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The OHRC, University of Windsor and Windsor Police Service invite you to join us at: Taking it Local: A municipal update on human rights

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The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), University of Windsor and
Windsor Police Service invite you to join us at:

Taking it local
A municipal update on human rights

Wednesday, March 11, 2015
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Ambassador Auditorium, CAW Student Centre*
University of Windsor
401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4

This FREE one-day event features plenary and concurrent sessions
on what’s happening in human rights across Ontario.

Featured speakers include guests from the Ontario Human Rights Commission,
University of Windsor and Windsor Police Service.

*Pay and display parking lot, with accessible parking, just north of the CAW Student Centre,
accessed off of University Avenue

RSVP

Register online by March 2, 2015 at www.ohrc.on.ca/en/contact/events-registration-form
or by calling Alicia Carr at 416-314-4526

Please specify your preferred morning and afternoon concurrent sessions.

If you need an accommodation based on a Human Rights Code ground to attend,
let us know when you respond. Register early! Space is limited.

Agenda

Opening remarks

Morning plenary: Human rights, mental health disabilities and addictions

Learn about the OHRC’s new Policy on human rights, mental health and addictions. This session offers details on the human rights of people with mental health and addiction issues, and the responsibilities employers, housing and services providers have to support these rights.

Morning concurrent sessions

Please pick one when you register

C1: Human rights essentials

This session offers you a basic primer on human rights, including topics like Ontario’s Human Rights Code, what grounds and social areas are, forms of discrimination, the duty to accommodate, and how Ontario’s human rights system works.

C2: Identifying and overcoming racism and racial discrimination

You will learn about the many ways racial discrimination and racial harassment can harm individuals and communities. This session will also equip you with some critical tools to identify and overcome this discrimination.

C3: From exclusion to inclusion: Housing, municipal zoning and licensing, and human rights

Learn about the critical connection between human rights and planning laws, and the important role municipal staff and decision-makers play in helping communities move from saying “No” to saying “Welcome.” Topics include identifying and removing barriers to housing, what requirements for “a range of housing” mean from a human rights perspective, and applying a human rights lens when consulting with communities.

Afternoon concurrent sessions

Please pick one when you register

C4: Competing human rights and how to address them

When one right appears to conflict with another, what do we do? In this session, you will learn how to identify when rights are competing, and how to analyze and resolve this conflict. You’ll learn about the OHRC’s Policy on competing human rights, and how to apply its framework to your own scenario.

C5: Removing the “Canadian experience” barrier

Newcomers to Canada often have a hard time getting work in the field because of arbitrary requirements that they have Canadian experience. This session features an overview of the OHRC’s Policy on removing the “Canadian experience” barrier. It can help you identify and remove this barrier in your own organization, and can help newcomers advocate for their rights.

C6: Preventing discrimination because of gender identity and gender expression

This session features an overview of the OHRC’s new Policy on preventing discrimination because of gender identity and gender expression. You will learn about the two newest grounds of the Human Rights Code, and what the law requires you to do to accommodate trans people and people of diverse genders.

Afternoon plenary: Preventing sexual and gender-based harassment

Sexual harassment often occurs because of a power imbalance between the harasser and the person being harassed. And it can happen to anyone regardless of one’s social, economic or ethnic background or gender. In this session you will learn how to identify sexual harassment and the responsibilities of employers, housing and education providers and others.

Human rights town hall (question and answer session)