FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2006
Human rights
legislation will hurt those who need it most: OPSEU
TORONTO – Legislation
introduced today in the Ontario Legislature that guts the
Ontario Human Rights Commission will hurt those who need
protection the most, says the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union.
“This proposed legislation is a
disaster for human rights in Ontario,” said OPSEU President
Leah Casselman. “It does nothing to improve the system. It
takes away guaranteed rights to investigation and legal
support and allows the Tribunal to charge user fees.”
The McGuinty Liberals propose
to create a new human rights support centre that will attempt
to handle the approximately 2,400 cases each year. There is no
legal obligation in the legislation for this centre to be
maintained or funded.
“These private lawyers will not
be accountable to anyone,” Casselman said. “They will get to
arbitrarily decide which cases are processed and moved
forward. How can that possibly be in anyone’s best interests?”
The proposed changes will also
see complaints moved directly to the Human Rights Tribunal,
which will then do both the investigation and issue the
decision. This, in OPSEU’s opinion, is a direct conflict of
interest. Even worse, the Tribunal will have the power to
dismiss cases without ever moving them forward.
Casselman urges the province to
reconsider this plan and continues to call for increased
funding for the Ontario Human Rights Commission. “The
commission has been deliberately under-funded and understaffed
for years,” she said. “We need proper resources, not
half-baked schemes that will only line lawyers’ pockets with
taxpayer money.”
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For further information,
please contact:
Sarah Jordison, OPSEU Public
Affairs 416-453-8049
Ontario Human Rights Commission -
Protecting the
right of all Ontarians Campaign
