Glossary - Human Rights
In Employment and Work, Health and Disability, Housing Law, Human Rights
A personal characteristic is a quality that a person has. A personal characteristic can be something that is important to your sense of self. And it’s usually something that you cannot change about yourself.
Ontario’s Human Rights Code protects people from being treated unfairly because they have certain personal characteristics. These are sometimes called “protected grounds”.
There are 17 personal characteristics protected by the Human Rights Code, related to:
- age
- race
- disability
- religion
- sex and gender
- sexual orientation
- family and marital status
Two personal characteristics are only protected in certain situations. These are:
- getting government income supports (housing only)
- having a record of offences (employment only)
In Employment and Work, Health and Disability, Housing Law, Human Rights
Personal characteristics are qualities that a person has. Personal characteristics can be things that are important to your sense of self.
Ontario’s Human Rights Code protects people from being treated unfairly because they have certain personal characteristics. These are sometimes called “protected grounds”.
There are 17 personal characteristics protected by the Human Rights Code, related to:
- age
- race
- disability
- religion
- sex and gender
- sexual orientation
- family and marital status
Two personal characteristics are only protected in certain situations. These are:
- getting government income supports (housing only)
- having a record of offences (employment only)
In Criminal Law, Employment and Work, Human Rights, Refugee Law
A record suspension used to be called a pardon. If you have a criminal record, you may be able to apply to the Parole Board of Canada for a record suspension. If you get a record suspension, your criminal record is not erased. But it is set aside and you can say you don’t have one.
There are rules about how long you have to wait to apply and what you need to show for your application to be successful.
A remedy is an order made by a court or tribunal to give someone their legal rights or to compensate them for their rights not being respected.
For example, if a landlord is not doing repairs that are needed, the Landlord and Tenant Board could order the landlord to do the repairs, lower the tenant’s rent until the repairs are done, or let the tenant move out with short notice.
Or, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal might order an employer to change their policy manual to deal with discrimination in the workplace.
In Family Law, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Give or deliver a document to someone. Usually the law says how you can give or deliver the document, who has to get it, and the deadline by which they have to get it.
In Human Rights
A service is something that is offered to help meet a need. Some examples are:
- Stores, restaurants and bars
- Hospitals and health services
- Schools, universities and colleges
- Public places, amenities and utilities such as recreation centres, public washrooms, malls and parks
- Services and programs provided by municipal and provincial governments including social assistance and other benefits, and public transit
- Services provided by insurance companies
Services can be offered by individuals, companies, or the government.
In Human Rights
Transgender describes someone whose gender is not, or not just, the one they were assigned at birth.
An agency that makes decisions about applying a set of laws to disputes between people. It is like a court but less formal. The Landlord and Tenant Board is an example of a tribunal. Another example is the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
In Employment and Work, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Ontario’s Human Rights Code says that employers and landlords must do what they can to remove barriers that cause people to be treated differently because of personal differences that are listed in the Human Rights Code. The legal word for this is accommodation. Examples of personal differences include a person’s ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
But an employer or landlord might not have to do something if they can prove that doing it will cause them undue hardship. For example, it would be undue hardship:
- if the only solution available would cost the employer or landlord too much
- if the only solution would cause a serious risk to the health or safety to other workers or tenants
In Employment and Work, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
A union is an organized group of workers that bargains with an employer to set conditions of employment, such as wages, hours of work, and overtime pay. Sometimes unions are called labour unions or trade unions.
