OHRC to begin consultation on poverty
Over the coming months, the OHRC will undertake a consultation related to poverty with a specific focus on affordable, adequate and accessible housing and mental health and addiction disabilities.
Over the coming months, the OHRC will undertake a consultation related to poverty with a specific focus on affordable, adequate and accessible housing and mental health and addiction disabilities.
The OHRC believes the Peel District School Board’s Anti-Racism Policy is the most comprehensive such policy in Ontario, and may serve as a leading practice to inspire other Ontario school boards to create or revise anti-racism policies.
The OHRC understands that the Town of Kingsville’s study, Kingsville Temporary Foreign Worker – Final Report, has now been completed and will be discussed by Council on Monday June 27, 2022. Upon reviewing the study and the proposed recommendations, the OHRC is very concerned that the recommendations would, if implemented, continue to create discriminatory barriers to migrant workers living as full members of the Kingsville community.
As the world grapples with the ongoing “monkeypox” outbreak, several very concerning human rights issues have been exposed.
The Toronto Police Service’s own analysis on its race-based data collection on use of force and strip searches confirms the disproportionate use of force and enforcement actions against Black people that have also been identified by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
The OHRC is aware that the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) is considering amending its Code of Conduct to specifically include gender identity, gender expression, family status and marital status as grounds upon which members of the TCDSB community cannot be treated unfairly. Our understanding is that this issue is being specifically considered by the Catholic Education and Living our Catholic Values Sub-committee on September 25, 2019.
October 31, 2022
On September 29, 2022, Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General (Ontario) announced its proposal to create an updated regulatory framework under the Ministry of Correctional Services Act for strip searches of people in custody in Ontario’s adult correctional institutions.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) supports Ontario’s decision to take steps to better regulate the use of strip searches in its correctional institutions.
In its submission on proposed government amendments to the Equipment and Use of Force Regulation and implementing a modernized Use of Force Report, the OHRC makes recommendations on reporting requirements; expanding the scope of incidents subject to use of force reporting, the level of force applied in reporting, and including the use of handcuffs; in accordance with leading practices, including additional contextual information; and providing guidance on the analysis required by section 14.7 (4) of the amended regulation.
The OHRC’s submission to the Ministry of Solicitor General’s request for public and stakeholder input on amendments to police use of force reporting requirements in the Equipment and Use of Force Regulation as well as on a modernized Use of Force Report.
The Right to Read report has garnered sustained and significant public interest and support from provincial, national and international audiences. The response has been overwhelmingly positive with leading reading experts and equality rights advocates from Canada and around the world acknowledging the report’s accuracy and significance.