Item - 2013.EX32.1

City Council recessed its public session and met as Committee of the Whole in closed session on June 11, 2013, and considered confidential information on this Item as pertains to litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board.

This report clarifies the City's process for dealing with discrimination complaints related to City services that are directly delivered and those that are contracted/delivered by third parties. 

The report responds to the September 2012 Executive Committee motions to report on amendments to the City's anti-discrimination policies and to revise the Declaration of Compliance. The Hate Activity and Human Rights and Anti-Harassment /Discrimination Policies have been amended to include new Code grounds; evolving legislated obligations; clarification of requirements regarding third party providers of City services and provisions to ensure that events funded by the City and/or that take place on City property comply with City anti-discrimination expectations while promoting respect, tolerance and diversity.  The Hate Activity and Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Policies both include language in response to the request by the Executive Committee: "the City condemns harassment, denigration, discriminatory actions and promotion of hatred."  Amended procedures will be implemented to ensure consistent handling of hate activity and harassment/discrimination complaints. The City Solicitor has submitted a separate report commenting on the original policy wording as requested by Executive Committee. 

All third-party organizations/individuals that engage in a contract relationship with the City (e.g. permit holders, grant recipients, contractors) are required to sign a Declaration of Compliance with Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Legislation and City Policy.  The Declaration reflects anti-discrimination obligations contained in legislation and City Policy that the City expects third party service providers to uphold.  The Declaration now includes the grounds of "level of literacy" and "political affiliation" as the two grounds that go beyond the Ontario Human Rights Code but are included in City policies. All City legal agreements to which the Declaration applies, will include provisions that stipulate that discrimination complaints must be resolved to the satisfaction of the operating division and the City Solicitor or the contract may be terminated.  

While the report addresses the obligations of grant recipients to abide by the City's anti-discrimination expectations or be subjected to consequences for non-compliance, the motions regarding amendments to the City's Grants Policy and funding conditions are being addressed in a separate report by Social Development, Finance and Administration Division.

To ensure a consistent equity approach, the City's Agencies and Corporations are requested to review and amend their Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Policies to reflect the purpose and principles of the City's Policies as appropriate to their organizations, and/or adopt such policies.

The policy amendments will continue to advance the City's equity commitments while minimizing financial risk resulting from provincial complaints tribunals.

This report has been prepared to provide confidential commentary on the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) v. Whatcott which was released on February 27, 2013 and issues arising from the two reports which shall be before Executive Committee for its consideration on April 23, 2013 respecting proposed amendments to the City's Grants Policy and Anti-Discrimination policies arising from direction given by the Committee at its meeting of September 10, 2012.

This report responds to Executive Committee’s directions of September 10^th, 2012 to "report on amendments to the City's Grants Policy and ensure that events which are funded by the City of Toronto, and/or take place on City of Toronto property, are in accordance with the objectives of the City of Toronto of promoting respect, tolerance and diversity and that the grants guidelines and use of space guidelines are consistent with the amended grants policy." 

The report recommends approval of a revised City of Toronto Grants Policy that: is aligned with the revised City of Toronto Anti-Discrimination Policies (contained in a separate report from the City Manager), integrates existing guidelines on anti-discrimination, complaints, customer service, program standards and performance measures and appeals, and incorporates former stand-alone policies on financial health and partisan political activity.

The report advises that the City of Toronto Grants Policy does not include provisions or mechanisms that would preclude an organization from being recommended for funding due to the use of the term "Israeli Apartheid" or other language that may be considered offensive, but not contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Code or Criminal Code.

The report does clarify Council's ability to add conditions to funding under the policy, reaffirms the appropriate mechanisms to deal with complaints about contracted services and City-funded activity, and highlights the complexity of dealing with "competing interests" among equity-seeking groups at the municipal level.

The City Solicitor has also submitted a report to Executive Committee on this matter.

Issues related to Executive Committee's other directions on anti-discrimination policies will be addressed in a report from the Equity, Diversity and Human Rights Division of the City Manager's Office.