reasons are reasonably accommodated.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding reached in 2020, Chief Commissioner Patricia DeGuire and the OHRC continue to work collaboratively with the Peel Regional Police and the Peel Police Services Board to address systemic racism and discrimination in policing. As one of the steps in this process, PRP, PPSB and the OHRC have developed a survey seeking community feedback on experiences with and perceptions of PRP.
The OHRC wrote to the Health Care Standards Committee to support its initial recommendations for developing health care accessibility standards, and to make further recommendations to strengthen the standards.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) welcomes Patricia DeGuire as the new Chief Commissioner effective Thursday, August 19, 2021.
Today the OHRC released its Framework for change to address systemic racism in policing, calling on Ontario to establish a legislative and regulatory framework to directly address systemic racial discrimination in policing across the province.
This series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The sixth in the series features Commissioner Eyolfson, a lawyer who practices alternative dispute resolution, providing independent investigation, mediation and adjudication services, primarily in the area of human rights.
This past year, the OHRC has repeatedly denounced the escalating hate that is targeting religious and racialized communities. It is essential that we all take steps, and take them quickly, to stand in solidarity, as individuals and through our organizations, to call out Islamophobia and racism and reject the hatred and the violence it begets.
The OHRC joins community calls for governments to review hate crime laws to ensure these laws are responsive to the lived realities of hate activity across Canada, and enforcement to ensure that police are doing what is necessary to support communities in distress and keep communities safe.
This series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The fifth in the series features Commissioner Pieters, who brings to the Commission over two decades of leadership roles in equity initiatives in the education sector as teacher, vice-principal and principal.
On July 8, 2021, the OHRC wrote a second letter to 23 municipalities about the harmful impact of Indigenous-themed sports logos in city facilities.
The OHRC is pleased that the City of Toronto’s proposed framework for multi-tenant houses implements human rights principles and “would establish city-wide permissions for multi-tenant houses.”
The Ontario Human Rights Commission welcomes the nomination of Patricia DeGuire as the new Chief Commissioner.
The OHRC is concerned about Toronto police officers “being asked to increase their presence on TTC properties and vehicles where possible,” as noted in the Toronto Transit Commission’s July 2021 CEO Report.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) stands with Indigenous communities across Canada in their outrage and mourning after 751 unmarked graves were located on the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.
The OHRC is concerned about the lack of oversight in Ontario’s prisons after the government’s recent decision to disband Community Advisory Boards (CABs). More independent and robust oversight is needed – not less.
Today, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released Human rights under pressure: from policing to pandemics, its 2020–21 annual report. The report highlights the OHRC’s work to advance human rights on key issues at a time when the values of human rights have come under intense pressure in all areas of society.
June 14, 2021 – The OHRC is concerned about the unique implications that artificial intelligence (AI) presents to the human rights of Ontario’s marginalized and vulnerable communities, and has made a submission to Ontario’s public consultation on the Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Framework.
This horrific and senseless act further underlines why discrimination based on creed and racism must be unequivocally condemned as deplorable and in violation of core values and beliefs as a society.
The OHRC urges the HCDSB to join other Catholic school boards in welcoming their LGBTQ2+ students, staff and community members by flying the Pride flag.
The OHRC responded to a second request from Seniors for Social Action Ontario for the OHRC to undertake a section 31 public interest inquiry into the institutionalization of older adults in Ontario.
A new series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The fourth in the series features Commissioner Arsenault, a veteran Toronto police officer with experience ranging from youth services to the Aboriginal Peacekeeping Unit. He uses an extensive social media following to promote community safety and community-building.
To keep Ontario’s people and communities safe, it is critical for Ontario’s justice sector to once again make sure the prison custody numbers come down and stay down.
The OHRC is concerned about accounts from members of Ontario’s South Asian communities of hate and stigmatization in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 humanitarian crisis in India.
The OHRC is concerned that the most recent expansion of police discretionary power to enforce the latest “stay-at-home order” will likely result in a disproportionate impact on members of marginalized and vulnerable communities.
The OHRC wrote to colleges and universities, asking them to identify what actions their administrations are taking to provide equitable and inclusive learning environments, including efforts to investigate discrimination and harassment in a timely and effective way.
The OHRC responded to a request from Seniors for Social Action Ontario for the OHRC to undertake a section 31 public interest inquiry into the institutionalization of older adults in Ontario.
The OHRC responded to a request from Ontario Council of Hospital Unions-CUPE, Ontario Health Coalition and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly for the OHRC to undertake a section 31 public interest inquiry into the institutionalization of older adults in Ontario.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) urgently calls on the government to clarify the status of the Adult Critical Care Clinical Emergency Standard of Care for Major Surge protocol (the Emergency Standard of Care) that was circulated to hospitals in January. The government must also confirm that the Health Care Consent Act prevails to protect the rights of patients and families at this time.
