You have the right to be free from discrimination when you receive goods or services, or use facilities. For example, this right applies to:
Relevant policies and guides:
This joint submission identifies concrete investments that should be earmarked in Ontario’s 2020 budget to protect the health and safety of vulnerable and marginalized Ontarians incarcerated in provincial institutions and the brave men and women working inside them.
Toronto – Sikhs who wish to enter a Toronto courthouse wearing a kirpan (stylized representation of a sword) now face fewer barriers according to a settlement reached with the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Police Services Board, and the Ministry of the Attorney General. The Toronto Police Service (“TPS”) agreed to revise its procedures to ensure that practicing members of the Sikh faith will be allowed to wear kirpans in public areas of courthouses, subject to an individualized risk assessment.
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that two alcoholics are entitled to disability benefits. The case is important because it looks at what constitutes discrimination in human rights law.
Toronto – The mental health needs of prison inmates is the focus of a landmark settlement reached today.
Today on Human Rights Day, the Law Commission of Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Commission announced a joint research and policy initiative to examine human rights issues in the development, use and governance of artificial intelligence and algorithms in Canada and specifically in Ontario.
A few months ago, I visited Thunder Bay and had the opportunity to speak with members of the Indigenous community. Community members told me about their concerns related to policing and child welfare, trafficking of Indigenous women and girls, and everyday racism in almost every facet of their lives including employment, housing, healthcare and retail. Most strikingly, people talked about being “garbaged” – literally having garbage thrown at them while walking down the street, all because of their Indigenous ancestry. I brought these concerns to the leaders that I met later in the day, including the Mayor and police.
From: Annual Report 2010-2011: Looking back, moving forward
Every student in Ontario needs to have opportunities to learn and succeed. This does not happen when students are suspended because of mental illness beyond their control, or can’t take the courses they need because they use a wheelchair and the school does not have an elevator, or they are disciplined for not following the dress code because they wear a hijab in accordance with their creed, or they are bullied for being lesbian, gay or transgendered.
A broad network of community advocates, human rights and legal experts, academics, concerned and affected individuals and the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is calling on the Province to ensure that its Draft Regulation on police street checks – or “carding” – achieves the Minister’s stated objective of ending arbitrary and discriminatory police street checks.
The OHRC believes the Peel District School Board’s Anti-Racism Policy is the most comprehensive such policy in Ontario, and may serve as a leading practice to inspire other Ontario school boards to create or revise anti-racism policies.
The Commission is pleased with the progress that has been made since we first commented on the 2007 initial proposed standard. In its current submission, the Commission is recommending a number of modifications be made before the standard is drafted into regulation to ensure it is understood and applied in a harmonized manner consistent with obligations under human rights law.
