Who We Are
People in Ontario continue to face discrimination — it could be based on a disability, race, sex, creed, ancestry, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and other identified characteristics set out in the province’s Human Rights Code (Code).
We are here to help.
The Human Rights Support Legal Centre (HRLSC) is an independent agency funded by the Ontario Government through the Ministry of the Attorney General. The HRLSC operates under the direction of a board of directors appointed by Lieutenant Governor in Council.
VISION:
We are committed to advancing an equitable society where everyone lives with dignity and respect and upholds and promotes human rights.
MISSION:
Our role is to empower people and communities who have experienced discrimination by providing legal services and supports, strengthening people’s capacity to navigate the human rights system and advancing access to and the attainment of justice in Ontario.
MANDATE:
The Human Rights Legal Support Centre advances equality and protects human rights by providing a range of accessible and high quality legal and support services to those who have faced discrimination contrary to Ontario’s human rights laws.
VALUES:
Equity and Inclusion: We treat everyone with dignity, respect and compassion, and work collaboratively to eliminate barriers and advance a just society.
Excellence: We deliver independent, responsive, high-quality and high-impact legal services
and supports and pursue learning, knowledge-sharing and innovation.
Integrity: We are principled, accountable and transparent in our communications,
decisions, work and use of resources.
Accessibility: The HRLSC is committed to providing legal and support services in a manner that is free of barriers, including physical and functional barriers as well as barriers created by geography, language and by process. The HRLSC will be responsive to the geographic, cultural, linguistic and accessibility needs of its diverse client communities.
2024-2029 Strategic Plan
After consultations with over 180 stakeholders representing clients, human rights service providers, and community organizations, HRLSC Board and staff, partners and funder organizations, the HRLSC is releasing its new five-year strategic plan, “Realizing Human Rights Together: Empowering Access to Justice.”
An intensive strategic visioning process began in 2024 following stakeholder consultations. This led to the development of four priorities and nine goals which will direct the HRLSC’s activities towards fulfilling the Centre’s new Vision, Mission and Values for the next five years.
We would like to express our immense gratitude to all stakeholders for their time and consideration contributing to our consultation process.
Learn more:
Land Acknowledgement
The Human Rights Legal Support Centre provides services throughout Ontario and operates from its central office in Toronto. Accordingly, we acknowledge our presence on the traditional territories of the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and Anishinaabeg, Attawandaron and Leni-Lunaape, the Mushkegowuk and particularly the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, as well as the 46 treaties and other agreements that cover the territory now called Ontario. This place is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples, from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and operate on this land.
The HRLSC also recognizes and acknowledges that we are in the territory subject to the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Anishinaabeg and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the land and waters of the Great Lakes region.
What We Do
Our services are offered individually at each stage of a human rights dispute. We offer legal advice and support services to clients looking for early resolutions. We advise clients looking to file a human rights application on the HRTO process and the merits of individual cases. We also provide legal representation at various proceedings at the HRTO and through judicial reviews.
At HRLSC, we:
- Help people claim and protect their rights
- Provide advice on our telephone inquiries line
- Assist people to file human rights applications
- Represent applicants at mediations, hearings and follow-up enforcements of decisions and settlements at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO)
As winners of the 2018 Amethyst Award, we’ve been recognized for our service excellence within Ontario’s Public Service. We continue this commitment to excellence in the legal advice and support services we provide to people across the province every day. To learn more, read:
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HRLSC’s Brochure
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HRLSC’s Indigenous Services Brochure
About Our Staff
The HRLSC is headquartered in Toronto. Our team of staff includes lawyers, paralegals, human rights advisors and representatives, legal case coordinators as well as administrative and management staff. This structure allows our team to share information, skills and resources and to problem-solve together in small groups.
Together, we have expertise in:
- Human rights
- Labour
- Civil litigation
- Administrative law
Our lawyers and paralegal staff have employment and volunteer work at a range of Provincial government services and agencies, local legal clinics, advocacy and social justice organizations.
Community Partnerships that Work
Thanks to our partnerships with legal service providers and community agencies, we can reach more people and share information about taking legal action under the Human Rights Code with communities across Ontario. Some of our community partners are listed below.
The Law Foundation of Ontario has a unique mandate to improve access to justice for the people of Ontario and has funded human rights training initiatives to assist community service providers in identifying discrimination claims.
Recently, the HRLSC successfully secured LFO funding to help fund a new Mediation Services Pilot Project, a Guided Pathway online tool and the hiring of staff supporting mediation and early resolutions.
In partnership with Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO), the HRLSC is launching a new self-administered online “Guided Pathway” tool, which will help guide and support Ontarians in directly completing and filing applications at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
The HRLSC has provided training and legal support to legal clinics across the province to provide representation before the Tribunal and in litigating equality rights cases before other tribunals. Through partnership with clinics, the HRLSC has placed its own staff in clinics in Brampton, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Guelph, and Windsor.
For human rights services in any of these municipalities or surrounding areas, please contact the HRLSC directly. If you have experienced discrimination, you will be referred to the local HRLSC lawyer. The lawyers in these legal clinics and lawyers based at the HRLSC’s Toronto office travel to communities where mediations or hearings are held.
The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) is a provincial Aboriginal organization representing the collective interests of member Friendship Centres located in towns and cities across the province. Friendship Centres provide the country’s most significant off-reserve Aboriginal service delivery. They are not-for-profit and charity corporations that are mandated to serve the needs of urban Aboriginal people by providing culturally appropriate services in urban communities. The HRLSC has been working with OFIFC to promote the use of Ontario’s human rights system to advance claims of discrimination and unequal treatment.
Osgoode Law School Program
Each year, the Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program (ADIP) of the Human Rights Legal Support Centre and Osgoode Law School provides up to 12 Osgoode second and third-year students with intensive training in anti-discrimination law as well as administrative law enforcement and resolution.
Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program
The Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program is an exciting collaboration between Osgoode Hall Law School and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, which offers human rights legal services to individuals throughout Ontario who have experienced discrimination contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Code. The program offers students the opportunity to develop specialized knowledge of anti-discrimination law and to see an administrative law process from beginning to end.
New Mediation Services Pilot Project
In 2025, a new Mediation Services Pilot Project will support mediations and early resolutions at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, as well as valuable experiential learning in this area of law and practice for up to 12 Osgoode Hall Law School students over the next two years.
Outreach and Continuing Legal Education
Our staff, including members of our legal counsel and our Indigenous Services Outreach Committee are available to participate in continuing legal education conferences and public legal education events. Please contact us if you would like one of our staff to participate in a professional development or community education forum. Staff biographies are available on request.
Email us at aursel@hrlsc.on.ca