Ontario Human rights Reform - A call to Action
NEWS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Disability coalition urges McGuinty government to halt plans to weaken human rights commission
Wednesday, March 15, 2006: Toronto: A province-wide disability coalition will
hold a news conference on Thursday, March 16, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. at the Queen’s
Park Media Studio, to call on the McGuinty Government not to strip the Ontario
Human Rights Commission of its lead responsibility to investigate and prosecute
human rights violations. On February 20, 2006 the Government announced plans to
introduce a law this spring to weaken the Human Rights Commission by largely
removing its mandate to investigate and prosecute discrimination complaints.
“It’s good the Government recognizes its system for enforcing human rights is
too backlogged and slow, but its plans just create the illusion of swifter
justice, and make things worse, not better,” said Catherine Dunphy, chair of the
AODA Alliance, a new, non-partisan grass-roots disability coalition which
advocates removal of barriers to accessibility that impede over 1.5 million
Ontarians with disabilities from fully participating in Ontario life.
“Discrimination victims now have the right to have the Human Rights Commission
conduct a public investigation of discrimination claims. The Government plans to
repeal that right, unfairly forcing discrimination victims to investigate their
own case.”
“The Human Rights Commission now prosecutes all cases it investigates, can’t
settle, and decides warrants a Tribunal hearing. Premier McGuinty also plans to
take that important job away from the Human Rights Commission”, said AODA
Alliance Vice-Chair Gary Malkowski, former MPP and North America’s first deaf
elected parliamentarian. “The Government shouldn’t force vulnerable
discrimination victims to shoulder the steep cost of hiring a lawyer to fight
their case. It’s wrong to privatize the Human Rights Code’s enforcement duties.
Under funded Legal Aid can’t pick up the pieces, especially for the many who
don’t qualify for it.”
“Last year we cheered the McGuinty Government for passing the Accessibility for
Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) to make Ontario accessible for persons
with disabilities,” said David Lepofsky, formerly Chair of the coalition that
led the decade-long campaign for new accessibility legislation, a coalition the
AODA Alliance now succeeds. “McGuinty’s plan to weaken the Human Rights
Commission will undermine that endorsement. McGuinty promised the AODA would
have effective enforcement. We asked that the AODA have a new independent public
enforcement agency. The Government said we don’t need one, since the Human
Rights Commission investigates and prosecutes disability discrimination. After
we cheered the AODA, it’s unfair for the McGuinty Government to turn around and
rip out most of the Human Rights Commission’s teeth. We need the Human Rights
Commission stronger, not weaker.”
The AODA Alliance wrote Premier McGuinty, urging him not to introduce any
legislation before holding proper, open, accessible public consultations with
those whose human rights are at stake, like people with disabilities. Premier
McGuinty should also reverse the previous Government’s cuts to the Human Rights
Commission. More staff can do quicker, better investigations.
Visit www.aodaalliance.org
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