______
______
Know Your Rights
An introductory guide to disability, the Human Rights Code, the Education Act,
and legal aid services in Ontario
This information booklet was prepared by ARCH Disability Law Centre for the Ready for School Connects Program - Summer 2012 (a program of East York East Toronto Family Resources Organization) delivered at Crescent Town Elementary School, George Webster Public School, Rose Avenue Junior Public School, Secord Elementary School and Sprucecourt Junior Public School.
The information available in this booklet is not intended to be legal advice. Consult a lawyer or legal worker if you need legal advice on a specific matter.
This information is current as of July 2012.
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
What is ARCH Disability Law Centre 4
Free Legal Help 5
What is Disability? 9
Education in Ontario 10
Ontario’s Human Rights Code and
the Human Rights Process 12
Getting Assistance with your
Human Rights Matter 13
Ensuring Appropriate Education
and Supports 15
Rights to an Appropriate Education 18
Human Rights in Education and
the Duty to Accommodate 19
Advocacy Checklist 20
Legal Resources that may
assist in education related matters 21
Introduction and Welcome
Congratulations! Your child will soon begin Junior Kindergarten and start on an exciting and challenging journey. As parents, you want to ensure that your child has all the support necessary to thrive and learn in a welcoming, safe and inclusive school environment. Schools have the same goal.
This information booklet will give you an introduction to Ontario’s Human Rights Code and how it relates to your child’s experiences at school. In this booklet, you will find basic information on disability and what that means when accessing the public school system. You will also find some resources and information about free legal services.
ARCH thanks the wonderful Ready for School Connects team for the invaluable work that they do in their communities. Ready for School Connects is a program of the East York East Toronto Family Resources Organization.
What is ARCH Disability Law Centre
ARCH Disability Law Centre is a specialty legal clinic primarily funded by Legal Aid Ontario that provides legal services to persons with disabilities in Ontario. ARCH’s mandate is to advance the equality rights of persons with disabilities in Ontario.
For more information, please see:
www.archdisabilitylaw.ca
or call 416-482-8255 (toll free 866-482-2724)
or TTY 416- 482-1254 (toll free 866-4822728)
email:
425 Bloor Street East, Suite 110
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 3R4
ARCH provides legal representation to people with disabilities whose cases meet the priorities set by ARCH’s Board of Directors and who meet Legal Aid Ontario’s financial eligibility guidelines. ARCH also provides free, confidential legal information, summary advice and referrals to people with disabilities in certain areas of law. For more information about ARCH’s current priority areas, or to receive legal information, advice and referrals, please contact us by telephone, TTY, or visit our website.
Free Legal Help
Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) provides legal services to people with low income. LAO funds the community legal clinic system in Ontario and also provides the legal aid certificate program.
What are community legal clinics?
Community legal clinics in Ontario provide legal information, advice and legal representation on various kinds of legal issues including:
§ Social assistance (Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program)
§ Housing and tenant rights
§ Refugee and immigration law
§ Employment rights
§ Employment insurance
§ Criminal injuries compensation
§ Human rights
§ Workers’ compensation
§ Canada Pension Plan.
Not all clinics provide legal services in all of these areas but your local clinic will try to refer you to someone who can, if they cannot assist. General service community legal clinics operate within a geographic area so the clinic that you need to contact depends on where you live. There are 60 general service community legal clinics in Ontario.
To get services from your local community legal clinic, your problem must be in one of the areas that the legal clinic handles and your income and assets can not be above a certain level. Contact your local legal clinic to find out if you qualify.
There are also specialty legal clinics, such as ARCH, that serve a particular community or deal with a specific area of law. There are 17 specialty legal clinics in Ontario. Your local community legal clinic can refer you to a specialty legal clinic if appropriate.
For more information, you can call 416-979-1446, TTY 416-598-8867 or you can visit Legal Aid Ontario’s web site online at www.legalaid.on.ca.
Finding your local community legal clinic
If your postal code begins with M3A, M3B, M3C, M4A, M4B, M4C, M4G, M4H, M4J, M4K, M4N, M4P, M4S, M4T, M4W, your local community legal clinic is:
Flemingdon Community Legal Services
49 The Donway W., Suite 205, M3C 3M9
Tel.: 416-441-1764
Intake: 416-441-0969
TTY: 416-441-9156
If your postal code begins with M1K, M1L, M1N, M1P, M1R, M1T, M1W, your local community legal clinic is:
West Scarborough Community Legal Services
2425 Eglinton Ave. E., Suite 201
Scarborough
M1K 5G8
Tel.: 416-285-4460
If your postal code begins with M4E, M4L, M4M, your local community legal clinic is:
East Toronto Community Legal Services
1320 Gerrard St. E.
Toronto
M4L 3X1
Tel.: 416-461-8102
If your postal code begins with M4Y, M4X, M5A, M5B, M5E, your local community legal clinic is:
Neighbourhood Legal Services
333 Queen Street EastToronto
M5A 1S9
Tel.: 416-861-0677
Legal Aid Ontario’s website is also helpful in finding your local community legal clinic using the following link:
http://www.legalaid.on.ca/en/contact/contact.asp?type=cl
Legal Aid Certificates
For certain areas of law, Legal Aid Ontario may pay for your lawyer’s services through a legal aid certificate. These areas include:
§ Criminal law
§ Family law
§ Immigration and refugee law
Not all questions or problems you may have are covered by a certificate and you may have to pay for some of the cost. Eligibility also depends on your income and asset levels.
Contact your local Legal Aid office about your particular case and to apply for a legal aid certificate.
You can contact Legal Aid Ontario at 416-979-1446, TTY 416-598-8867, or toll free at 1-800-668-8258, TTY 1-866-641-8867 for more information. The telephone information service can be accessed in more than 120 languages.
