Bill 86 explained in plain English
Our London Family Act (Working Together to Combat Islamophobia and Hatred), 2022
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 86 enacts two new acts and amends seven existing Ontario laws to combat Islamophobia, racism, and hatred through measures including anti-racism strategies in schools, extended timelines for human rights complaints, protection of religious institutions, and restrictions on hate-promoting demonstrations.
Bill 86, titled the "Our London Family Act (Working Together to Combat Islamophobia and Hatred), 2022," is a comprehensive legislative package designed to address racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and hatred in Ontario. The bill consists of nine schedules that create new laws and modify existing ones. **What the bill does:** The bill creates two entirely new acts. The first, the "Review of Hate Crimes and Hate-Motivated Incidents Act, 2022," requires the Attorney General to review how hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents are being handled across Ontario and report back within one year with recommendations. The second, the "Safe Zones Around Religious Institutions Act, 2022," makes it illegal to intimidate people within 50 metres of places of worship (temples, mosques, synagogues, churches, etc.). Violations can result in fines up to $25,000. The bill also makes significant changes to existing laws: - **Anti-Racism Act, 2017**: Requires annual anti-racism training for public sector frontline workers and establishes a new Ontario Anti-Racism Advisory and Advocacy Council to advocate on behalf of racialized groups and advise the government on issues affecting these communities. - **Education Act**: Creates comprehensive requirements for schools to develop anti-racism and anti-Islamophobia strategies, gather data on student and staff experiences with racism, establish complaint mechanisms for discrimination and bigotry, and ensure school board members complete anti-racism training at least once per term. - **Election Finances Act**: Allows the Chief Electoral Officer to deregister political parties that engage in conduct constituting public incitement of hatred or wilful promotion of hatred under federal criminal law, with an appeal process to court. - **Human Rights Code**: Extends the deadline for filing complaints with the Human Rights Tribunal from one year to five years, with flexibility for late applications in certain circumstances. - **Legislative Assembly Act**: Prohibits demonstrations, rallies, or activities within the legislative precinct that would promote hatred against any identifiable group. - **Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010**: Prevents non-profit organizations from having purposes that include promoting hatred as defined under federal criminal law. - **Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006**: Requires the Public Appointments Secretariat to ensure recruitment and appointment practices for public bodies are transparent, bias-free, and barrier-free, with outreach to systemically disadvantaged groups. **Who is affected:** - Public sector employees, particularly frontline workers who will receive anti-racism training - Students, teachers, education workers, and families in Ontario schools - Members of racialized groups, including Muslims, Black Canadians, Indigenous peoples, Asian Canadians, and others facing discrimination - Political parties registered under Ontario's election law - Individuals filing human rights complaints - Non-profit organizations operating in Ontario - The general public visiting Ontario's legislative precinct - Organizers of demonstrations and protests - People attending religious institutions
- Creates the Review of Hate Crimes and Hate-Motivated Incidents Act, 2022, requiring the Attorney General to review hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents in Ontario and report findings within one year
- Creates the Safe Zones Around Religious Institutions Act, 2022, prohibiting intimidation within 50 metres of religious institutions (temples, mosques, synagogues, churches, etc.) with penalties of fines up to $25,000
- Amends the Anti-Racism Act, 2017 to require annual anti-racism training for public sector frontline workers covering anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia
- Establishes the Ontario Anti-Racism Advisory and Advocacy Council with up to 30 members to advocate for racialized groups and advise government on ethnocultural matters
- Requires the Minister of Education to conduct annual surveys of Ontario residents on their experiences of racial inequity and systemic racism
- Amends the Education Act to require district school boards to develop and maintain anti-racism strategies based on collected data
- Requires the Minister of Education to develop a provincial anti-Islamophobia strategy for schools including training for staff and curriculum reviews
- Requires each district school board to establish complaint mechanisms for students, teachers, and families to report discrimination, racism, or bigotry including Islamophobia
- Requires all Ontario school board members to complete anti-racism training at least once per term
