Ontario Human rights Reform - A call to Action

PLEASE ATTEND ALL-CANDIDATES DEBATES IN THE TORONTO BY-ELECTION CAMPAIGN TO RAISE MCGUINTY GOVERNMENT'S CONTROVERSIAL PLAN TO WEAKEN THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

September 5, 2006

SUMMARY

Here's helpful information so you can raise the controversial Bill 107 in the current Toronto area by-election campaign.

All of the major candidates in the by-election will be on cable TV's community access channel, usually Channel 10, on Goldhawk Live on Wed. Sept. 13 from 8:00 - 10:00 p.m., with a call-in at 9:00 p.m. The call-in number is displayed on the show. For those who cannot read those numbers on the screen, you might call Rogers in advance to ask that they read them aloud on the air.

Phone in and ask about Bill 107.
Confirmed All Candidates' Debates:

Wednesday, September 6th - 7:30 p.m.
Bloor-West Village Residents' Association
Runnymede United Church
432 Runnymede Rd. - (416) 767-6729

Thursday, September 8th - 7:00 p.m.
Parkdale Residents' Association & Parkdale Liberty
St. Christopher House
20 West Lodge Ave.

Sunday, September 10th - 2:00 p.m.
Swansea Town Hall
95 Lavinia Ave. - (416) 392-1954

Monday, September 11th - 8:00 p.m. (This one is specifically on education)
Bishop Morocco Secondary School
1515 Bloor St. W.

Tuesday, September 12th - 7:30 p.m.
Sunnyside, High Park and West Bend Associations
Bishop Morocco Secondary School
1515 Bloor St. W.

All three major parties agree that the human rights system is too slow and back-logged, and needs to be reformed. They disagree on whether Bill 107 will make things better or worse.

Liberals: The Liberal Party brought forward Bill 107 and voted in support of it at Second Reading in the Legislature last spring (approval in principle). Attorney General Michael Bryant rejected calls for a full public consultation last spring before introducing his bill into the Legislature. He has since conceded that the bill requires amendments. He hasn’t agreed to reveal his planned amendments before the end of the current public hearings into the bill.

NDP: The NDP voted against Bill 107 on Second Reading, and spoke against its weakening the Human Rights Commission. It called for the Government to hold full public consultations last spring before introducing a bill to reform the Human Rights Commission.

CONSERVATIVES: The Conservatives voted against Bill 107 on Second Reading, and spoke against its weakening the Human Rights Commission. It called for the Government to hold full public consultations last spring before introducing a bill to reform the Human Rights Commission.

Questions you might ask could include:

Do you support or oppose Bill 107 taking away from discrimination victims, like persons with disabilities, racialized communities and others, the right which the Human Rights code now guarantees, to have each human rights complaint publicly investigated by the Human Rights Commission?
Do you support or oppose Bill 107 taking away the Human Rights Commission’s core role as the public agency to investigate and prosecute discrimination?
Do you think it strengthens the enforcement of human rights in Ontario for Bill 107 to weaken Ontario’s human rights enforcement agency, the Human Rights Commission?
Do you support or oppose increasing public funding to the Human Rights Commission so it can do a better job, after it has suffered under more than a decade of budget cuts?

Learn more at:
http://www.aodaalliance.org/reform/update-083106.asp