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Goods, services and facilities

 

You have the right to be free from discrimination when you receive goods or services, or use facilities. For example, this right applies to:

  • stores, restaurants and bars
  • hospitals and health services
  • schools, universities and colleges
  • public places, amenities and utilities such as recreation centres, public washrooms, malls and parks
  • services and programs provided by municipal and provincial governments, including social assistance and benefits, and public transit
  • services provided by insurance companies
  • classified advertisement space in a newspaper. 

Relevant policies and guides:

  1. Age discrimination and transit (fact sheet)

    2002 - Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, transit service providers have a legal responsibility to ensure that transit systems are accessible to all Ontarians. Many older persons depend of public transit services to go to work, to get to medical appointments, to go to the grocery store, to participate in recreational activities and to visit family and friends. Transit services that are not accessible can cause isolation and prevent participation of older persons in our communities.

  2. Alternative voting methods – an OHRC letter to Elections Ontario

    December 4, 2012

    Dear Mr. Essensa, Thank you for the opportunity to meet earlier this month regarding Elections Ontario’s review and public consultation on alternative voting methods involving internet and telephone voting technologies. The Ontario Human Rights Commission supports these forms of accessible voting as well as the eight electoral principles identified by Elections Ontario.

  3. Anti-Black racism in the Ontario Public Service

    June 14, 2019

    Dear Secretary Davidson:

    Thank you for meeting with me on May 27, 2019 to discuss anti-Black racism in the Ontario Public Service (OPS). I am writing today to request further details on the government’s existing and planned initiatives to address systemic racism in the OPS.

    As we discussed, a group of racialized employees has asked to meet with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to discuss their concerns about anti-Black racism in the OPS. This meeting has been scheduled for June 19, 2019.

  4. Appendix A - Mount Sinai Hospital

    From: Count me in! Collecting human rights-based data

    Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) is a large patient care, teaching and research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. Since 2007, Media Corp Inc. has named MSH one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers. MSH seeks to be a national leader in all of its diversity and human rights programs, and to have a staff team that reflects the diverse patients they serve.

  5. Backgrounder - Commission settles complaints with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board

    October 2005 - The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (the “Board’) agrees that, when teachers or school administrators are alleged to have made inappropriate remark(s) toward a student regarding that student's race, colour, ethnic origin, place of origin, creed, or disability, or other grounds as protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code , or to have purposefully failed to appropriately accommodate the needs of disabled students, the Board shall investigate the allegations and implement measures, where appropriate, to ensure accountability. Such measures shall include, in appropriate circumstances, discipline up to and including termination.

  6. Backgrounder - Human rights and public transit

    2002 - Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, every citizen of Ontario has a right to equal treatment in receiving public services, which include public transit services.Transit providers have a legal responsibility to ensure that transit systems are accessible to all Ontarians. For many, access to public transit is a necessity - in order to obtain an education, find and keep a job, or use basic public services like health care.

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