The concept of ‘intersectionality’ has been defined as “intersectional oppression [that] arises out of the combination of various oppressions which, together, produce something unique and distinct from any one form of discrimination standing alone....”
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) urgently calls on the government to clarify the status of the Adult Critical Care Clinical Emergency Standard of Care for Major Surge protocol (the Emergency Standard of Care) that was circulated to hospitals in January. The government must also confirm that the Health Care Consent Act prevails to protect the rights of patients and families at this time.
In an opinion editorial published online at National Newswatch on April 4, 2021, Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha discusses how Martin Luther King’s fight against poverty must guide our post-COVID vision.
The OHRC calls on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Metrolinx, as the owner and operator of PRESTO, to make sure that they adopt a human rights-centred approach to their fare system planning and implementation.
Universities and colleges must take a hard and unflinching look at the ways their policies, practices, and attitudes perpetuate discrimination. This opinion editorial by Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha was published on tvo.org on March 22, 2021.
"COVID-19 fears are fanning the flames of racism in Kenora,” an op-ed by Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha, was published on March 1, 2021 on TVO.org.
Letter to the Minister of Health outlining ongoing human rights concerns and the need for public consultation, calling on the Government to publicly release and consult human rights stakeholders including the OHRC on the latest versions of its proposed COVID-19 triage framework and the Emergency Standard of Care.
As Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario fights an outbreak of COVID-19, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is aware of reports of businesses and organizations in Kenora refusing services to Indigenous people and of social media posts spreading racist comments and misinformation.
On December 10, 2020, Chief Commissioner Ena Chadha wrote to General (Retired) Rick Hillier and the Vaccine Distribution Task Force to stress the important role that human rights principles, considerations and obligations should play in vaccine distribution planning.
While the OHRC is committed to supporting your office’s efforts to decrease poverty in Ontario, we are concerned that the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy does not take an explicit human rights-based approach to poverty reduction and does not recognize the right to an adequate standard of living.
I hope this correspondence finds you well in these challenging times. I am writing on behalf the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), to engage you on important human rights matters and our mutual interests related to your portfolio as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
