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Action Story
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), in partnership with the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and the Religion in the Public Sphere Initiative, hosted a community dialogue on human rights related to religious observance and practice. The OHRC issued a call for academic papers to be submitted on various aspects of religious human rights in order to assist in developing their policy on religion. ARPA Canada’s legal counsel Andre Schutten submitted a paper proposal arguing that greater protection of associational rights is necessary in the human rights and religious employment context. The OHRC accepted the paper proposal and Andre attended the by-invitation-only dialogue as a speaker. Those in attendance included numerous leading academics including Professors Richard Moon, Errol Mendes, Benjamin Berger, Janet Buckingham, Bruce Ryder and Iain Benson. There was also a full complement of OHRC staff, including lawyers, policy makers and Ms. Barbara Hall (the chief commissioner) in attendance throughout the entire two-day program. Finally, there was a broad representation of various faith groups including Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha’i, Humanist, Atheist, Catholic, Anglican, Unitarian, Evangelical and Reformed.