What We Do
Education
The educational mandate of the CEHR consists of educating the student population and the University community at large about their rights and responsibilities on campus. This mandate is supported by the initiatives listed in the left-side menu.
Want to get involved?
- Facilitate Positive Space Workshops
- Sign up for one of our workshops, or request a personalized group workshop
- Join our team of volunteers
- Subscribe to our mailing list to know about our events and training dates: email cehr.operations@sfuo.ca
A. Positive Space Workshops
Do discrimination and harassment exist on campus?
What are my rights as a student and what are my options for filing a complaint?
What are my legal responsibilities as the head of a team of students or as a provider of student services? What preventative measures can I take to ensure my organization fully respects all student rights both as employees and as clients?
Looking for some answers? Register for a Positive Space Workshop as an individual or request a personalized group session.
Workshop Format and Content
This workshop lasts approximately an hour (90 minutes for managers) and aims to raise awareness about different forms of discrimination and harassment, and identify tools to deal with them in an interactive, welcoming and dynamic setting. To enhance your learning and experience, the workshop also contains video testimonials, discussions, and group activities.
Organizations that complete our training will receive a seal of certification to display in their office in addition to our regular certificates.
Partnership with the Residence Life Team
In partnership with the Residence Life Team from the University of Ottawa's Congress and Reservations Service, CEHR offers workshops in residences at the beginning of each fall and winter semesters.
Participant Feedback
Very informative! Loved the videos and the real life examples. – 2010 Participant
It's helped me realize that there are other forms of discrimination that are easily overlooked.
– 2010 Participant
It is good to get the campus perspective on human rights issues. – 2010 Participant
Registration and Cost
Residents: Contact your Community Advisor to participate in workshops offered in Rez at the beginning of each semester. Cost: free.
Student: Register for workshops throughout the academic year. Cost: free
Groups and Organizations: Contact us to receive a group workshop request form: cehr.education@sfuo.ca. Cost: free only for U of O student organizations or if your organization provides services to the U of O student population. Costs to individuals and organizations outside the University are subject to change; please contact CEHR directly for more information.
Join our Team of Trainers
This is an excellent opportunity for you to gain a meaningful and rewarding experience while raising awareness about students’ rights.
We offer two training for trainer sessions each year:
1. May: Training for trainers who will facilitate the 101 Guides Workshop
2. August: Training for trainers who will facilitate the Student Workshop
Complete the following application and send your CV (including your past experiences in related fields) to cehr.education@sfuo.ca
B. CEHR Service Presentations
An overview of CEHR’s student services outlined in a free 15-minute presentation held on the University of Ottawa campus. If there is anything in particular you would like to have included in this presentation, please send your request to: cehr.education@sfuo.ca
C. Events
For more information, please see our “Events” page.
D. Campaigns
"Face Discrimination" posters are displayed across campus - they will soon be up on our website.
Check out great resources developed by the Right to Respect Campaign: www.respect.uottawa.ca
Have a campaign idea? Contact cehr-campaigns@sfuo.ca
E. Educational Resources
(Coming soon - contact cehr.education@sfuo.ca for more information)
Advocacy
A. Your Rights
The Centre for Equity and Human Rights (CEHR), a Student Federation service, provides guidance for the promotion, protection and advancement of students’ human rights on campus.
CEHR is here to help empower you to realize your rights and ensure that those responsible for upholding student human rights on campus do so. Our Commitment to students entails that CEHR works in full compliance with the spirit and intent of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
You have the right to be free from discrimination. CEHR is here to help!
Ontario Human Rights Code (The “Code”)
Enacted in 1962, the Code* protects people in Ontario against discrimination. The Code provides comprehensive human rights legislation protecting your rights.
There are fifteen grounds of discrimination:
Race, Ancestry, Place of Origin, Colour, Ethnic Origin, Citizenship, Creed (religion), Sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), Sexual Orientation, Disability (including mental health and addictions), Age, Marital Status (including same sex partners), Family Status, Receipt of Public Assistance and Record of Offences.
Your rights are protected by provincial legislation. As a student you are entitled to equal rights and opportunities without discrimination.
In Ontario, human rights legislation is remedial to the situation for the person or group discriminated against. The Code grants civil remedies, not criminal penalties.
i. What is Discrimination? Individual and Systemic:
Discrimination involves an action. Discrimination, whether intentional or unintentional, is a differential treatment for which there is no reasonable justification. Such discrimination imposes burdens, obligations or disadvantages on specific individuals or groups of individuals as defined by the Ontario Human Rights Code.