- Requires the Minister of Education to ensure school curriculum contains identity-affirming resources and review curriculum as it relates to racialized groups
- Amends the Election Finances Act to allow the Chief Electoral Officer to deregister political parties that engage in conduct constituting public incitement of hatred or wilful promotion of hatred under federal criminal law
- Extends the deadline for filing applications to the Human Rights Tribunal from one year to five years
- Allows the Human Rights Tribunal to extend the application deadline if satisfied the delay was in good faith or circumstances prevented timely application
- Amends the Legislative Assembly Act to prohibit demonstrations, rallies, or activities within the legislative precinct that would promote hatred against any identifiable group
- Amends the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 to prevent non-profit organizations from having purposes that include promoting hatred as defined under federal criminal law
- Amends the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006 to require the Public Appointments Secretariat to ensure transparent, bias-free, and barrier-free recruitment and appointment practices for public bodies
- Requires the Public Appointments Secretariat to develop outreach strategies to make public appointment opportunities widely available and to proactively solicit applications from systemically disadvantaged groups
- Public sector employees, particularly frontline workers who will receive annual anti-racism training
- Students, teachers, education workers, administrators, and families in Ontario schools
- Members of racialized groups, including Muslims, Black Canadians, Indigenous peoples, Asian Canadians, and others experiencing racism or discrimination
- Registered political parties in Ontario operating under the Election Finances Act
- Individuals filing human rights complaints, who now have five years instead of one year to file
- Non-profit organizations operating in Ontario that must ensure their purposes do not include promoting hatred
- Members of the public visiting Ontario's legislative precinct
- Organizers of demonstrations, rallies, and other activities on legislative grounds
- Attendees and staff at religious institutions (temples, mosques, synagogues, churches, etc.)
- Members of systemically disadvantaged groups seeking appointments to public bodies
- The Ontario Anti-Racism Advisory and Advocacy Council members
- District school boards and their staff responsible for implementing anti-racism strategies
- District school boards must develop and maintain anti-racism strategies based on collected data and establish anti-racism advisory committees (Education Act, Schedule 2)
- School board members are required to complete anti-racism training at least once per term (Education Act, Schedule 2, section 327)
- District school boards must establish clear complaint mechanisms for students, teachers, education workers, staff, and family members to report discrimination, racism, or bigotry (Education Act, Schedule 2, section 326)
- The Minister of Education must develop and maintain a provincial anti-racism strategy and a provincial anti-Islamophobia strategy for schools (Education Act, Schedule 2, sections 323-324)
- The Minister of Education must review curriculum within three months of Royal Assent to identify and address negative portrayals of racialized groups and Muslims (Education Act, Schedule 2, section 325)
- Public sector frontline workers must receive annual anti-racism training (Anti-Racism Act, 2017, Schedule 1, section 2(4)(b))
- The Minister must conduct annual surveys of Ontario residents about their experiences of racial inequity and systemic racism (Anti-Racism Act, 2017, Schedule 1, section 2.1)
- Individuals filing human rights complaints now have five years (instead of one year) to submit applications to the Human Rights Tribunal (Human Rights Code, Schedule 4)
- The Public Appointments Secretariat must ensure recruitment and appointment practices are transparent, bias-free, and barrier-free (Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006, Schedule 7, section 31.2)
- The Public Appointments Secretariat must develop outreach strategies and proactively solicit applications from systemically disadvantaged groups (Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006, Schedule 7, section 31.2)
- No person may intimidate others within 50 metres of a religious institution through disturbances, hate propaganda, threats, or protests furthering white supremacist objectives (Safe Zones Around Religious Institutions Act, 2022, Schedule 9, section 1)
- Most provisions come into force on the day the Our London Family Act receives Royal Assent (Schedules 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- Schedule 1 (amendments to the Anti-Racism Act, 2017) comes into force six months after Royal Assent
- The Attorney General must complete the review of hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents and report to the Assembly within one year after Royal Assent (Review of Hate Crimes and Hate-Motivated Incidents Act, 2022, Schedule 8, section 3)
