personal characteristics

A personal characteristic is a quality that a person has. There are 17 personal characteristics protected by Ontario’s Human Rights Code. These are sometimes called “protected grounds”. They relate to your:

• race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, and ethnic origin
• citizenship
• religion
• sex, gender, gender identity, and gender expression
• sexual orientation
• family and marital status
• disability
• age

Two personal characteristics are protected only in certain situations. You’re protected from being treated unfairly:

• in housing if you get income support from the government
• at work if you have a record suspension, which used to be called a pardon