You can access more information at Legal Aid Ontario’s website at:
www.legalaid.on.ca
What is Disability?
There are many different definitions and understandings of disability.
Disability can mean different things to different people.
Whether someone is considered to have a disability or not may depend on the many different definitions of disability specific to the various laws, regulations, policies, programs and services. For example, a child may be found to have a disability for the purposes of receiving additional supports in school but not found to have a disability that meets the definition for financial assistance from programs such as Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities (ACSD) through the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
Disability is not necessarily a medical condition. We now understand disability to be about how the individual interacts within society and the barriers created that limit that individual’s inclusion within that community.
Ontario’s human rights law, the Human Rights Code defines disability as:
(a) any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, a brain injury, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical co-ordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a guide dog or other animal or on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device,
(b) a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability,
(c) a learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language,
(d) a mental disorder, or
(e) an injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997;
Education in Ontario
In Ontario, the Education Act governs the delivery of public elementary and secondary education. Kindergarten is optional. Students are required to attend school or receive education services between the ages of 6 to 18. All children have a right to attend public school.
Immigration Status
No matter what your immigration status or that of your child, your child has a right to enrol in public school in Ontario. You do not have to provide immigration documents and the school cannot demand to see any.
The Education Act says that no child can be denied an education because of their immigration status or their parents’ immigration status. This is set out at section 49.1 of the Education Act. Citizenship and Immigration Canada has stated that school boards do not have to send families to one of their offices to get any documentation before a child is enrolled in school.
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) passed a “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy in 2006 which confirms that all children are welcome at TDSB schools. A TDSB school will not ask about any child’s legal status in Canada, and if a school discovers the child’s legal status, it cannot share that information with immigration authorities. Immigration enforcement agents should not have access to students at school. For more information, see TDSB’s 2007 Policy, Students Without Legal Immigration Status, P.061SCH.
TDSB schools will be allowed to ask for the child’s date of entry to Canada on the student registration form. This information will be used to get English as a Second Language funding from the Ministry of Education. If the family does not fill out this part of the form, the child will not be prevented from enrolling in school.
Schools might need to verify a student’s name or home address, however, this can be accomplished through a variety of ways and immigration documents are not required.
The Ministry has released a Policy/Program Memorandum No. 136 which provides guidance to school boards and reinforces that children cannot be refused admission to school because of their parents Immigration Status, and that there is no legal requirement for school boards to refer families with no immigration status or documents to Immigration authorities.
Ontario’s Human Rights Code and the Human Rights Process
Ontario’s Human Rights Code (“Code”) is a provincial law that gives everyone equal rights and opportunities free from discrimination regardless of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or disability (and receipt of social assistance with regards to housing).
The Code protects you from discrimination in your work, receipt of services and housing. The Code applies to many different services, situations and organizations including:
22
· schools and school boards
· services and programs provided by municipal government
· universities and colleges
· private businesses
· services and programs provided by the provincial government
· housing providers
· employment relationships
· hospitals and health services
· services provided by not-for-profit organizations
22
If you believe that you or your child has experienced discrimination, you can make an application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. When you file an application at the Tribunal you will become involved in a formal legal process which may include mediation and a hearing before an independent adjudicator to decide on the matter.
Getting Assistance with your Human Rights Matter
The Human Rights Legal Support Centre provides free legal advice and representation for some human rights cases. There are also specialty legal clinics and other legal organizations that can help you with some types of human rights matters. Contact your local legal clinic for advice and/or referrals.
If you think that you or your child has been discriminated against because of a disability, you may wish to contact ARCH Disability Law Centre.
You can learn more about human rights in Ontario from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). The OHRC has produced many helpful materials including “Guidelines for Accessible Education”. These Guidelines discuss how the Code applies to education services in Ontario. You can contact the OHRC for a copy of the Guidelines or you can access it online on the OHRC’s website.
22
Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
Tel.: 416-326-1312
Toll-free: 1-866-598-0322
TTY: 416-326-2027
TTY Toll-free: 1-866-607-1240
Website: www.hrto.ca
Ontario Human Rights Commission
Ontario Human Rights Commission
180 Dundas Street West, Suite 900
Toronto Ontario
M7A 2R9
Website: www.ohrc.on.ca
The Ontario Human Rights Commission no longer handles telephone inquiries.
Human Rights Legal Support Centre
Tel: (416) 597-4900
Toll Free: 1-866-625-5179
TTY: (416) 597-4903
TTY Toll Free: 1-866 612-8627
Website: www.hrlsc.on.ca
ARCH Disability Law Centre
Tel: (416) 482-8255
Toll Free:1-866-482-2724
TTY: (416) 482-1254 or 1-866 -482-2728
Website: www.archdisabilitylaw.ca
Ensuring Appropriate Education and Supports
The Education Act and Ontario’s Human Rights Code both say that students have the right to appropriate education regardless of disability.
Students with disabilities, including those who are in Kindergarten, have a right to go to their neighbourhood school and be in a regular classroom with all their peers. They also have a right to accommodations. Accommodations means supports and things that are needed by a student because of a disability, to help a student fully access, learn and benefit from education like all other children.
For children moving onto grade one who have disabilities, the Education Act sets out a process to try to help you to understand and identify what your child may need in order to best learn and benefit from the education provided. This is called the Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC). This process is set out in a law called Regulation 181/98.
It is common that IPRC’s are done when children have been in school for several years. It is common for IPRC’s to be conducted for the first time in grade 3. It is important to remember that a school is still required to provide accommodations and/or an IEP if required, even if an IPRC has not been initiated.