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Human Rights Services

The Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion’s (OVPECI) Human Rights Services promotes an equitable and inclusive environment free from discrimination and harassment for all members of the TMU community. They also provide proactive consultations and advice to all TMU community members on human rights issues at the university.

Supports and Resources

Human Rights Policies

TMU’s human rights policies outline how the university and all community members have a shared responsibility to promote equity and protect the human rights of all students, faculty, and staff at the university: 

Duty to Accommodate

Students are entitled to academic accommodations on a range of human rights grounds, and faculty and contract lecturers play a crucial role in providing necessary accommodations. These accommodations are vital for creating an environment where all students have equitable access to learning opportunities at TMU.

Human Rights Services provides proactive consultations and advice to inform the exploration of human rights accommodation needs and options for students, faculty, and staff, as required by the Discrimination and Harassment Policy. The most common protected grounds for academic accommodation requests are:

  • Disability 
  • Creed (religious and cultural observances)
  • Sex and pregnancy
  • Family status 
  • Gender identity and gender expression

Educational Sessions, Training & Tools

Educational sessions provide an overview of key human rights-related concepts and their application within the TMU context. The topics can be tailored to the needs of the audience and the length of the session can be adjusted from 30 to 90 minutes. Examples of common educational sessions include:

  • Introduction to Human Rights and Relevant TMU Policies
  • Human Rights Live Online: How human rights apply in TMU online environments
  • Human Rights and the Duty to Accommodate

To book a session:

Educational Sessions as Accountability

Human Rights Services also provides educational sessions on discrimination, harassment, and sexual violence for community members who have been alleged or found to have caused harm in breach of TMU human rights policies. These sessions can be initiated as an accountability measure as part of a complaint resolution process under the policies.

Complaint Resolution Services

Human Rights Services administers free and confidential complaint resolution services for students, faculty, and staff under the Discrimination and Harassment Policy and the Sexual Violence Policy.

We can guide you through the process for filing and resolving a complaint. We offer:

  • information about the options available to address human rights concerns 
  • an alternative resolution when parties involved agree that an alternate resolution is possible and preferable to an investigation
  • investigation of complaints where appropriate

We also provide referrals to appropriate services and resources at the university, including when a matter does not fall within the jurisdiction of our office and/or policies.

Human Rights Online

Information on how policies can be followed when engaging with the TMU community online.

Religious and Cultural Observances

TMU is committed to respecting the religious, cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices of all members of the university community, including respecting and accommodating the right to participate in religious and cultural observances. The university’s Religious, Indigenous and Spiritual Observance Policy (Policy 150) requires faculty and contract lecturers to provide academic accommodations to students to the greatest extent possible.

If a student is requesting accommodation due to a religious, Indigenous and/or spiritual observance, they must submit their complete request form via the online Academic Consideration Request (ACR) system within the first two weeks of the class or, for a final examination, within two weeks of the posting of the examination schedule. If the required absence occurs within the first two weeks of classes, or the dates are not known well in advance as they are linked to other conditions, these requests should be submitted with as much lead time as possible in advance of the required absence.

Instructors will respond to written accommodation requests in writing within five (5) business days of receiving the request.

Human Rights Services offers annual calendars of religious, Indigenous and spiritual observances as a tool to assist the TMU community in planning course schedules and activities. The lists are not exhaustive and are frequently updated as members of the community identify observances to Human Rights Services.

For more information, please visit the Religious, Indigenous and Spiritual Observances page.