1. Overview

The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) mandate is set out in the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code). Its mandate includes advancing and promoting respect for human rights in Ontario, recognizing that it is in the public interest to do so, and that it is the Commission’s duty to protect the public interest, and to identify and promote the elimination of systemic discrimination.

The Code prohibits actions and behaviours within provincial jurisdiction that discriminate against people based on seventeen protected grounds in five protected social areas. Systemic discrimination can include harassment that can contribute to a poisoned environment. The Code also protects individuals from reprisal for asserting their rights under it.^[1]

The Code envisions an Ontario in which the dignity and worth of every person is recognized, and each has equal rights and opportunities without discrimination, in a climate of mutual respect and understanding, so that each person feels a part of the community and is able to contribute fully to the development and well-being of the community and the Province.

The OHRC advances its mission by driving structural change based on the principle of substantive equality. The mission is accomplished by exposing and challenging systems of discrimination through education, policy development,^[2] public inquiries,^[3] and strategic litigation.^[4]

Illustration of two Black children sitting on the floor playing together with toys and building blocks. One child wears a light-coloured dress while another wears a short-sleeved shirt and shorts.

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In the Dreams Delayed: Addressing Systemic Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination in Ontario’s Public Education System (Dreams Delayed) report, the OHRC documented deeply entrenched patterns of systemic anti-Black discrimination and harassment in Ontario’s publicly funded education system, patterns that continue to undermine the safety, well-being, sense of belonging,^[5] and success of Black students, educators and education workers (staff).

Building on the insights and lived experiences gathered from extensive province-wide consultations, the OHRC developed 29 Calls to Action aimed at addressing the crisis of anti-Black racism and discrimination in Ontario’s publicly funded education system. These Calls to Action are organized into three main themes: accountability and transparency, monitoring and evaluation, and student well-being, with structured timelines to reflect both immediate and intermediate actions. The immediate actions are intended to be completed within the first 1 to 2 years, while the intermediate actions are set for 3 to 5 years, starting from March 2025, the date the OHRC released the report.

As documented in Dreams Delayed, oversight is still inconsistent across the system. Without proper monitoring and accountability, both overt and subtle forms of anti-Black racism and discrimination continue to impact students and staff negatively.

To address this gap, the OHRC has developed a tool called Dreams Delayed: Guide on Monitoring and Evaluation Towards Achieving Outcomes in Ontario’s Public Education System (Dreams Delayed guide or Guide) to assist education duty-holders in monitoring the implementation of, and tracking outcomes related to the Calls to Action in Dreams Delayed (see Appendix C: Dreams delayed calls to action).

This Guide aligns with the OHRC’s Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) Framework, and serves as a companion to the HRBA. It provides a principled, practical, and evidence-based approach to addressing systemic discrimination and harassment, thereby helping to achieve substantive equality under the Code, the Education Act, and related legislation.

The OHRC acknowledges that various education duty-holders share responsibilities, which require coordination across different systems. Thus, the OHRC encourages collaboration, relationship-building, and a problem-solving approach among them.

1.1. Purpose of the Guide

The Guide provides clear instructions to education duty-holders on how to meaningfully address systemic human rights issues, especially anti-Black discrimination and harassment within the education system.
It establishes a human rights-based approach for evaluating institutional efforts to address anti-Black racism and discrimination, ensuring that learning and working environments are free from discrimination and harassment.^[6]

Illustration of a Black educator seated in a chair reading from an open book to two young Black children seated nearby. The children are listening while seated on small chairs.

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By centring the diverse experiences of Black communities, especially Black students and education staff, and using various methods of measurement (quantitative and qualitative), the Guide helps to promote accountability and transparency, builds public trust, and supports a transformative approach to achieving substantive equality and non-discrimination.

The Guide is aligned with the OHRC’s mandate. It offers education duty-holders a comprehensive framework for:

Monitoring and measuring the concrete realization of human rights-based outcomes.
Evaluating compliance with the Code’s non-discrimination obligations based on measurable results.
Identifying systemic inequalities that impact individuals who are protected under the Code.
Enhancing accountability and transparency through evidence-based practices aimed at preventing and eliminating discrimination.

This Guide assists education duty-holders in fulfilling their legal obligations in practical ways. It can be used to evaluate existing initiatives aimed at addressing systemic discrimination to measure their effectiveness and outcomes. In addition, education duty-holders can reference the Guide when developing or updating initiatives that reflect the Calls to Action, aiming to establish or strengthen a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system grounded in human
rights principles.

The Guide is not intended to assess organizational performance in isolation from the affected communities, existing policies, or broader human rights obligations. It is designed to be applied with community input, particularly from Black communities. It also supports education duty-holders in assessing whether policies, systems, and resource decisions result in outcomes which meet obligations under the Code, the Education Act, other relevant legislation or case law.

The Guide serves as a companion to the OHRC’s Human Rights-Based Approach.

1.2. How to use this Guide

By the end of this process, education duty-holders and their organizations will have gained a clearer understanding of whether their actions are leading to meaningful, measurable improvements in addressing discrimination and harassment.

Each organization has distinct needs, constraints, structures, and resources. There is no “one size fits all” way to prevent and address anti-Black discrimination and harassment. While the Guide offers various ideas, each organization within the education system must tailor its approaches to fit its unique context.

The OHRC encourages all duty-holders in the education system to adopt this Guide as a continuous process of learning, accountability, and progress. Duty-holders are encouraged to integrate the monitoring and evaluation processes outlined in this Guide into existing strategic planning, governance, and reporting frameworks. Embedding human rights monitoring within established organizational planning and accountability cycles helps ensure that efforts to address anti-Black discrimination and harassment are not treated as stand alone initiatives, but as core institutional responsibilities.

The focus is on whether those processes are resulting in movement towards an education system free from discrimination and harassment, not on whether prescribed processes have been followed. Further, the focus is about cultivating accountability from education duty-holders directly to rights-holders, particularly Black students and staff, not about reporting solely to the OHRC. Strengthening this relationship is essential to building community trust.

1.3. Potential outcomes and benefits of the Guide

Duty-holders in the education system with direct or indirect roles and responsibilities within the education system will be able to:

Identify whether their initiatives are aligned with the goal of eliminating discrimination and maintaining an environment free from discrimination.
Be supported in meeting their human rights obligations through the collection, analysis, and public reporting of data, including quantitative, qualitative, disaggregated, and intersectional Code-based and non-Code based data, and support more informed and Code-compliant decision-taking.
Report monitoring and evaluation results publicly in clear, accessible and inclusive formats, increasing transparency, strengthening accountability, and building trust
with communities.
Create meaningful community participation and inclusion throughout the monitoring and evaluation cycle to further enhance transparency, improve accountability, and foster trust with affected communities.

Illustration of three people engaged in creative activities. One person seated in a wheelchair plays the trumpet, another holds a paintbrush and a third stands nearby. The image presents participation in the arts.

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