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The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) was established as an arm’s length agency of government in 1961 to prevent discrimination and to promote and advance human rights in Ontario. The OHRC is one pillar of Ontario’s human rights system, alongside the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC).

Ontario Human Rights Commission Strategic Plan 2023 – 2025

This Strategic Plan provides the framework for 2023 – 2025. It lays out our proactive areas of focus for the coming three years. It is geared toward achieving results and creating an environment that encourages and supports a commitment to human rights accountability in our community. This Strategic Plan allows for developing, each year, a focused list of valid, necessary and measurable actions that advance the OHRC towards results. Internally, it provides the basis for more detailed operational plans to make sure that all organizational activities connect to results.
 
We envision an inclusive society where everyone takes responsibility for promoting and protecting human rights; where everyone is valued and treated with equal dignity and respect; and where everyone’s human rights are a lived reality.

We believe that the way to realize this vision is to activate and engage the full range of our functions and powers under the Ontario Human Rights Code and our institutional expertise to dismantle the complex, intersecting dynamics and conditions that foster and perpetuate systemic discrimination.

Our mission is to promote and enforce human rights, to engage in relationships that embody the principles of dignity and respect, and to create a culture of human rights compliance and accountability. We act as a driver for social change based on principles of substantive equality. We accomplish our mission by exposing, challenging and ending entrenched and widespread structures and systems of discrimination through education, policy development, public inquiries and litigation.