On April 26, the McGuinty Liberals introduced Bill 107, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Code. Unions, community groups and the NDP all condemned the Bill as a disaster for Human Rights in Ontario, and called on the government to hold public hearings to give a say to those who will be affected.

OFL Executive Vice-President Terry Downey said the legislation “will only make matters worse for the very people the Commission was set up to help. Under the guise of ‘direct access’ to a Human Rights Tribunal this legislation only allows access to a court – not justice,” said Downey. “It’s privatization of a publicly-funded human rights system. The amendments serve to Americanize the system.” ....

READ this story and more in the latest issue of Focus on Queen's Park:

PDF: http://ofl.ca/uploads/publications/focus_on_queens_park/May_2006_Focus_QP.pdf

Read Online: http://ofl.ca/index.php/publications/issue/focus_on_queens_park_may_2006/

Copy of text from the OFL website

New Human Rights Bill Hurts Those Who Need It Most

On April 26, the McGuinty Liberals introduced Bill 107, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Code. Unions, community groups and the NDP all condemned the Bill as a disaster for Human Rights in Ontario, and called on the government to hold public hearings to give a say to those who will be affected.

OFL Executive Vice-President Terry Downey said the legislation “will only make matters worse for the very people the Commission was set up to help. Under the guise of ‘direct access’ to a Human Rights Tribunal this legislation only allows access to a court – not justice,” said Downey. “It’s privatization of a publicly-funded human rights system. The amendments serve to Americanize the system.”

OPSEU President Leah Casselman said the Bill “guts the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and will hurt those who need protection the most. It does nothing to improve the system, but takes away guaranteed rights to investigation and legal support and allows the Tribunal to charge user fees.”

NDP MPP Peter Kormos said “New Democrats are concerned that the government is following the same path as British Columbia, which introduced similar legislative reforms three years ago, and is now suffering under a gigantic, even bigger backlog. We’re concerned about giving powers of investigation to the same tribunal that will decide whether those claims have merit. We are concerned about the lack of firm legislative timelines that guarantee that complaints are heard and remedied in a reasonable time.”

“The Human Rights Commission resolves 48% of all complaints through mediation alone. That’s incredibly low-cost, efficient and effective. That’s the very same commission that the McGuinty Liberals are shutting down. They’re forcing people into what they call direct access. I have no doubt that their private lawyer friends think this is a good plan, but people affected by discrimination, whose lives are impacted by discrimination on a daily basis, know that it’s wrong-headed and ineffective. Quite frankly, it’s a process that’s going to deny them access to a tribunal and access to any justice or fairness,” said Kormos.

Human Rights Now Only Available in Ontario If You Can Afford It
Ontario Federation of Labour Press Release

Excerpt: "... The fundamental role of any Human Rights system is to make it as completely accessible as possible to all people who have a complaint. The Legislation before the House will do no such thing. It takes away previously guaranteed rights to free resources that include investigation, mediation and legal support. This Legislation even allows the Tribunal to charge user fees," Downey said. "If you're wealthy enough to afford a lawyer, your case will probably get to the Tribunal - otherwise - forget it." ... "Under this model the Tribunal becomes the investigator, the Judge, the Jury and the ultimate decision-maker in deciding if a case should move forward. The Tribunal has the final say - there is no appeal." Read More

Go To Top

Return to DAWN Ontario index page

Featured News & Alerts

What's New
additions to the site indexed daily

Contact Us