- The Minister of Education must review the curriculum within three months after Royal Assent to identify negative portrayals of racialized groups and Muslims (Education Act, Schedule 2, section 325)
- The requirements for allocating resources to train teachers, education workers, administrators, and staff on anti-Islamophobia do not apply unless the Legislature appropriates money for these purposes (Education Act, Schedule 2, section 324(3))
- Fines of up to $25,000 for violating the safe zones prohibition around religious institutions (Safe Zones Around Religious Institutions Act, 2022, Schedule 9, section 2)
- Violations of the safe zones around religious institutions prohibition result in guilt for an offence with fines of not more than $25,000 (Safe Zones Around Religious Institutions Act, 2022, Schedule 9, section 2)
- The Superior Court of Justice may grant an injunction to prevent violations of the safe zones prohibition on application by any person, including the Attorney General (Safe Zones Around Religious Institutions Act, 2022, Schedule 9, section 4)
- Political parties deregistered by the Chief Electoral Officer under amended Election Finances Act provisions may appeal to the Superior Court of Justice within 30 days (Election Finances Act, Schedule 3, section 1(2))
- The bill does not specify how the Ontario Anti-Racism Advisory and Advocacy Council will be funded or what resources will be allocated to it
- The effectiveness of anti-racism training for public sector workers is not measured or defined in the bill
- The bill refers to systemic discrimination and systemic racism but does not define these terms explicitly in the legislative text
- The definition of 'identifiable group' is not provided in the bill itself and appears to rely on interpretation
- The specific content and scope of the provincial anti-racism strategy and anti-Islamophobia strategy are not detailed in the legislation
- The bill does not specify penalties or enforcement mechanisms for school boards that fail to comply with curriculum or anti-racism strategy requirements
- The criteria the Speaker will use to determine whether a demonstration is 'likely to promote hatred' are not specified in the Legislative Assembly Act amendment
- The bill states that peaceful protests and demonstrations, including critiques of religion, are not prevented by the Safe Zones Act, but does not define the boundary between peaceful and non-peaceful conduct
- The Attorney General's review of hate crimes may propose legislation, but this is not mandatory, and specific steps to reduce hate crimes are not predetermined
- The bill does not specify what constitutes 'good faith' for purposes of the Human Rights Tribunal's extension of application deadlines
The government's anti-racism initiatives must now include annual anti-racism training for frontline public sector workers. A new Ontario Anti-Racism Advisory and Advocacy Council is created to advocate for racialized groups and advise government. The Minister must conduct annual surveys of Ontario residents about their experiences of racial inequity.
Source: Schedule 1, sections 1-4
A new Part XIII.2 is added requiring district school boards to develop anti-racism strategies based on data, schools to gather data on racialized students' experiences, complaint mechanisms for discrimination to be established, and school board members to complete anti-racism training at least once per term. The Minister must develop a provincial anti-Islamophobia strategy and ensure curriculum contains identity-affirming resources.
Source: Schedule 2, sections 322-327
The Chief Electoral Officer may deregister a registered political party if it engages in conduct that would constitute public incitement of hatred or wilful promotion of hatred under federal criminal law. A party can appeal this decision to Superior Court within 30 days.
Source: Schedule 3, section 1
The deadline for filing a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal increases from one year to five years. The Tribunal may allow late applications if the delay was in good faith and causes no substantial prejudice, or if circumstances reasonably prevented timely application.
Source: Schedule 4, section 1
A new section prohibits demonstrations, rallies, or other activities within the legislative precinct if the Speaker believes they would promote hatred against any identifiable group. This explicitly applies to white supremacist groups using violence, threats, or intimidation.
Source: Schedule 5, section 1
Non-profit organizations cannot have purposes that include conduct constituting public incitement of hatred or wilful promotion of hatred under federal criminal law.
Source: Schedule 6, section 1
A new Part II.1 is added requiring the Public Appointments Secretariat to ensure recruitment and appointment to public bodies are transparent, bias-free, and barrier-free. The Secretariat must develop outreach strategies to inform systemically disadvantaged groups about public appointment opportunities and actively solicit their applications.
Source: Schedule 7, sections 31.1-31.3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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