Ontario’s new Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC) will be offering legal services through a lawyer in Thunder Bay, working out of Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic, starting in September. Amy Britton-Cox has been a staff lawyer at the HRLSC since last summer and has lots of experience in helping people who have faced discrimination and human rights violations. Before coming to the HRLSC she worked at a speciality legal clinic and, prior to that, practised human rights and employment law at a private law firm.

The HRLSC helps people who believe that they have experienced discrimination under the Human Rights Code and who seek resolution or compensation.

Ontario's Human Rights Code
The Human Rights Code deals with discrimination in:

• Employment
• Housing
• Contracts
• Services, goods and facilities
• Unions or occupational/professional associations

What is discrimination? Treating someone unfairly may be discrimination if the unfair treatment is because of one of the characteristics or grounds listed below.

• Race; colour
• Ancestry
• Place of origin
• Citizenship
• Ethnic origin
• Creed (religion)
• Receipt of social assistance (housing only)
• Sexual orientation
• Marital status
• Family status
• Record of offenses (employment only, must have been pardoned)
• Age
• Disability
• Sex (includes being pregnant)

Discriminatory treatment includes denying someone a benefit, excluding someone from an opportunity, and/or imposing a different obligation on someone because of a characteristic listed above.

Discrimination can happen even if the employer, landlord or service provider does not intend to discriminate. It can also be discrimination if, for example, an employer, landlord or service provider fails to consider the special needs of an employee, tenant or customer where their needs are linked to one of the characteristics in the Human Rights Code.

Examples of discrimination:

• You are looking for an apartment and the landlord says "no, we don't allow children here."
• At a job interview, the employer says "We won't be able to hire you if you’re pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant"
• At work your boss tells you, "We’d really like to promote you, but our customers don’t like dealing with people wearing hijabs" or "We’re going to have to let you go because your injury prevents you from doing the same tasks you were hired to do."

Services Provided by HRLSC
The HRLSC can intervene on your behalf if you are experiencing discrimination at your workplace, in your housing, at stores, at a school or educational facility, or in accessing public services, such as government or medical services.
The HRLSC can assist you:

• in preparing and filing an application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
• in trying to negotiate compensation for discrimination,
• in seeking changes to discriminatory policies that will assist other people who might experience similar discrimination
• in representing you at a hearing about your experience of discrimination.

To make an appointment with Amy, you can phone the HRLSC’s toll free number (1.866.625.5179) or contact Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic (807-344-2478 or 1-888-373-3309) for further information.