Comment 29728

By bugbear (anonymous) | Posted March 25, 2009 at 16:48:07

It's not really accurate to say that "the Ontario Human Rights Commission now requires that all public transit providers announce all transit stops. As a result, the HSR will install an automated system to call stops as part of a planned radio system upgrade this year."

The OHRC doesn't have general jurisdiction like this. If someone brought a complaint against the HSR, then obviously the HRTO would rule against the HSR on the basis of its prior decision against the TTC (even though officially it isn't bound by its prior decisions). This is why the HSR has changed its policy - to avoid the possibility of litigation which it knows it would probably lose, not because the OHRC "requires" that it do so. Legally speaking, the HSR was indeed right to argue that the HTRO ruling against the TTC was not binding upon it per se. That being said, the OHRC did communicate with transit providers across the province, successfully persuading many of them to adopt the announcement policy which was forced upon the TTC by the HRTO. The OHRC could not simply have compelled them to adopt such a policy, however. It just doesn't have that sort of jurisdiction.

The OHRC really only investigates complaints, enforces the Code as it stands, and makes public policy recommendations to the legislature. It doesn't make rulings itself, so the Spec article was slightly off on this point as well. The changes to the DARTS system were actually the result of a settlement between the City and various complainants, with the OHRC simply serving as mediator.

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