TORONTO – Today, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released its 2025–2026 annual report entitled 65 Years of Leadership: Sustaining Democratic Values by Advancing Human Rights. This report provides an overview of the OHRC’s efforts to fulfil its mandate and serve the people of Ontario.
This year marks a significant milestone for the OHRC: 65 years of advancing human rights in Ontario. As we celebrate this anniversary, the rise in hate-speech and other hate-action threaten our democratic values, and questions about rights, equality, accountability, and belonging are top of mind for Ontarians.
Over the past year, the Commission has focused on advancing human rights in today’s context, with education being foundational. Central to the Commission’s work in education are students’ experiences in the education system. A major urgency continues to be the Right to Read. In 2025–2026, the Commission continued its efforts to engage with education-sector duty-holders to help ensure all students realize their right to read. Many school boards have embraced the inquiry report, taking concrete steps to adopt or update their literacy practices. Together with its work in education, the Commission marked the one-year anniversary of Dreams Delayed: Addressing Systemic Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination in Ontario’s Public Education System.
Advancing human rights also requires meaningful collaboration, partnership, and relationship-building. Over the past year, the Commission strengthened its partnerships with Indigenous communities to address longstanding and widespread Indigenous‑specific discrimination in Ontario’s healthcare system, retail settings, and hiring practices. The Commission collaborated with policing services to advance human rights and mitigate systemic discrimination in policing and law enforcement systems. Additionally, the Commission engaged across provincial, federal, and international forums, making submissions on a wide range of issues, including artificial intelligence, education, housing, and racism.
In addition, throughout 2025–2026, the Commission advanced responsible, human rights‑based approaches to artificial intelligence (AI), including co-creating and releasing the Principles for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence, in collaboration with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, as well as through its contribution to Canada’s renewed AI Strategy.
“To the people of Ontario, 16.1 million strong, who have made Ontario home: every day, you place trust in the promise of dignity, fairness, and respect,” said the OHRC Chief Commissioner Patricia DeGuire. “Thank you for recognizing that human rights are vital to everyone’s daily lives. The OHRC’s work is grounded in your lived realities and carries that trust forward with purpose and pragmatism, working to uphold rights, address inequities, and advance justice.”
Learn More: Ontario Human Rights Commission Business Plan 2024-25 – 2026-27
Media contact: Media@ohrc.on.ca
For 65 years the OHRC has been promoting that it is public policy to recognize the dignity and worth of every person and provide equal rights and opportunities without discrimination.