In an opinion editorial published online at National Newswatch on April 4, 2021, Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha discusses how Martin Luther King’s fight against poverty must guide our post-COVID vision.
The OHRC calls on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Metrolinx, as the owner and operator of PRESTO, to make sure that they adopt a human rights-centred approach to their fare system planning and implementation.
Universities and colleges must take a hard and unflinching look at the ways their policies, practices, and attitudes perpetuate discrimination. This opinion editorial by Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha was published on tvo.org on March 22, 2021.
On March 12, 2021, the OHRC wrote to Solicitor General Jones to make a submission to the ministry’s review of Regulations under the Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015 to determine whether any of the prescribed temporary exemptions should continue, be narrowed or removed.
"COVID-19 fears are fanning the flames of racism in Kenora,” an op-ed by Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha, was published on March 1, 2021 on TVO.org.
Letter to the Minister of Health outlining ongoing human rights concerns and the need for public consultation, calling on the Government to publicly release and consult human rights stakeholders including the OHRC on the latest versions of its proposed COVID-19 triage framework and the Emergency Standard of Care.
A new series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The third in the series features Commissioner Jewel Amoah, a Canadian-Trinidadian human rights lawyer, activist and academic. Amoah is currently the Human Rights and Equity Advisor with the Halton District School Board. She has also worked with organizations both in Canada and abroad, providing extensive advice on gender equality and legislative reform.
As Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario fights an outbreak of COVID-19, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is aware of reports of businesses and organizations in Kenora refusing services to Indigenous people and of social media posts spreading racist comments and misinformation.
Let’s honour Black history in February, and let’s help make new Black history every month of the year.
On December 10, 2020, Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha wrote to General (Retired) Rick Hillier and the Vaccine Distribution Task Force to stress the important role that human rights principles, considerations and obligations should play in vaccine distribution planning.
While the OHRC is committed to supporting your office’s efforts to decrease poverty in Ontario, we are concerned that the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy does not take an explicit human rights-based approach to poverty reduction and does not recognize the right to an adequate standard of living.
A new series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The second in the series features Commissioner Violetta Igneski, who talks about her personal journey in human rights, and how ethics and philosophy are important to understanding human rights.
Letter to Aboriginal Legal Services to support their call to add the fight against racism to the Canada Health Act. Although the Act is federal legislation, the OHRC recognizes the significant impact it has on the delivery of health services in provinces and territories and believes principles respecting human rights should be reflected in the Act, as well as all other federal and provincial legislation.
I am writing to all public colleges and universities in Ontario after recent events have exposed that Indigenous, Black and racialized students are experiencing significant concerns of discrimination, xenophobia and targeting on campuses and in academic environments across Ontario. As service providers, all academic institutions have legally mandated human rights obligations to their students under the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code).
I hope this correspondence finds you well in these challenging times. I am writing on behalf the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), to engage you on important human rights matters and our mutual interests related to your portfolio as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
While the coronavirus does not discriminate, data tells us that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore profound systemic inequalities, and has exacted a devastating social, economic and health toll on Ontario’s most vulnerable people and communities. I am writing today to stress the important role that human rights principles, considerations and obligations should play in vaccine distribution planning.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) welcome the news that Facebook has now implemented and is enforcing several safeguards to prevent discriminatory targeting of advertisements for housing, employment and credit opportunities in Canada.
I am writing further to my letters of October 16, 2020, and November 6, 2020, requesting an opportunity to meet with you to discuss next steps for a consultation with human rights stakeholders on the latest draft of the COVID-19 critical care triage protocol.
In recognition of the importance of lacrosse to Indigenous cultures and in the face of troubling reports of racial slurs and mistreatment in games involving Six Nations lacrosse players, the Ontario Human Rights Commission will meet with Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, the Ontario Lacrosse Association and the Canadian Lacrosse Association to engage in discussions about how to address concerns of systemic racism against Indigenous lacrosse players. [News release also available in Mohawk]
On National Housing Day, the OHRC calls on the Province to amend Ontario’s Building Code Regulation to require all units in new construction or major renovation of multi-unit residences to fully meet universal accessibility standards. The OHRC also calls on municipalities to prioritize universal design construction, consistent with their obligations under the Code. Government and housing providers must work together to make sure that new developments are fully inclusive, because Ontarians deserve no less.
Check out the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s newest version of Human Rights 101. This revised eLearning program offers a fresh new look, expanded discussions on types of discrimination and the latest directions in human rights, along with added scenarios and knowledge checks.
