On March 29, 2021, the OHRC marked its 60th anniversary with a virtual celebration. This YouTube event on March 29 marked the start of a 15-month period of commemoration and celebration of both the OHRC’s 60th anniversary and the 60th anniversary of Ontario’s Human Rights Code in June 2022.
The video features a variety of visionaries from the past and the present, who share their personal experiences advancing human rights in Ontario, and add their thoughts on what the future holds.
View the celebration:
Photo credits in the order they appear:
Daniel G. Hill was the first director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. (Photo: Daniel G. Hill fonds, Archives of Ontario)
Walter Currie was one of the first two members of Ontario's Human Rights Commission (OHRC), and served from 1972 to 1974. (Photo: The Canadian Encyclopedia)
Thomas Symons served as chairman of the OHRC from 1975 to 1978. (Photo courtesy of the Symons family)
Dorothea Crittenden, first woman to head the OHRC from 1978 to 1982. (Photo: Toronto Public Library)
Borden Purcell holding the OHRC’s 1980 annual report. He was the chair of the OHRC from 1978 to 1982. (Photo: Toronto Star Photograph Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Fran Endicott was chief commissioner from Sept. 1992 to Nov. 1992. (Photos courtesy of Barb Thomas, D'Arcy Martin)
Catherine Frazee was chief commissioner from 1989 to 1992. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Rosemary Brown was chief commissioner from 1993 to 1996. (Photo: from Being Brown, by Rosemary Brown)
Keith Norton was chief commissioner from 1996 to 2005.
Renu Mandhane served as chief commissioner from 2015 to 2020.
Hugh Burnett was one of the leading activists in a collective charge to embed anti-discrimination and anti-racism in Ontario’s legislation and society. (Photo 1: Amherstburg Freedom/Twitter; Photo 2: The Candian Encyclopedia)
Bromley Armstrong, Ruth Lor in 2012 at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Bromley Armstrong from 1979, member of the OHRC and ex-president of the Jamaican Canadian Association (Photo: Toronto Star Photograph Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Alan Borovoy in 2012 at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Bromley Armstrong, Alan Borovoy and Ruth Lor reminisce about their days as activists at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ontario’s Human Rights Code, 2012.
Daniel G. Hill, co-founder of the Ontario Black History Society, and the first director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. (Photo: Daniel G. Hill fonds, Archives of Ontario)
Daniel G. Hill and his three sisters when they were teenagers, ca. 1937–1939. (Photo: Daniel G. Hill fonds, Archives of Ontario)
Daniel G. Hill (left) and Attorney General Roy McMurtry (right) at a reception for the Ontario Black History Society on February 16, 1981. (Photo: Daniel G. Hill fonds, Archives of Ontario)
Daniel G. Hill at home with family, ca. 1958. (Photo: Daniel G. Hill fonds, Archives of Ontario)
Life Together OHRC report, 1977.
1974 A ‘psychology of fear' is growing among black and Asian immigrants in Toronto because moderate citizens seem indifferent to extremist attacks on minorities, says Robert McPhee, director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. (Photo: Toronto Star Photograph Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Wheel Trans van #703 heads eastbound on Queen Street in front of City Hall on August 27, 1980. (Photo: L. Swanson, courtesy of the John Knight Collection).
Assistant helping person who uses a wheelchair onto an accessible van ramp. (Photo: Getty Images)
Justine Blainey in 1995. (Photo: Toronto Star Photo Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Justine Blainey in 1988. (Photo: Toronto Star Photo Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Indian bridegroom holding a kirpan, a ceremonial dagger. (Photo: Getty Images)
Classroom in blur background (Photo: Getty Images)
Harbhajan Singh Pandori displays his kirpan, a ceremonial dagger, in front of a Mississauga skyline (Photo: Toronto Star Photo Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Peel Board of Education, H.J.A. Brown Education Centre (Photo: Toronto Star Photo Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Human Rights Board of Inquiry decision, Harbajan Singh Pandori and the Ontario Human Rights Commission v The Peel Board of Education (Internet Archive: archive.org/details/boi90_008/page/2/mode/2up)
Rev. Brent Hawkes, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church photographed in 1985. (Photo: Toronto Star Photo Archive, courtesy of Toronto Public Library)
Pride Parade Flags (Photo: Getty Images)
Photos from Selwyn Pieters/Twitter
Sharmaine Hall, Executive Director of the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, speaking at the launch of the OHRC’s Policy on eliminating racial profiling in law enforcement in 2019.
Photos from Human Rights Legal Support Centre/Twitter
Barbara Hall in 2012 at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Barbara Hall speaks at the launch of Minds that Matter, the OHRC consultation report on human rights, mental health and addictions, 2012.
Photos from the launch of Fishing without Fear, the OHRC’s final report on its inquiry into assaults on Asian Canadian anglers, 2009.
OHRC Commissioner Maurice Switzer displays key objects related to Ontario’s Treaty relationship with Indigenous peoples at an OHRC staff training event, 2017.
Sylvia Maracle, Executive Director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, speaks at the launch of Under Suspicion, the OHRC’s research and consultation report on racial profiling in Ontario, 2017.