Goods, services and facilities

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 OHRC is pleased that a recent Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) ruling confirmed it has jurisdiction to resolve Human Rights Code-related claims of discrimination by unionized employees.

The OHRC reported progress on the Right to Read inquiry. It also confirmed its plan to continue to monitor progress on inquiry recommendations and renews its call to all partners in Ontario’s education system to do their part to uphold every student’s right to learn to read.

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.

The United Nations has designated September 18 as International Equal Pay Day. This recognition is an intentional focus on the disparities of the pay between women and men for work of equal value, where the work requires equal or more skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.  

As Kingsville Council moves forward in its review of the proposed draft Official Plan Amendments and draft Zoning By-Law Amendments, the OHRC urges Council to make decisions that are consistent with the Code and support the dignity and well-being of all community members.

The Right to Read executive summary is now available on audiobook. Listen to all the key findings and recommendations in 11 chapters. The full Right to Read report is also available online in an accessible pdf format for easy downloading.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission calls on the Government of Ontario to include air conditioning as a vital service, like the provision of heat, under RTA regulations and to establish a provincial maximum temperature to make sure that vulnerable Code-protected tenants are protected against threats of eviction for using safely installed air conditioning units.

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.