News Centre

The OHRC wrote to the Health Care Standards Committee to support its initial recommendations for developing health care accessibility standards, and to make further recommendations to strengthen the standards.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) welcomes Patricia DeGuire as the new Chief Commissioner effective Thursday, August 19, 2021.

Today the OHRC released its Framework for change to address systemic racism in policing, calling on Ontario to establish a legislative and regulatory framework to directly address systemic racial discrimination in policing across the province.

This series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The sixth in the series features Commissioner Eyolfson, a lawyer who practices alternative dispute resolution, providing independent investigation, mediation and adjudication services, primarily in the area of human rights. 

This past year, the OHRC has repeatedly denounced the escalating hate that is targeting religious and racialized communities. It is essential that we all take steps, and take them quickly, to stand in solidarity, as individuals and through our organizations, to call out Islamophobia and racism and reject the hatred and the violence it begets.

The OHRC joins community calls for governments to review hate crime laws to ensure these laws are responsive to the lived realities of hate activity across Canada, and enforcement to ensure that police are doing what is necessary to support communities in distress and keep communities safe.

This series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The fifth in the series features Commissioner Pieters, who brings to the Commission over two decades of leadership roles in equity initiatives in the education sector as teacher, vice-principal and principal. 

On July 8, 2021, the OHRC wrote a second letter to 23 municipalities about the harmful impact of Indigenous-themed sports logos in city facilities.

The OHRC is pleased that the City of Toronto’s proposed framework for multi-tenant houses implements human rights principles and “would establish city-wide permissions for multi-tenant houses.” 

The Ontario Human Rights Commission welcomes the nomination of Patricia DeGuire as the new Chief Commissioner.

The OHRC is concerned about Toronto police officers “being asked to increase their presence on TTC properties and vehicles where possible,” as noted in the Toronto Transit Commission’s July 2021 CEO Report.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) stands with Indigenous communities across Canada in their outrage and mourning after 751 unmarked graves were located on the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.

The OHRC is concerned about the lack of oversight in Ontario’s prisons after the government’s recent decision to disband Community Advisory Boards (CABs). More independent and robust oversight is needed – not less.

Today, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released Human rights under pressure: from policing to pandemics, its 2020–21 annual report. The report highlights the OHRC’s work to advance human rights on key issues at a time when the values of human rights have come under intense pressure in all areas of society.

June 14, 2021 – The OHRC is concerned about the unique implications that artificial intelligence (AI) presents to the human rights of Ontario’s marginalized and vulnerable communities, and has made a submission to Ontario’s public consultation on the Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Framework.

This horrific and senseless act further underlines why discrimination based on creed and racism must be unequivocally condemned as deplorable and in violation of core values and beliefs as a society.

The OHRC urges the HCDSB to join other Catholic school boards in welcoming their LGBTQ2+ students, staff and community members by flying the Pride flag.

The OHRC responded to a second request from Seniors for Social Action Ontario for the OHRC to undertake a section 31 public interest inquiry into the institutionalization of older adults in Ontario.

A new series profiling OHRC Commissioners offers a deeper look at who the Commissioners are, what drives them to advance human rights, and what issues are currently most important to them. The fourth in the series features Commissioner Arsenault, a veteran Toronto police officer with experience ranging from youth services to the Aboriginal Peacekeeping Unit. He uses an extensive social media following to promote community safety and community-building.

To keep Ontario’s people and communities safe, it is critical for Ontario’s justice sector to once again make sure the prison custody numbers come down and stay down.

The OHRC is concerned about accounts from members of Ontario’s South Asian communities of hate and stigmatization in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 humanitarian crisis in India.

The OHRC is concerned that the most recent expansion of police discretionary power to enforce the latest “stay-at-home order” will likely result in a disproportionate impact on members of marginalized and vulnerable communities.

The OHRC wrote to colleges and universities, asking them to identify what actions their administrations are taking to provide equitable and inclusive learning environments, including efforts to investigate discrimination and harassment in a timely and effective way.

The OHRC responded to a request from Seniors for Social Action Ontario for the OHRC to undertake a section 31 public interest inquiry into the institutionalization of older adults in Ontario.

The OHRC responded to a request from Ontario Council of Hospital Unions-CUPE, Ontario Health Coalition and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly for the OHRC to undertake a section 31 public interest inquiry into the institutionalization of older adults in Ontario.