A new policy has been drafted to address human rights complaints and take action towards systemic barriers at the Upper Grand District School Board.
The draft of the policy is being recommended to be released for stakeholder consultation at the UGDSB board meeting on Tuesday. Stakeholder groups can include students, employees, unions, parents, advocacy groups, and advisory committees. After this it will go back to the policy and priorities committee then out again for public consultation.
The human rights policy aims to prioritize human rights, equity and respect the rights of UGDSB students, staff and community members. Under the policy this means creating environments free from discrimination, harassment and oppression.
“The board is committed to remedying systemic inequities and building environments that empower individuals to reach their full potential in learning and working environments, with a shared responsibility to uphold human rights,” stated in the draft policy.
Upholding human rights and preventing discrimination and harassment is outlined in the policy and is guided through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Canadian Charter on Rights and Freedoms, and the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Listed in the policy are 10 commitments the board intends to work on:
- Uphold individual and collective rights of Indigenous people to sovereignty, self-determination and self-government
- Work towards reconciliation through the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report and implement it through teaching by using an Indigenous rights framework
- UGDSB recognizes systemic discrimination exists in the board and community members continue to experience discrimination. The board aims to take action by identifying, preventing and addressing the impacts of discrimination
- Recognizes overlapping identities like gender identity, race, or disability that may create more barriers
- Use the Katelynn’s Principle when making a decision impacting a child and centre the child by respecting their voice
- Treating allegations of discrimination, harassment, or hate-based behaviour through:
- Treating allegations seriously and addressing it in a timely, fair and proportionate way, in accordance with the policy and applicable law
- Bring awareness to human rights
- Restoring learning and working to impacted UGDSB environments
- Accommodate people up to the point of undue hardship in accordance with legal obligations inducing under the Ontario Human Rights Code
- Create an inclusive design with accessibility and inclusivity for as many people as possible whenever reasonably possible
- Provide accommodations for when an inclusive design isn’t possible
- Mandatory training for human rights, anti-oppression, and anti-racism for UGDSB staff. Trustees and students will also have opportunities for learning to support their understanding of human rights
- With the Ontario Human Rights Code, UGDSB is committed to honouring remedies through the Ontario Human Rights Code and complaints will be seen as an opportunity to learn, improve and take responsibility
Violations of the policy should be reported to the Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility Office (HREA-O). The office is within the UGDSB and is where complaints are received, reviewed and resolved. If a complaint is founded, discipline will occur and the resolution will aim to prevent it from happening again.
The office also monitors human rights trends and releases public reports on human rights concerns, complaints and makes recommendations within the board. When it believes rights under the policy may have been violated it can initiate reviews, inquiries, environmental scans or investigations.
Any public reports released will have anonymized information when it comes to Indigenous identity, race, religion, ethnic origin, gender identity, and disability of students.
The board’s executive committee including the human rights commissioner have obligations under the policy to address the findings of the HREA-O, develop a plan to take action to address systemic human rights trends and identify barriers that result in discrimination and take steps to remove the barriers.
With an example timeline shared in the report, the policy could be finalized by April.
