Join the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Toronto Metropolitan University's Human Rights Services, and the Lincoln Alexander School of Law for a conference to mark the 60th anniversary of Ontario's Human Rights Code and to explore new directions for human rights law and policy.

Date: June 23, 2022

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Link: https://ryerson.zoom.us/j/93019893537

If you can't access the Zoom link due to the 1,000 participant capacity limit, please watch the conference via YouTube Livestream.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

We invite conference participants to submit questions via the Zoom Q&A feature. For those participating via YouTube Livestream, please submit your questions via email at ontariohumanrights60@gmail.com

ACCESSIBILITY

We are committed to accessibility & inclusion. This event will include live captioning (embedded in Zoom and via CapApp) and ASL interpretation.

RESOURCES

Download the conference agenda and speaker bios.

This conference has been accredited for a total of EDI Professionalism Hours (5 hours and 45 minutes) by the Law Society of Ontario. Join the conversation on Twitter by using #HumanRights60.

Welcome and Opening Remarks | 9:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Host: Tanya (Toni) De Mello, Assistant Dean, Student Programming, Development and Equity, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University

Speakers:

Giidaakunadaad (Nancy Rowe), Knowledge Keeper, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation

Patricia DeGuire, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission

Mohamed Lachemi, President and Vice-Chancellor, Toronto Metropolitan University

Morning Keynote: Human Rights @ 60: Reflecting and reimagining | 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker:

Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and Professor, School of Social Work, McGill University

Dr. Blackstock will reflect on her experiences using the human rights system as a tool to address systemic discrimination experienced by First Nations children in Canada. She will shed light on ongoing systemic challenges and areas of human rights law that must be demystified and developed to better support and address the human rights issues and concerns of Indigenous Peoples.

Approved EDI Professionalism: 1 hour

Panel: Addressing systemic discrimination in Ontario: An assessment | 10:45 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Different marginalized and intersectional communities face barriers when trying to deal with human rights and discrimination. This panel will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Ontario’s Human Rights Code and system in addressing systemic discrimination.

Moderator: Sharmaine Hall, ​​Executive Director, Human Rights Legal Support Centre

Panelists:

Brian Eyolfson, Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission

Laverne Jacobs, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor

Moya Teklu, Executive Director and General Counsel, Black Legal Action Centre

Gary Yee, Vice-President, Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice

Approved EDI Professionalism: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Afternoon Keynote: Human Rights @ 60: Reflecting and reimagining | 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Keynote Speaker:

Donna E. Young, Founding Dean, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University

Dean Young will discuss the importance of embedding critical approaches into human rights policies and practices and reflect on the lessons she has learned since authoring a report for the Anti-Racism Committee of the Ontario Human Rights Commission three decades ago.

Approved EDI Professionalism: 1 hour

Panel: Rights inflation or rights realization? Perspectives on expanding rights claims | 1:35 - 2:50 p.m.

This panel will look at contemporary expansion of rights claims and debates over whether some of these claims, (particularly those of a systemic nature), properly belong in the realm of fundamental human “rights” or in the political sphere, as matters for contestation and deliberation over competing visions and ideals of social justice.

Moderator: Remi Warner, Director, Human Rights Services, Toronto Metropolitan University

Panelists:

Dominique Clément, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta and member of the Royal Society of Canada

Nathalie Des Rosiers, Professor and Principal of Massey College

Azeezah Kanji, Director of Programming, Noor Cultural Centre

Anthony Morgan, Racial Justice Strategist

Approved EDI Professionalism: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Panel: Decolonizing the future of human rights | 2:55 - 4:10 p.m.

This panel will examine what is required to decolonize the human rights system to better advance systemic substantive equality for Indigenous Peoples.

Moderator: Karen Drake, Associate Dean (Students) and Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University

Panelists:

Brenda Gunn, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba and Academic and Research Director, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Aaron Mills, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Constitutionalism and Philosophy, McGill

Keith Smith, Director General, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Implementation Secretariat, Department of Justice, Canada

Approved EDI Professionalism: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Closing Remarks | 4:10 - 4:30 p.m.

Speakers:

Raj Dhir, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel, Ontario Human Rights Commission

Remi Warner, Director, Human Rights Services, Toronto Metropolitan University

Tanya (Toni) De Mello, Assistant Dean, Student Programming, Development and Equity, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University

Giidaakunadaad (Nancy Rowe), Knowledge Keeper