The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits actions which discriminate against people on the basis of protected grounds in five social areas: accommodation in housing; contracts; employment; goods, services and facilities; and membership in unions, trade or professional associations.
The protected grounds listed in the Ontario Human Rights Code are outlined below, with examples. Please note that many of these grounds overlap, and some of these grounds may be grouped together in a claim of discrimination. Please note that the below definitions and examples are from the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
An age that is 18 years or more.
Addresses who an individual is descended from, which may include more than one cultural group.
A person’s skin colour, often seen as related to their perceived race.
May include colour, language, accent, name, clothing or grooming, diet, beliefs and practices, leisure preferences, place of origin, citizenship.
Includes both Canadian and other citizenships, citizenship status, immigrants, permanent residents, non-permanent residents, refugees.
The cultural origin of a person’s ancestors, encompassing a wider range of characteristics than ancestry, and also including it. Human Rights Commission example: A Black person from Barbados has a different ethnic identity than a Black person from South Africa, or a Black person from Canada.
Discrimination is prohibited against individuals from outside Canada, or even within a particular place in Canada. Often related to other grounds, such as ethnic origin or race.
“Religious observances or worship, belief in God or gods, faith, beliefs, observances or worship,” including non-deistic faiths such as Aboriginal spiritual practices.”
Any degree of physical, developmental, mental or learning disability.
Defined as being in a parent and child relationship. Includes non-biological parents, adoption, step-parents, foster families, non-biological gay and lesbian parents, lone parents, blended families, common-law relationships, and all persons in a “parent-and-child-type” relationship.
Defined as the status of being married, single, widowed, divorced or separated.
A person’s intrinsic sense of self, particularly the sense of being male, female, or non-binary. Includes individuals that may not conform to birth-assigned sex and who may reject stereotypes or stereotypical expectations based on birth-assigned sex.
How a person publicly presents their gender, including behaviour and outward appearance such as dress, hair, make-up, body language and voice. Includes the use of a person’s chosen name and pronoun.
The Code protects tenants against discrimination on the basis of receipt of public assistance in housing only.
In employment only. An offence in respect of a conviction for which a pardon has been granted under the Criminal Records Act, or any provincial offence.
A person’s biological sex. Also includes discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, or pregnancy status (eg. miscarriage).
An immutable personal characteristic that forms part of an individual’s core identity, including intimate, emotional and romantic attachments and relationships.
Protection from reprisal and threat of reprisal. An action or threat intended as retaliation for claiming or enforcing a right under the Code.
The Code can protect people who do not personally identify with a ground, on the basis that they associate with a person that can claim protection based on a ground.
The Code can protect people who are treated differently in the workplace because of negative characteristics that other people associate with a ground (myths and stereotypes).