The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance is calling on interested parties to sign up to have their say to the Pinto Human Rights Code Review by January 23rd.

If you have faced barriers due to a disability, have the Human Rights Tribunal, the Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre been effective at getting the barrier removed or prevented? Is Ontario's system for enforcing your human rights (including your right to be free from discrimination on grounds like disability) effective for you?

Last August, the McGuinty Government appointed Toronto lawyer Andrew Pinto to investigate the effectiveness of Ontario's system for enforcing human rights that was launched on June 30, 2008 with the passage of the controversial Bill 107. Bill 107, which we opposed, privatized human rights enforcement in Ontario . Rather than making the Human Rights Commission responsible for publicly investigating and publicly prosecuting discrimination cases, Bill 107 now requires discrimination victims to investigate and prosecute their own cases themselves.

You can find more details in this AODA Alliance Update.

You can also hear David Lepofsky explain his concerns about Bill 107 and the privatization of human rights enforcement in Ontario in these three videos:

• David Lepofsky Testimony (part 1)
• David Lepofsky Testimony (part 2)
• David Lepofsky Testimony (part 3)

The AEBC has already sent a letter of support for the AODA Alliance to Mr. Pinto, and we hope you will too.