The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) obviously doesn’t have enough real cases of human rights violations to investigate, so they’re looking to create some new ones.

In a posting on the OHRC website, they’ve created a survey that’s part of a “broader consultation process” into mental health issues.

The questions are aimed at learning how discrimination because of a person’s mental health issue or addiction may affect their ability to find and keep a job, get an apartment or connect with education and health-related services.

This is a very dangerous road, and will actually cause the very thing the OHRC claim to want to stop.

”Mental health is a priority for the OHRC,” said Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall. “There are many ways we will add our voice to advancing rights for people living with mental health and addiction issues; the first step is to open this dialogue with the people who know first-hand the lived realities of mental health challenges.”

Are mental health issues, or drug and alcohol addiction serious problems?  Absolutely.  Do they cause people to lose their jobs, or not get hired in the first place?  Absolutely.

Does that make it a human rights violation?  Not for a second.  There is no “right to employment”, and nor should there be one.

An employer has every right to fire someone who has an addiction or mental health problem. They also have every right not to hire someone in the same state.  Their primary duty is to the company, after all.  Exactly as it should be.

They cause extra workload for other employees and management, they don’t show up for work when they ought to, and while they’re on site, don’t do the work they should.  The cold hard reality is that some people with mental health or addictions make really bad employees.  And they should be fired.

That’s not a human rights violation, it’s taking care of the fiduciary duty the employer has to their company.

But not according to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.  In their eyes it’s better to put companies out of business, than to fire someone who’s not employable because of addiction or mental health problems.

That’s ridiculous.  Absurd even.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission clearly needs to be stopped.

As one blogger’s headline read, “Ontario Human Rights Commission investigating whether to make crackheads and alcoholics a protected category.”

If the morons at OHRC have their way, the answer will be a resounding YES!