The Centre for Equity and Human Rights’ commitment to equity means that students who experience systemic or individual discrimination on campus based on the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “Code”) prohibited grounds are provided with free student-directed services.
Systemic discrimination is the application of what may appear to be a neutral requirement that has a negative impact on a group of students protected under human rights legislation. Systemic discrimination occurs when policies and practices exclude, limit or restrict members of designated groups from opportunities.
Individual discrimination means making a distinction between certain individuals or groups based on a prohibited ground of discrimination as defined by the Ontario Human Rights Code.
You have the right to be free from discrimination. We are here to help!
Harassment is a form of discrimination based on Code related grounds. Harassment requires generally* a “course of conduct”, which means that a pattern of behaviour or more than one incident is usually required. Harassment is unwanted physical or verbal conduct that offends or humiliates. Harassment can create a negative or hostile living and learning environment which can interfere with your studies.
(* Note: a single incident may be categorized as harassment (case specific)).
B. Human Rights Complaints
The Centre for Equity and Human Rights (CEHR), a Student Federation service, provides guidance for the promotion, protection and advancement of students’ human rights on campus.
Our commitment to equity means that students who experience individual or systemic discrimination on campus based on the Ontario Human Rights Code prohibited grounds are provided with free student-directed services.
CEHR is here to help empower you to realize your rights and ensure that those responsible for upholding student human rights on campus do so. Our Commitment to students entails that CEHR works in full compliance with the spirit and intent of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
When visiting CEHR, students will be respected, provided support, informed of their rights and responsibilities.
A CEHR Student Advocate can help:
- Provide you with information about internal and external complaint mechanisms and informal and formal complaint options at your disposal;
- Help build your case.
- Draft, review, revise internal and external complaint submissions;
- Write letters of support when substantiated and in accordance to the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s perspective;
- Collaboratively develop with you an action plan to pursue the matter;
- Confer with human rights lawyers if suitable;
- Accompany and/or represent you when reporting an incident or making a complaint or pursing the matter;
- Work diligently at redressing systemic barriers that you bring to our attention;
Your engagement is very important! By meeting with a CEHR Student Advocate you’ll feel better informed, supported, and prepared to initiate an action plan. While CEHR provides recommendations and information, ultimately the service is student directed – you choose to move in the direction you feel is most appropriate if at all.
Students who experience discrimination often share their personal distress. The Centre is sensitive to the impact of discrimination on students. Information and referrals to services are provided to meet your needs.
Appointments are required at least 24 hours in advance. Please make an appointment by email cehr@sfuo.ca , by calling us at 613.562.5800 X 4789 or by dropping by the office UCU 211G.
Why is it so important?
Having an anonymous reporting system to ensures that the Centre for Equity and Human Rights (CEHR) gains a greater understanding of the issues that students face on campus.
The data will be used to improve our campus through education initiatives, advocacy, or other activities related to the prevention of discrimination or harassment on campus.
Anonymous reporting gives students an alternative way to take control of a situation. All identifying information is deleted.
Anonymous reporting is not a cure-all. Anonymous reporting is however part of a comprehensive prevention and intervention strategy that can help to decrease discriminatory practices that hinders students’ university experience.
*All identifying information is deleted
*Confidentiality ensured
Reporting an Incident – click here
The Centre for Equity and Human Rights demonstrates its strong commitment to the betterment of our campus by our resolve to engage in fruitful partnerships.
To advance our shared concern for student human rights, CEHR collaboratively works with the university and community members to effect change. Bringing this idea forward (collaborative work), CEHR’s partnerships mobilize support to prevent human rights incidents on campus.
CEHR partnerships help to examine, monitor, advise and publicly report on specific human rights areas of concern and/or systemic issues leaving groups of students at a disadvantage.
In partnership, we advocate for the implementation of measures to guarantee or redress identified barriers. In the spirit of complementarily of roles and responsibilities, partners may raise public concerns through media and other public statements, undertake inquiries to assess raised human rights concerns, make recommendations to the Appropriate Authority concerned, all with the view to improving the situation;
Interested in exploring a partnership initiative? Please make an appointment by email cehr@sfuo.ca or by calling us at 613.562.5800 X 4789.
C. Resources
Note: Contact cehr.research@sfuo.ca for documents or assistance with links as needed.
i. CEHR Community Resource List
ii. CEHR Complainant Guidebooks (forthcoming)
iii. CEHR Respondent Guidebooks (forthcoming)
iv. Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
v. Ontario Human Rights Commission
vi. Policy on Sexual Harassment:Consult Policy No. 67: applicable when the respondent is an APUO member
Consult Policy 67a: applicable for all members of the University community except when the respondent is a member of the APUO