The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (“MCU”) has recently proposed new legislation that would amend the current Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act.[1] If passed, Bill 166, which is also called the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024, would amend the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act to include the requirement that every college and university in Ontario have a student mental health policy in place setting out what services, programs, policies and supports are available for student mental health. In addition, policies and rules will need to exist to address and combat racism and hate, including antisemitism, anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism and Islamophobia. There have currently been two readings and the bill has been ordered for a third reading.[2]
Ontario’s Human Rights Code, Investigations and Organizational Policies
The Ontario Human Rights Code already establishes that students, as service recipients of universities and colleges, have the right to a discrimination-free learning environment. In addition, Laskowska v. Marineland of Canada Inc., 2005 HRTO 30, is now trite law: where the right to a discrimination-free environment exists, so must measures to investigate complaints of discrimination. In applying this to colleges and universities, students have the right to have their post-secondary institution prevent, address and remedy any type of act that violates a human rights Code ground (see: Hale v. University of British Columbia Okanagan (No.5), 2023 BCHRT 121 (CanLII)). As such, to comply with their Code-based legal obligation to provide students with a discrimination-free environment, colleges and universities should develop and implement policies that address complaints of discrimination and ensure that both students and staff understand and know how to access them. Failure to do so could result in a finding that a university or college has discriminated against a student and an order for remedies correlated with impact.
In addition to developing and implementing policies that address discrimination, colleges and universities must also ensure that those who are appointed to respond to allegations of discrimination have the proper training required to do so (see Laskowska at para. 65). In the context of sexual violence, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal stated that applying Laskowska to a complaint of sexual violence means that it is reasonable for the complainant to expect to have their complaint investigated by someone who has some training in rape myths and stereotypes, the impact of trauma, and investigative processes (see Hale at para. 268).
Please log in to read the full article.