Joint NGO statement - CERD
Joint NGO statement in advance of Canada’s examination by UN CERD Committee
Joint NGO statement in advance of Canada’s examination by UN CERD Committee
Toronto / July 31, 2017 / - Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change (COP-COC) is outraged that a Toronto resident’s attempt to exercise his democratic right to peaceful protest resulted in a charge of trespass, a fine, and ban on entering a public building.
On July 27, community activist Desmond Cole was thrown out of a Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) meeting and charged with trespass, reportedly for bringing up an issue that was not on the meeting agenda.
In June 2017, the Ontario government proposed changes to Ontario employment and labour laws. The government introduced Bill 148 (2017), An Act to amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
OCASI welcomes Bill 148 and its potential to strengthen existing protections for immigrant, refugee and migrant workers as well as all other Ontario workers who are disadvantaged and excluded from basic protections.
This short month with the longest day in the year is unfolding with a packed legislative and policy agenda at all levels of government. From the City of Toronto (where OCASI’s offices are located) to Queen’s Park to Parliament Hill, announcements from our elected leaders have been raining down from on high: Most of it good.
Earlier this month the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released the report Under Suspicion: Research and Consultation Report on Racial Profiling in Ontario. It is chockful of personal examples of how racial profiling tears at the soul of those profiled, reinforces the sense of otherness that many who are racialized experience, and undermines the social cohesion we so desperately need if this Canadian political project of diversity and inclusion is to be a success.
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