Outcry against Bill 107 grows: more than 50 organizations call on Premier for change
Canadian Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) Release
June 15, 2006
Former Human Rights Commissioner and member of 1992 Cornish Task Force Advisory Committee Tom Warner joined community leaders at a press conference this morning to release an open letter to Premier McGuinty.
The letter was signed by more than 50 organizations representing racialized communities, seniors, gays and lesbians and people with disabilities.
It sets out growing concerns over Bill 107, the government's human rights reform legislation, and condemns the Premier's plan to hold public hearings on the legislation in the summer when people are less able to attend and boards are unable to meet to approve submissions. The groups are calling on the Premier to hold the hearings in the fall and be prepared to make the necessary changes.
"The Premier and the Attorney General say this legislation fulfills the need for changes to the human rights system set out in the Cornish Report," said Mr. Warner. "I was a member of the advisory committee to the Task Force that prepared the report and these statements are inaccurate. The report clearly spells out the need for a publicly funded human rights enforcement system with guaranteed access to the legal supports necessary for taking a human rights complaint forward. Bill 107 does not do this and I am very concerned that if the legislation goes ahead as is we will see a substantial weakening of the system which is in direct contrast to what the Cornish Task Force recommended."
The legislation proposes to remove the powers of the Human Rights Commission to investigate, mediate and if necessary prosecute human rights violations, replacing it with a 'direct access' model where individuals are expected to take their complaints directly to the Tribunal.
"The preamble of the human rights code states that we are to respect the dignity and worth of every person. Yet, a system of human rights that leaves individuals to navigate the process on their own, or have to hire a lawyer to help them navigate, is a policy of erosion not inclusion. It's an incremental degradation of benefits and services that have taken forty years to accrue.
Using the term 'progress' to define a restriction of public services is outright misleading and potentially harmful in a mixed society," said Dr. Lorne Foster, a member of Toronto Residents in Partnership and a sociologist, teaching at York University.
"The irony is," Foster continued. "Those who are now talking about changing human rights are not the ones who need protection. For people of colour, the affirmation of human rights is not merely an abstract proposition, it is a cornerstone of a full and complete existence."
"The Muslim community
understands the need for a strong human rights protection system all too
well," said Faisal Kutty, Vice Chair of the Canadian Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN.) "Over the last couple of
weeks alone I have personally received numerous calls from individuals
in my community who have faced acts of racism and discrimination. They
don't know how to deal with the problem on their own - without the guarantee
of a public investigation and legal representation, Ontario's human rights
protection system will be nothing more than a nice theory on paper."
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