Page in draft

This page was prepared to support fellow planners in their process of understanding human rights law and the professional planning documents which support alignment to plan in a way that affirm that Black Lives Matter, Indigenous Lives Matter, and contribute to the development of systems that ensure people of all backgrounds, ages, genders, and abilities have access to rights included in Ontario Human Rights Code, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (inclusive of adequate housing, employment, goods, services and facilities, and cultural expression).

While this page was created for planners, planning is a shared duty in which all members of community have the right to participate in. Non-planners are encouraged to read this page and with this information, encourage planners - members of community paid to guide processes in the public interests - to meet their professional and human duties as outlined in the documents listed below.

In the below, "we", "us", and "our" refer to members of community identifying as planners (i.e. urban planners, planning directors, registered professional planners,  those dealing with land use policies and government financial policies regarding real estate, planning professors/educators).

• OMB - Ontario Municipal Board (now Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, LPAT) -   an adjudicative tribunal that hears cases in relation to a range of land use matters, heritage conservation and municipal governance.
• OHRC - Ontario Human Rights Commission -  works to promote, protect and advance human rights through research, education, targeted legal action and policy development.
• OHRT - Ontario Human Rights Tribunal -  an adjudicative tribunal that resolves claims of discrimination and harassment brought under the Human Rights Code.  
• Ontario Human Rights Code -  a provincial law that identifies the protected grounds on which residents should not face discrimination in for specific protected social areas such as jobs, housing, services, facilities, and contracts or agreements. 

• Direct → Specifically naming or excluding a group of people protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code, to deny their ability to access a protected social area listed in the Ontario Human Rights Code.
• Indirect →  Barriers to the creation of equitable conditions.  Intentional or not, indirect discrimination makes it harder to serve those protected by the Code, and easier to serve those who are wealthier and less marginalized.
• Systemic → Centralization of power into the hands of the wealthy and/or uninterested. This includes the lack of acknowledgement by those in power of how systems are biased towards serving the interests of the wealthy, and a lack of power distributed to those desiring the production of equitable conditions.

The three types of human rights discrimination are described by lawyer Jessica Simone Roher, in her article 'Zoning Out Discrimination: Working Towards Housing Equality in Ontario', published by the Journal of Law and Social Policy in 2016.

Planners have not planned in a way that is consistent with the Ontario Human Rights Code. We have used our practice, willingly and unwillingly to contribute to the discrimination of people protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code. It is for this reason that planning bodies have repeatedly been brought to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and Commission by human rights lawyers and advocates. The page will be updated to include documents and examples of:

• how planners practice planning in a manner that, willingly and unwillingly, contribute to the discrimination of people protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code;
• specific cases where planning bodies have been brought to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and Commission;
• legal and cultural documents/conversations that direct for planning to be consistent with the Ontario Human Right Code - 
  • inclusive of planners’ professional mandate and human responsibility to shift away from common discriminatory practices and logics within conventional urban planning culture; and
• examples of how planners and community have practiced a human rights approach to planning.