Employment

1. OHRC successfully challenges restrictions to benefits for workers aged 65+

   Toronto – The OHRC intervened in Talos v Grand Erie District School Board to challenge the provision of Ontario’s Human Rights Code that allowed employers to cut or reduce benefits to workers aged 65 and over. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that subsection 25(2.1) of the Code, as well as related provisions in the Employment Standards Act and its regulations, amount to age discrimination and violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

2. Accommodation and medical documentation: New OHRC policy statement offers guidance

   Toronto – On February 1, following the launch of its updated Policy on ableism and discrimination based on disability, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) will release a new policy statement on medical documentation to be provided when disability-related accommodation requests are made.

3. Letter to Minister Raymond Cho

   We agree that accessibility is good for business and that employment is a fundamental issue for people with disabilities. In fact, Canada and Ontario recognize through its international treaty obligations that people with disabilities have the right to work like everyone else.

4. Mental health services for frontline workers

   I am writing to commend the government on its recent announcements regarding investments in mental health services for frontline workers including correctional officers, and Ontario Provincial Police personnel and their families. The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) welcomes the government’s acknowledgment that many correctional staff and police officers face mental health issues.

5. Addressing Discriminatory Advertising on Facebook in Canada

   This is further to the discussions you had recently with representatives from the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC).

6. Letter to Secretary of Cabinet Davidson on anti-Black racism in the Ontario Public Service

   Thank you for your letter dated July 26, 2019, and for meeting with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on September 17 to discuss the government’s efforts to address systemic anti-Black racism in the OPS. In addition to our meetings with your office, the OHRC has met with the Black OPS employee network (BOPSers), as well as with individual employees with personal experiences of anti-Black racism in the OPS.

7. Statement: OHRC urges respect for human rights during Coronavirus health event

   Ontario Human Rights Commission urges Ontarians to respect the human rights of Ontario’s East Asian community in light of the potential health event following confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Toronto.

8. OHRC policy statement on the COVID-19 pandemic

   Following the lead of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) urges Ontarians to keep human rights principles under Ontario’s Human Rights Code (Code), the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) and relevant international human rights treaties at the centre of decision-making during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

9. OHRC submission regarding Ontario’s next Poverty Reduction Strategy

   I am writing today on behalf of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) about the government’s consultation on Ontario’s next Poverty Reduction Strategy (Strategy). The OHRC calls on Ontario to take a human rights-based approach to poverty reduction by entrenching the types of economic and social responses to COVID-19 into permanent solutions that will once and for all protect the well-being of everyone in our province.

10. Human rights tribunal decision removes roadblock to employment for refugees

    In a significant decision, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) found that Convention refugees should not face discriminatory barriers to accessing employment and contributing fully to Ontario society.

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