Every "Right" Under the Sun--Except for the Most Crucial One

It's amazing how many "human rights" we have here in Ontario. The "right" to fish while Asian. The "right" to not be offended by "hate speech." Why, you could say that here in Ontario we're awash in "rights"; stinking with "rights". And now Babsy Hall's pro-active "human rights" busybodies and a few like-minded partners are about to squander spend oodles of our money bombarding us with info about another of our "rights"--the "right" to housing:

Toronto The Ontario Human Rights Commission, the City of Toronto, the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario the Greater Toronto Apartment Association and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre have joined forces to promote housing as a human right. The partners are encouraging Toronto tenants and landlords to learn more about these rights by today launching a poster that will appear in 120 transit shelters across Toronto during the month of March.

The “Housing is a human right” campaign tells people about their rights and how to use them. The poster directs people to the websites of the partnering organizations for more information.

The campaign reflects the principles contained in the City’s recently adopted Toronto Housing Charter – Opportunity for All. In addition to supporting the human right to housing, the Charter is also intended to discourage the not-in-my-backyard reaction to the creation of new affordable housing.

This is the first phase of a province-wide OHRC initiative to educate tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities relating to human rights and housing.

“When we did public consultations for our new Policy on Human Rights and Rental Housing, we often heard that tenants and landlords did not know that human rights applied to housing,” said Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the OHRC. “I am pleased that such a diverse group is helping send such a strong collective message.”

“Access to safe, secure and affordable housing is the foundation on which successful lives and healthy communities are built,” said Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, chair of the City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Committee. “This campaign reminds people that housing is a human right and highlights the City’s support for people to live in the neighbourhood of their choice without discrimination.”

“Everyone looking for housing deserves respect and fair treatment,” said Vince Brescia, President and CEO of FRPO. “All housing providers have an obligation to be educated about their human rights responsibilities and FRPO is proud to work with our partners today to promote awareness. There is no place for discrimination in the housing marketplace.

“We are proud to be part of this important campaign in Toronto,” said Brad Butt, President and CEO of GTAA. “Discrimination in any form is unacceptable. Housing providers have a responsibility to respect the Human Rights Code and promoting that adherence is essential.”

“We are pleased to work with landlords to send a clear message that there’s no room for discrimination,” added Kathy Laird, Executive Director of the HRLSC...

Got that, Mr. Landlord (you miserable capitalist bloodsucker, you)? So if some deadbeat undesirable type wants to rent one of your apartments, he's got loads of "rights". You, on the other hand--not so much.

It seems to me that one of the reasons why Babsy is so intent on finding new "rights" for us--aside from it being a way of keeping her and all the other busy little OHRC beavers busy and justifying their generous salaries--is so we'll be so delighted with all our new "rights" we won't notice that our most valuable old right, the right to free expression, has become officially defunct.