On CRIPE letterhead

06 – 06 – 26
Mr. Hart Schwartz
Director, Legal Services Branch
Ontario Human Rights Commission
7th Floor, 180 Dundas Street West
Toronto  ON  M7A 2R9
 

Dear Mr. Schwartz;

            Your letter to me of June 13th in response to mine of May 29th does not in any way  “...fully address the matter” raised in my letter. 

            My letter of May 29th deals solely with the provision of legal advice or opinion to persons who make an inquiry to the office of the OHRC as to the reason for religious discrimination in Ontario’s school system. 

            In an effort to gain understanding about religious discrimination in Ontario, I have exchanged correspondence with personnel in the Policy and Education Branch of the OHRC, and the office of the Attorney General of Ontario. 

            In a letter to me by Ms. Pegg of the OHRC, dated January 18, 2006, she stated: “...please note that although the information I have given you is based on the Code, it is not an approved policy statement and should not be viewed as legal advice.  The Commission does not give opinion on any specific situation and its compliance with the law." 

            In a letter of April 20, 2006 from Mark Leach of the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Policy Division, he states: “...neither the Attorney General nor his Ministry’s staff is permitted to provide legal advice or opinion to members of the public.  We can only advise the government.” 

            Despite being refused information because neither office is permitted to “provide legal advice or opinion to members of the public,“ inquiries to the OHRC about religious discrimination are answered with the legal advice or opinion that religious discrimination in Ontario’s schools is due to a section of the Constitution of Canada.  The purpose of this letter is to point out that providing such legal advice or opinion to members of the public is a clear breach of the above-mentioned policy of the OHRC and the Attorney General‘s office and to ask for adherence to this government policy.

The next two paragraphs are copied from my letter to Barbara Hall of June 5, 2006, and represent the matter I wish to have addressed.

            “I request confirmation in writing that your staff have been duly advised to cease giving ‘legal advice or opinion’ on the interpretation of the Constitution of Canada with regard to the reason for the existence of section 19(1) of the Ontario Human Rights Code. 

            “If you disagree with this request, I ask that you advise me of the reason for your refusal to cease giving the public your “legal advice or opinion” that the Canadian Constitution is a reason for the existence of section 19. (1) of the Code.”

 
        Thank you for your attention to this matter.
 
                 Sincerely,
 
                 Renton Patterson, President
 

Copies to:  Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner, OHRC

                Jacquelin Pegg, OHRC Policy and Education Branch

                Mark Leach, Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Ontario

No answer was received, which was predictable.  No one in government wants to give up the “it’s in the constitution” line to give them some reason to keep abusing us and propping up the Roman Catholic church with our tax dollars.  But whenever someone asks where this guarantee is written in the Constitution – they can’t tell me – because it isn’t there.
 

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