Despite Canada’s reputation for casting a very broad social safety net and a Human Rights Code that aggressively punishes acts of discrimination, Austin Lewis, a 21-year-old paralyzed man confined to a wheelchair since a disease attacked his spinal cord when he was 8 years old, has just been told he has one less option for government-subsidized housing.
His problem? He’s not a Muslim.
Noting he wouldn’t be treated in this way in the far less-progressive southern U.S., Lewis told Global News, “It doesn’t make any sense. I lived in Texas; that doesn’t make sense even there.”
His rejection letter from Toronto’s Housing Connections – an organization that maintains a waiting list of qualified applicants for subsidized housing – told him he was being removed from the list for an apartment operated by Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace Inc.
“The vision of this community includes providing housing for households in which at least one person is a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at,” read the letter. “This means if none of the individuals of your household are a member … you will be removed from the waiting list.”
Despite Ontario law making it illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of religion, Toronto has been using a provision of the law that allows groups to create segregated housing blocks using otherwise illegal criteria, and a city spokesman says it’s all perfectly legal.
“Ahmadiyya has received approval under Council authority to enter into an Agreement to establish a Mandate to restrict tenancy to ‘members of the Muslim Jama’at’ in accordance with the requirements approved by City Council in November 2002,” said John Gosgnach, communications manager for the City of Toronto. “The Agreement to Establish a Mandate has been executed by both parties and has a five year term with an effective date of Jan 1, 2015.”
The 16-story, 176-unit high-rise apartment building includes a prayer room to accommodate 250 persons.
“The City’s mandate policy allows social housing providers to restrict their housing to individuals belonging to an identifiable ethnic or religious group if specific conditions are met,” Gosgnach said. “The housing provider must provide the City with a legal opinion that they are meeting the requirements of Section 18 of the Ontario Human Rights Code by providing services and facilities to support the members of the identifiable ethnic or religious group.”
That’s not sitting well with Laura Whiteway, Lewis’ mother, who says her son is being unfairly discriminated against because he is not Muslim.
“It’s prejudiced, it’s racist. It’s wrong on every single level: This goes against everything Canada represents to me,” she told Global News.
“If it’s legal, it should not be legal; it’s insulting, that’s what it is. I thought we were moving forward. We are a melting pot; this does not reflect that.”
Shane Martinez, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in human-rights issues, agrees.
“The purpose of the Human Rights Code in Ontario is to make sure people feel as though they are part of the community and that their dignity and their worth is protected,” he said. “The Human Rights Code for the province still applies and is really the paramount legislation that needs to be given consideration in a situation like this.”
