(WATCH) Common Grounds for Human Rights Cases in Ontario

On average, the Human Rights Legal Support Centre provides free and accessible legal advice to over 13,000 individuals across Ontario every year. And while every human rights dispute is different, there are definitely some things they have in common. So—let’s take a look at a couple of cases and see what a human rights case in Ontario actually looks like.

Titlecard: “Common Grounds for Human Rights Cases in Ontario. Brought to you by the Human Rights Legal Support Centre.“

The Ontario Human Rights Code defines a human rights violation as any action that unfairly discriminates against people on the basis of any of these grounds in any of these social areas—with disputes around employment, housing, and services being particularly common.

The workplace is unfortunately a common place for discrimination to occur—from sexual harassment to systemic racism.

But discrimination is also a widespread issue in housing—particularly on the basis of race. In 2016, for example, the HRLSC represented a Black woman who arranged to view an apartment after several phone and text exchanges with the landlord. However, the landlord abruptly claimed that the apartment was unavailable as soon as they found out she was from the Caribbean. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found this behaviour discriminatory, awarding the would-be tenant $10,000 in compensation, and ordered the landlord to take human rights training.

Outside of housing and the workplace, human rights violations often occur to individuals who are accessing goods, services, or facilities—everything from going grocery shopping to attending school to receiving healthcare to interacting with law enforcement.

In the case of Jesse Thompson, a trans teen, the facility in question was the boys’ locker-room, which Jesse was denied access to while playing hockey in a minor league — outing his transgender status in the process. Jesse was able to reach a settlement in his case, resulting in Hockey Canada committing to educating its more than 30,000 coaches and trainers on transgender inclusiveness and implementing a new policy, which states that “players who identify as trans can use the dressing room corresponding to their gender identity, be addressed by their preferred name and pronoun, and have the privacy and confidentiality of their transgender status respected.”

It’s impossible to cover the entire spectrum of human rights cases in Ontario through just a couple case studies, but stories like these illustrate the many ways in which the Ontario Human Rights System protects and upholds your right to dignity, respect, and fair treatment. And if you believe that you—or someone you know—is experiencing discrimination, the Human Rights Legal Support Centre is here to support you.

Visit hrlsc.on.ca/getting-started to learn more.