Ontario is facing a homelessness crisis that is leading to profound and devastating impacts on our communities. As the crisis continues into the winter season, the OHRC echoes concerns raised by local public health units, health care workers, faith leaders and advocates about the significant lack of cold weather services in Toronto, and across the province, for people experiencing homelessness.
Ontario is facing a homelessness crisis that is causing deep and devastating impacts on our communities. Informal encampments and forced evictions are a stark example of this crisis. Solutions to homelessness and informal encampments must be grounded in human rights-based approaches and delivered with respect and compassion.
The OHRC has launched Poverty POV (Point of View), to engage with the public, through a survey, key informant discussions and other steps, on their lived experiences with poverty, including homelessness, and mental health and addictions.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission is developing a new policy statement on the discriminatory display of names, words and images, and wants to hear from the public about this quickly-evolving issue.
September 23, 2021
The OHRC is proposing the following content for inclusion in a policy statement on the discriminatory display of names, words and images:
The purpose of the policy statement on the discriminatory display of names, words and images is to:
May 7, 2021 – The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) congratulates the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) for launching this consultation and welcomes the opportunity to provide input on the proposed changes to its Rules and Forms.
The OHRC generally supports the overall intent of the Ministry’s draft Policy/Program Memorandum (PPM) for school board policies on service animals in schools.
Oct. 30, 2017 - From February 21 to 23, 2018, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, in collaboration with Indigenous knowledge keepers, academics and organizations, will host and engage in a dialogue to explore both Indigenous and Western constitutional legal and policy approaches to “human rights” and “equality.” Event organizers include staff from the Chiefs of Ontario as well as Indigenous academics Karen Drake (Métis Nation of Ontario, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University) and Jeffery Hewitt (Cree, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor).
May 3, 2017 - During the consultation, we heard many perspectives and experiences. We heard concerns about racialized and Indigenous peoples being subjected to unwarranted surveillance, investigation and other forms of scrutiny, punitive actions and heavy-handed treatment. We also tried to explore other, less well-understood forms of racial profiling, which may be systemic in nature. This report presents what we learned about institutional policies, practices, prediction and assessment tools, and decision-making processes, which may seem neutral but may nonetheless amount to systemic racial profiling.
From: Towards a new OHRC policy on racial profiling
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) will host a policy dialogue on racial profiling early in 2016. The primary purposes of the event are to stimulate dialogue and generate relevant research to help inform the development of a new OHRC policy on racial profiling.
