Submitted by the Board of Directors, July 6, 2022<\/p>\n
The Board sometimes receives complaints about violations of our Human Rights Bylaw which is based on the Ontario’s Human Rights Code. We remind members that we must strive to live together free of discrimination, and that when the Board receives complaints, we must investigate. Below is an instructive article from the Human Rights Commission’s website.<\/p>\n
Ontario’s Human Rights Code\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ontario Human Rights Code (the Code) provides for equal rights and opportunities, and\u00a0freedom from discrimination.The Code recognizes the dignity and worth of every person in\u00a0Ontario. It applies to the areas of employment, housing, facilities and services, contracts,\u00a0and membership in unions, trade or vocational associations.<\/p>\n Under the Code, every person has the right to be free from racial discrimination and\u00a0harassment. You should not be treated differently because of your race or other related\u00a0grounds, such as your ancestry, colour, place of origin, ethnic origin, citizenship or creed.\u00a0This applies to areas covered by the Code such as at work, at school, in rental housing, or\u00a0in services. Services include places such as stores and malls, hotels and hospitals,\u00a0recreation facilities and schools.<\/p>\n Racism and racial discrimination<\/strong><\/p>\n In Canada, there are strong human rights laws and systems to address discrimination. At\u00a0the same time, we also have a legacy of racism \u2013 particularly towards Aboriginal persons,\u00a0but to other groups as well, includ ng African, Chinese, Japanese, South Asian, Jewish and\u00a0Muslim Canadians. This legacy affects our systems and structures even today, affecting the\u00a0lives of racialized persons and all people in Canada.<\/p>\n The Ontario Human Rights Commission describes communities facing racism as\u00a0“racialized.” Race is a social construct. This means that society forms ideas of race based\u00a0on geographic, historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors, as well as\u00a0physical traits, even though none of these can be used to justify racial superiority or racial\u00a0prejudice.<\/p>\n Racism is a broader experience and practice than racial discrimination. Racism is a belief\u00a0that one group is superior to others. Racism can be openly displayed in racial jokes, slurs or\u00a0hate crimes. It can also be more deeply rooted in attitudes, values and stereotypical\u00a0beliefs. In some cases, people don’t even realize they have these beliefs. Instead, they are\u00a0assumptions that have evolved over time and have become part of systems and institutions,\u00a0and also associated with the dominant group’s power and privilege.<\/p>\n Racial discrimination is the illegal expression of racism. It includes any action, intentional\u00a0or not, that has the effect of singling out persons based on their race, and imposing\u00a0burdens on them and not on others, or withholding or limiting access to benefits available\u00a0to other members of society, in areas covered by the Code. Race only needs to be one\u00a0factor in a situation for racial discrimination to have occurred.<\/p>\n Racial harassment is a form of discrimination. It includes comments, jokes, name-calling,\u00a0display of pictures or behaviour that insults you, offends you or puts you down because of\u00a0your race and other related grounds.<\/p>\n Racial discrimination can often be very subtle, such as being assigned to less desirable\u00a0jobs, or being denied mentoring and training. It might also mean facing different job\u00a0standards than other workers, being denied an apartment because you appear to have\u00a0Aboriginal ancestry, or facing unfair scrutiny from police while driving or from security staff\u00a0at a shopping mall.<\/p>\n Systemic racial discrimination\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Racial discrimination can happen on an institutional \u2013 or systemic \u2013 level, from everyday\u00a0rules and structures that are not consciously intended or designed to discriminate. Patterns\u00a0of behaviour, policies or practices that are part of the structures of an organization or an\u00a0entire sector can disadvantage or fail to reverse the ongoing impact and legacy of\u00a0historical disadvantage of racialized persons.This means that even though you did not\u00a0intend to, your “normal way of doing things” might be having a negative impact on\u00a0racialized persons.<\/p>\n Identifying and addressing racial discrimination\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Organizations must take proactive steps to make sure they are not taking part in,\u00a0condoning or allowing racial discrimination or harassment to happen.<\/p>\n An anti-racism program will also make it easier for organizations to promote equity and\u00a0diversity goals, and it makes good business sense.<\/p>\n For more information\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Guidelines on Racism and Racial\u00a0Discrimination and other publications are available at\u00a0www.ohrc.on.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n Woodsworth’s Human Rights By-law is available on the co-op website –\u00a0www.woodsworthcoop.ca<\/a>\u00a0and in the By-law binder in the photocopy room on the 2nd floor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Submitted by the Board of Directors, July 6, 2022 The Board sometimes receives complaints about violations of our Human Rights Bylaw which is based on the Ontario’s Human Rights Code. We remind members that we must strive to live together free of discrimination, and that when the Board receives complaints, we must investigate. Below is … Continue reading “Racial Discrimination:\u00a0from the Ontario Human Rights Commission”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[177,373],"class_list":["post-11596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-category","tag-human-rights","tag-prohibited-conduct"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodsworthcoop.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}