Category: Unit advice and co-op living

Subtopic in Co-op Information

Racial Discrimination: from the Ontario Human Rights Commission

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 an instructive article from the Human Rights Commission’s website.

Ontario’s Human Rights Code 

The Ontario Human Rights Code (the Code) provides for equal rights and opportunities, and freedom from discrimination.The Code recognizes the dignity and worth of every person in Ontario. It applies to the areas of employment, housing, facilities and services, contracts, and membership in unions, trade or vocational associations.

Under the Code, every person has the right to be free from racial discrimination and harassment. You should not be treated differently because of your race or other related grounds, such as your ancestry, colour, place of origin, ethnic origin, citizenship or creed. This applies to areas covered by the Code such as at work, at school, in rental housing, or in services. Services include places such as stores and malls, hotels and hospitals, recreation facilities and schools.

Racism and racial discrimination

In Canada, there are strong human rights laws and systems to address discrimination. At the same time, we also have a legacy of racism – particularly towards Aboriginal persons, but to other groups as well, includ ng African, Chinese, Japanese, South Asian, Jewish and Muslim Canadians. This legacy affects our systems and structures even today, affecting the lives of racialized persons and all people in Canada.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission describes communities facing racism as “racialized.” Race is a social construct. This means that society forms ideas of race based on geographic, historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors, as well as physical traits, even though none of these can be used to justify racial superiority or racial prejudice.

Racism is a broader experience and practice than racial discrimination. Racism is a belief that one group is superior to others. Racism can be openly displayed in racial jokes, slurs or hate crimes. It can also be more deeply rooted in attitudes, values and stereotypical beliefs. In some cases, people don’t even realize they have these beliefs. Instead, they are assumptions that have evolved over time and have become part of systems and institutions, and also associated with the dominant group’s power and privilege.

Racial discrimination is the illegal expression of racism. It includes any action, intentional or not, that has the effect of singling out persons based on their race, and imposing burdens on them and not on others, or withholding or limiting access to benefits available to other members of society, in areas covered by the Code. Race only needs to be one factor in a situation for racial discrimination to have occurred.

Racial harassment is a form of discrimination. It includes comments, jokes, name-calling, display of pictures or behaviour that insults you, offends you or puts you down because of your race and other related grounds.

Racial discrimination can often be very subtle, such as being assigned to less desirable jobs, or being denied mentoring and training. It might also mean facing different job standards than other workers, being denied an apartment because you appear to have Aboriginal ancestry, or facing unfair scrutiny from police while driving or from security staff at a shopping mall.

Systemic racial discrimination 

Racial discrimination can happen on an institutional – or systemic – level, from everyday rules and structures that are not consciously intended or designed to discriminate. Patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that are part of the structures of an organization or an entire sector can disadvantage or fail to reverse the ongoing impact and legacy of historical disadvantage of racialized persons.This means that even though you did not intend to, your “normal way of doing things” might be having a negative impact on racialized persons.

Identifying and addressing racial discrimination 

Organizations must take proactive steps to make sure they are not taking part in, condoning or allowing racial discrimination or harassment to happen.

An anti-racism program will also make it easier for organizations to promote equity and diversity goals, and it makes good business sense.

For more information 

The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy and Guidelines on Racism and Racial Discrimination and other publications are available at www.ohrc.on.ca.

Woodsworth’s Human Rights By-law is available on the co-op website – www.woodsworthcoop.ca and in the By-law binder in the photocopy room on the 2nd floor.

Ontario’s Apology Act

At a human rights workshop in the co-op, we learned that Ontario has an Apology Act, which came into force in Ontario on April 23, 2009. It allows us to express sorrow or regret without worrying that the comments can later be used against us in a civil lawsuit.

Yes, that means that you can say you are sorry, and this apology can’t be used to prove you are responsible for whatever you apologized for.
An apology:
• is not an admission of liability,
• does not void or impair an insurance contract, and
• is not taken into account in determining liability

But don’t admit liability. If you run into someone else’s car, you can say you are terribly sorry that this happened, but don’t say it was all your fault.  An admission of liability is still an admission of liability.

An apology is often key to the healing process; it can promote accountability and transparency and shorten or avoid litigation.

Here’s the legislation:

Apology Act, S.O. 2009, c3.
Consolidation Period: From April 23, 2009 to the e-Laws currency date. No Amendments.

Definition

1. In this Act,

“apology” means an expression of sympathy or regret, a statement that a person is sorry or any other words or actions indicating contrition or commiseration, whether or not the words or actions admit fault or liability or imply an admission of fault or liability in connection with the matter to which the words or actions relate. 2009, c. 3, s. 1.

Effect of apology on liability

2. (1) An apology made by or on behalf of a person in connection with any matter,

(a) does not, in law, constitute an express or implied admission of fault or liability by the person in connection with that matter;

(b) does not, despite any wording to the contrary in any contract of insurance or indemnity and despite any other Act or law, void, impair or otherwise affect any insurance or indemnity coverage for any person in connection with that matter; and

(c) shall not be taken into account in any determination of fault or liability in connection with that matter. 2009, c. 3, s. 2 (1).

Exception

(2) Clauses (1) (a) and (c) do not apply for the purposes of proceedings under the Provincial Offences Act. 2009, c. 3, s. 2 (2).

Evidence of apology not admissible

(3) Despite any other Act or law, evidence of an apology made by or on behalf of a person in connection with any matter is not admissible in any civil proceeding, administrative proceeding or arbitration as evidence of the fault or liability of any person in connection with that matter. 2009, c. 3, s. 2 (3).

Exception

(4) However, if a person makes an apology while testifying at a civil proceeding, including while testifying at an out of court examination in the context of the civil proceeding, at an administrative proceeding or at an arbitration, this section does not apply to the apology for the purposes of that proceeding or arbitration. 2009, c. 3, s. 2 (4).

Criminal or provincial offence proceeding or conviction

3. Nothing in this Act affects,

(a) the admissibility of any evidence in,

(i) a criminal proceeding, including a prosecution for perjury, or

(ii) a proceeding under the Provincial Offences Act; or

(b) the use that may be made in the proceedings referred to in subsection 2 (3) of a conviction for a criminal or provincial offence. 2009, c. 3, s. 3.

Acknowledgment, Limitations Act, 2002

4. For the purposes of section 13 of the Limitations Act, 2002, nothing in this Act,

(a) affects whether an apology constitutes an acknowledgment of liability; or

(b) prevents an apology from being admitted in evidence. 2009, c. 3, s. 4.

5. Omitted (provides for coming into force of provisions of this Act). 2009, c. 3, s. 5.

6. Omitted (enacts short title of this Act). 2009, c. 3, s. 6.

Source:  https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/09a03