November 17, 2017 - I am writing today regarding the government’s commitment to develop a new accessibility standard for education in Ontario. Regulatory standards are an effective way to address specific accessibility barriers and compliment the aim of Ontario’s Human Rights Code. Standards need to align with legal obligations under the Code and with the interpretive policies of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC).
I am writing to express the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) support for Bill 164, which was introduced on October 4, 2017 in the Legislature. We understand that the Second Reading will take place on October 26. As I expressed in our meeting on October 2, it is the OHRC’s position that Bill 164 improves the Human Rights Code by including new grounds of protection for people under social condition, police records, genetic characteristics, and immigration status.
September 20, 2017 - Dear Minister Coteau, I hope this letter finds you well. I am pleased that the Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD) has been actively consulting with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on developing race-based data standards and guidelines. I am writing today to call on the government to build on this important work by requiring select public sector organizations to collect and analyze race-based data, especially in key sectors such as health care, corrections, law enforcement, education, and child welfare.
September 15, 2017 - Dear Chair El-Chantiry and Chief Bordeleau, Today, I am writing to request an update on the OPS’s response to the Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project (TSRDCP) report dated October 2016. In particular, please let us know by reply letter what steps the OPS has undertaken to combat racial profiling since the TSRDCP report was released, including any further analysis that the OPS has undertaken at an operational level, specific changes to OPS’ policies and procedures, and any internal or external analysis of the data collected since the TSRDCP report was released.
August 15, 2017 - Dear Minister Naqvi, Directors McNeilly and Loparco, and Chair Lamoureux: We, the undersigned, urge the Government of Ontario, the Special Investigations Unit (“SIU”), the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (“OIPRD”), and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (“OCPC”), to immediately and transparently implement recommendations made by the Honourable Justice Michael Tulloch in his Report of the Independent Police Oversight Review submitted to the Ministry of the Attorney General in March 2017.
June 15, 2017 - Dear Minister MacCharles, I trust this finds you well. I am writing to commend you on your Ministry’s leadership in development of the new OPS Gender Identity Policy - Gender Identity and Sex Information on Public-Facing Government Products and Forms, and to call on you to build on this important work by removing other human rights barriers that face people with diverse gender identities and gender expressions across government.
June 21, 2017 - Dear Minister Naqvi, in our strategic plan, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) committed to using our mandate and powers to advance human rights by making clear how systemic discrimination causes and sustains poverty. To that end, we are writing today to urge the government to repeal the Safe Streets Act.
May 19, 2017 - Dear Minister Naqvi and Directors McNeilly and Loparco, I hope this finds all of you well. We are writing today to urge the Government of Ontario to implement all of Justice Tulloch’s recommendations. Implementation of all the recommendations contained in the Report would be a significant step forward in terms of rebuilding public trust in law enforcement and, ultimately, increasing public safety. A piece-meal approach, on the other hand, is unlikely to be as effective.
May 16, 2017 - Dear Councillor El-Chantiry, Today the Ottawa Police Services Board is receiving the results of Phase III of the Ottawa Police Services Gender Project. As you know, the project arises out of a settlement reached with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (Commission) in a human rights case filed by a female Ottawa Police Services (OPS) officer.
April 19, 2017 - Dear Minister Naqvi, we are writing today to ask you to work with your federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) counterparts to develop a national, whole-of-government action plan to address the systemic issues that have led to the over-representation of Black and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (Indigenous) people, and those with mental health and developmental disabilities in the criminal justice system (national action plan).
