Reply #73: it is a serious question [View All]

[iverglas]

On a very quick google, here's a snippet from the brief fhat the Canadian Auto Workers submitted to the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2005:

http://caw.ca/whatwedo/humanrights/pdf/humanrightsandfamilysubmission.pdf
("family status" is a prohibited ground of discrimination)

The current definition of "family status" is the status of being in a parent and child relationship. Along with "marital status", most interdependent relationships are covered. However, as the discussion paper sets out, increasingly there are interdependent relationships beyond what is covered by these two terms.

The CAW supports a broadening of the definition of "family status" to capture other dependent relationships. We also support the training of commission staff and the education of the public to understand the intersection of discrimination, in particular the intersection of family status with sex, race and marital status.

The CAW recognizes that this consultation goes beyond a narrow examination of discrimination based on a parent-child relationship. The discussion paper rightly casts a wider eye to the interaction of different grounds of discrimination with subtle, and not so subtle, societal pressures which come together to result in different participation opportunities for workers who have interdependent relationships.

The CAW wants to be part of a solution-driven process which results in a society where workers in different family structures are supported.

The union places considerable stress on the fact that caregiving falls mainly to women.

Here's a snippet from the invitation to participate in the consultation that the Ontario Human Rights Commission put out:

http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/family-status-discussion-questionaire.shtml

The Commission is seeking to understand how an individual’s family relationships affect his or her access to employment, housing, and services. The Commission has therefore prepared this questionnaire to enable family members to share their experiences. With this questionnaire, the Commission is seeking personal accounts of actual experiences, rather than the collective knowledge or expertise of organizations, advocates and researchers. The Commission will use these stories to identify key issues for further consultation and policy development.

and here's the discussion paper:

http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/family-status-discussion-paper.shtml

Heh. Here's another response:

http://www.oecta.on.ca/pdfs/humanrightsresponse.pdf

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association applauds the Ontario Human Rights Commission's decision to examine the issue of discrimination as it relates to family status. The increasing complexity of Ontario society has brought with it enormous changes to the family. It is time that the effects of these changes are reviewed and practices which may be or are discriminatory changed.

The Ontario Human Rights Code definition of family status must be broadened to include dependency relationships such as caring for disabled adults, providing eldercare, caring for unrelated persons who are part of our extended families or who have a close personal relationship to us. The broadening of the definition would do much to capture the nuances of family relationships in Ontario's multicultural society.

There ya go. When discrimination is eliminated, there are some surprising beneficiaries. Non-married couples and same-sex couples get recognized, and celibate English Catholic school teachers caring for their aged parents might be next. ;)