Bill 89 explained in plain English
Protecting Ontario's Religious Diversity Act, 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 89 amends Ontario's Human Rights Code to add "religious expression" as a protected ground against discrimination in services, accommodation, employment, contracting, and professional associations.
Bill 89 changes Ontario's Human Rights Code to protect people from discrimination based on their religious expression. The bill adds "religious expression" alongside existing grounds like "creed" in six key areas: when accessing services, goods, and facilities; when seeking accommodation; when entering contracts; when applying for jobs or being treated at work; and when joining or participating in trade unions, professional associations, and self-governing professions. The changes came into force immediately when the bill received Royal Assent.
- Adds 'religious expression' as a protected ground in Ontario's Human Rights Code
- Extends protection against discrimination based on religious expression to services, goods, and facilities
- Extends protection against discrimination based on religious expression to accommodation
- Extends protection against discrimination based on religious expression to contracting and commercial transactions
- Extends protection against discrimination based on religious expression to employment
- Extends protection against discrimination based on religious expression to trade unions, trades, occupational associations, and self-governing professions
- Makes the amendments effective immediately upon Royal Assent
- All people in Ontario who express their religion in any form
- Businesses and service providers offering services, goods, and facilities
- Landlords and property managers providing accommodation
- Employers in Ontario
- Parties to contracts in Ontario
- Trade unions, trades, occupational associations, and self-governing professions in Ontario
- The Ontario Human Rights Commission and related enforcement bodies
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (effective immediately upon passage)
- The bill text does not define what 'religious expression' means, leaving interpretation to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and courts
- The bill does not clarify whether 'religious expression' overlaps with or replaces the existing 'creed' protection, or how the two grounds interact
- The bill does not specify what accommodations employers or service providers must make for religious expression
- The bill does not address whether religious expression protections can be limited by other rights or freedoms
- The bill does not provide guidance on what constitutes discrimination based on religious expression versus other grounds
- The specific provisions of the Human Rights Code that are amended are referenced only by section number; the full text of those provisions is not included in the bill
Services, goods and facilities: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection, meaning people cannot be denied access to services, goods, or facilities based on how they express their religion.
Source: Section 1 of Bill 89
Accommodation: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection, meaning people cannot be denied housing or other accommodation based on how they express their religion.
Source: Section 2(1) of Bill 89
Accommodation: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection in a second provision relating to accommodation.
Source: Section 2(2) of Bill 89
Contracting: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection, meaning people cannot be denied entry into contracts based on how they express their religion.
Source: Section 3 of Bill 89
Employment: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection, meaning employers cannot discriminate in hiring, promotion, or other employment decisions based on how a person expresses their religion.
Source: Section 4(1) of Bill 89
Employment: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection in a second employment-related provision.
Source: Section 4(2) of Bill 89
Professional associations and unions: Adds 'religious expression' to the grounds of discrimination protection, meaning trade unions, occupational associations, and self-governing professions cannot discriminate based on how a person expresses their religion.
Source: Section 5 of Bill 89
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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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced