{"id":33019,"date":"2023-05-04T19:49:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T23:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33019"},"modified":"2023-05-04T19:50:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T23:50:00","slug":"ontario-human-rights-commission-says-fears-over-transitional-shelter-is-no-basis-to-turn-project-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/ontario-human-rights-commission-says-fears-over-transitional-shelter-is-no-basis-to-turn-project-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Human Rights Commission says \u201cfears\u201d over transitional shelter is no basis to turn project down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ontario Human Rights Commission has weighed in on the Region of York\u2019s proposal to build a men\u2019s transitional shelter in Aurora\u2019s south end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter sent to the Town of Aurora and Mayor Tom Mrakas, the Commission cited concerns shared by community members at Council this past winter, but said these \u201cfears\u201d are no legal basis to turn the project down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMedia reports have included comments from the January 24 meeting, where community members shared their fears that this project may result in increased crime, lowered property values, and a possible threat to child safety,\u201d said the Commission in its letter. \u201cThese comments represent discriminatory attitudes towards their neighbours and fellow community members experiencing homelessness and mental health and addiction disabilities. These fears are not a legal basis upon which the Town can make zoning or planning decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe OHRC is concerned that delaying or denying approval of this project may create barriers to establishing desperately needed emergency and transitional housing and may also be discriminatory under the Ontario Human Rights Code. The Town\u2019s legal obligations under the Code are further supported by Provincial planning law, as well as Federal and international law. Based on the Human Rights Obligations [noted in the letter] the OHRC calls on Council to allow the emergency and transitional housing project to proceed as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the points made by the Commission in the letter is the Code prohibiting \u201cactions that discriminate based on certain grounds in providing housing and services\u201d; that \u201cpeople zoning \u2013or the attempt to regulate based on who will live in the housing\u201d can be a \u201cviolation of people\u2019s rights to be free from discrimination in housing \u2013 which means it can be against the law\u201d; and that \u201cpeople do not have the right to choose their neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Town of Aurora has a legal obligation to make sure it does not impose unnecessary restrictions on emergency and transitional housing that could have a discriminatory impact on Code-protected groups,\u201d they wrote. \u201cCertain groups protected under the Code<\/em> are more likely to require emergency and transitional housing. This is particularly true for people who receive public assistance, people living with disabilities, including mental health, addictions and complex trauma, and racialized people. Vulnerable groups are often adversely affected when emergency and transitional housing is restricted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the law \u2013 but it also makes good sense. People who need emergency and transitional housing face many barriers, both individual and institutional, that prevent them from taking part fully in society. COVID-19 and the skyrocketing cost of things like housing and food has further exacerbated these challenges and has had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups, including people who need emergency and transitional housing. Discrimination compounds the daily challenges vulnerable groups face and is a further affront to their dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas responded to the letter at the end of last month. In his letter, the Mayor said the Town of Aurora and Council \u201care fully committed to working with our partners to provide emergency and transitional housing to members of our community who need it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is important to us that community members \u2013 particularly those from marginalized or racialized groups \u2013 have barrier-free access to housing and social services,\u201d he continued. \u201cAs you reference in your letter, the proposed project will be discussed again at another Public Planning meeting sometime in 2023. As you can appreciate, providing residents with an opportunity to express their opinions in an open public forum is a key pillar of our local democracy. This does not necessarily mean, however, that all the perspectives expressed by residents factor into the decisions made by Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would also like to remind the Ontario Human Rights Commission that representatives from its organization are always welcome to take part in future Public Planning meetings as well as delegate at General Committee meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Town declined to comment beyond the Mayor\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ontario Human Rights Commission has weighed in on the Region of York\u2019s proposal to build a men\u2019s transitional shelter in Aurora\u2019s south end. In a letter sent to the Town of Aurora and Mayor Tom Mrakas, the Commission cited concerns shared by community members at Council this past winter, but said these \u201cfears\u201d are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8Az","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 11:21:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}