Warning: If You Want to Be Spared the Wrath of the Ontario Human Right Commission, Do Not, I Repeat, Do Not, Say Anything Mean About Methadone Users

Chief OHRC Commissar Barbara Hall Monitor (okay, not her real last name--but it should be), who is in charge of enforcing "niceness" in the province, is throwing her weight around--again:

The Ontario Human Rights Commission wants council to be careful during a public meeting around a proposed methadone clinic in south London.

During their meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 4), the Planning and Environment Committee officially received a letter from the commission stating its concerns over the public meeting set for Wednesday (Sept. 5). The meeting, set for Hillside Church at 6:30 p.m., will give staff the opportunity to inform the public around the application for a proposed methadone clinic at 425 Wharncliffe Rd. The location of the proposed clinic is north of Base Line Road, next to a Dairy Queen outlet.

Ward 1 Councillor and planning committee chair Bud Polhill said he interprets the letter as “telling us to be careful with what we do and how we do it.” 

The commission stated in its letter that it has concerns the public meeting would lead to discrimination against people with addictions, individuals protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code. The letter states councillors often call public meetings that lead to individuals being subjected “to hurtful comments and a level of negative scrutiny that non of the potential neighbours had to face when moving into the neighbourhood.”

The letter goes on to say meetings such as the one planned for Hillside Church “also reinforce the incorrect assumption that neighbourhood residents have the right to approve who moves in next door.”

The commission is recommending that clear rules be laid out at the public meeting. Those rules should state the only issues open for discussion are “legitimate land use issues such as location, size, setbacks and parking requirements.” In addition, attendees are to be informed the meeting will not be made a forum “to make negative comments” about the people using methadone. 

John Fleming, the city’s director of planning, said the meeting is to provide information to the community, but will be focused around the planning application process...

Silly John. Doesn't he know that even a simple meeting is subject to the caprice of our "human rights" apparatus, a body which uses concern for the vulnerable/downtrodden in a rapacious bid to keep extending its powers? And since not enough people are paying attention to these outrageous power-grabs, it will continue to butt in wherever and whenever possible, always at the expense of our freedom.

Update: I just realized what I should have titled this post--There's Methadone in Their Madness.