Strengthening Ontario's human rights system

The OHRC has therefore welcomed the recent commitment of the Ministry of the Attorney General, which has responsibility for any changes to the Code, to review and strengthen Ontario’s human rights system, and to develop a blueprint for change in the upcoming months. [...] A. Consultation Scope and Process Given that the Ministry of the Attorney General announced its intention to develop a blueprint for change in the coming months, the OHRC undertook an accelerated process to consult the public and stakeholders and report findings in time to be useful to the government. [...] The main focus of the questionnaire, as well as of the focus groups, was not to assess the strengths and weakness of the current system, but to clarify the principles and issues that must be considered in any reform. [...] First, while the Discussion Paper attempted to focus attention on a principled approach to reviewing the entire human rights system in the province, many consultees came to the process with strong, well-established ideas about the solution to the system’s specific challenges, and came to the process as advocates for specific changes. [...] The goal of the process was to permit a broad discussion to take place, and to hear the range of the concerns, not to create consensus, and indeed, given the diversity of viewpoints and concerns expressed, achieving complete consensus would be a major challenge.