Papers and reports

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released "From Impact to Action", its final report on anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) in December 2023. The OHRC's report and recommendations underscore the importance of effectively addressing systemic racism and discrimination in law enforcement to build safer and more inclusive communities. This is the OHRC’s written deputation to the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB). It is a response to the TPS and TPSB's written update to the Board on the status of implementing over 100 recommendations provided in the OHRC’s final report.  

Based on the OHRC’s review of the facts, including the data, the lived experiences of Black communities, and case law, the OHRC finds that Black people are subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism. Interviews with the TPS and Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) and a review of thousands of pages of documents revealed gaps in TPS and TPSB policies, procedures, training, and accountability mechanisms that have helped perpetuate discrimination and contributed to mistrust of police among Black people. As our consultations made clear, Black communities do not simply need another report with recommendations. The OHRC’s final report on its Inquiry into anti-Black racism by the TPS sets out a path to move From Impact to Action – a path of meaningful actions aimed at changing outcomes for Black communities.

The OHRC’s legacy is decades in the making. Last year marked the 60th anniversary of Ontario’s Human Rights Code – the first legislation of its kind in Canada. This report marks some key human rights moments, and the significant role individuals and communities have played in recognizing, protecting, and advancing human rights.

On June 27, 2023, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released its Anti-Black Racism in Education Roundtables: What We Heard Report. The roundtables held in April 2023, provided a space for students and duty-holders in the education sector to share solution-focused and action-oriented recommendations. For the next action, the OHRC is calling on key partners and stakeholders in education for written submissions on concrete and practical solutions to address anti-Black racism in Ontario’s publicly funded education system. This step is to develop an ongoing dialogue with those key partners and stakeholders, and gather additional information, including actions for implementation, to empower, and to hold duty-holders accountable. 

Recognizing a rise in acts of anti-Black racism in Ontario communities and public schools, in March 2023, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) announced an initiative to tackle the crisis of systemic anti-Black racism in Ontario’s publicly-funded education system. The OHRC is committed to the development of a province-wide strategy on accountability for, and impact of, anti-Black racism and discrimination in education related to the roles and functions of the education sector, community, and the OHRC.

Black leadership and community engagement have been at the forefront of action to address systemic discrimination and advance racial equity in Ontario. The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) recognizes that Black individuals, organizations, and grassroots movements have been working on issues of anti-Black racism in education for decades. The OHRC acknowledges and embraces the work of generations of grassroots and community-led organizing and academics and the significant strides toward protecting the safety and well-being of Black children in Ontario’s publicly funded education system. The OHRC has tried to capture and preserve those works in its initiative to address anti-Black racism in Ontario’s education system. We are grateful for those works and honour the people who have contributed to them.

Reflect, reimagine, respond: results, the 2021-2022 Ontario Human Rights Commission Annual Report, provides a qualitative and quantitative update on our progress in meeting the commitments set out in our 2017-2022 strategic plan, Putting people and their rights at the centre. 

The OHRC calls on Ontario to establish a legislative and regulatory framework to directly address systemic racial discrimination in policing across the province. We have laid out a framework for systemic change that includes essential steps for eliminating discriminatory practices from policing across the province. 

Human rights under pressure: from policing to pandemics, the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) 2020 – 2021 Annual Report, provides qualitative and quantitative information that tracks our progress in meeting the commitments set out in our 2017–22 Strategic Plan, Putting people and their rights at the centre. 

A Disparate Impact, the second interim report in the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service (TPS), confirms that Black people are more likely than others to be arrested, charged, over-charged, struck, shot or killed by Toronto police.