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Ontario Human Rights Commission announces partnerships on human rights projects

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January 11, 2001

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For immediate publication

Toronto - Chief Commissioner Keith C. Norton today announced three partnerships to enhance the Commission's efforts to promote understanding of human rights. Working with partners is a key part of the Commission's public education strategy and has been clearly identified by stakeholders as something the Commission must do more of.

Partnership - Increasing Public Awareness

The first partnership is with CCH Canadian Ltd., one of Canada's largest and most respected information providers for human resource, legal and accounting professionals. CCH Canadian will be publishing Human Rights Policy in Ontario, a compendium of the Commission's human rights policies and guidelines. As a valuable resource for human rights specialists, human resources professionals and others, this publication will bring together many key documents into one updated collection.

"CCH Canadian's world-wide reputation in publishing information products has made it a preferred partner of Canadian professionals for over 50 years. We are delighted to have CCH Canadian as our partner in increasing public awareness of human rights issues and expanding our distribution efforts," said Mr. Norton.

CCH Canadian President and CEO James de Gaspé Bonar said, "Our priority is to provide our customers with quick access to the top-quality information they need. We are very proud to work with such a high quality product as Human Rights Policy in Ontario and to partner with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on this project."

It should be noted that policies and guidelines will still be available at no charge from the Commission's Web site.

Partnership - Working with the Community

The Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) is a community organization with which the Commission has worked for several years. CASSA is a non-profit umbrella organization of agencies, which provide community services to the South Asian Community. Together, the Commission and CASSA have developed a plain language Complainant's Guide in six South Asian languages as well as English and French: Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi and Gujarati. This brochure identifies the rights and responsibilities of Ontarians and how to get more information from the Human Rights Commission about filing a complaint. This joint effort enhances the Commission's outreach to one of the fastest growing and diverse communities in Ontario.

Partnership - Fighting Racism

The Commission has also entered into a partnership with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation to develop a video and study guide on racism. The video will allow people in schools, workplace seminars, church groups or union meetings to explore their biases and how those biases affect themselves, others, and society at large. The project is part of the CRRF's "See people for who they really are. Unite against racism" campaign which was initiated in 1999. The campaign has involved numerous partners including the Bank of Montreal, the Canadian Teacher's Federation and the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

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François Larsen