Human Rights

On February 24, 2011 the Windsor Police Service (Service), Windsor Police Services Board (Board), Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), and Ontario Police College (OPC) launched a joint initiative to address policing and human rights issues. The four organizations have committed to implementing a shared Human Rights Project Charter that will run for a three year period. The main objective of the Human Rights Project (Project) is to develop and implement initiatives aimed at identifying, eliminating, and preventing any possible discrimination and racism in the Windsor Police Service’s employment practices and service delivery.

The Project will look at the Service’s existing policies and programs, and develop strategies that help the Service and the Board address human rights concerns. The Charter is modeled after a similar human rights project undertaken by the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Police Services Board, and Ontario Human Rights Commission that ran from 2007 to 2010.

Following the framework set out by the TPS a project team was developed by drawing on the expertise of all four partner organizations and of members of the Service from all levels, and ranks, including sworn and civilian personnel. There are currently 24 members of the Windsor Police Service assigned to the Project.

Human Rights Project Organizational Chart


Four subcommittees were formed to address the target change objectives, which are categorized into the following key areas:
• Recruitment, Selection, Promotion, & Retention
• Accommodation
• Accountability
• Public Liaison

Four groups were formed to provide support to the subcommittees and to carry out key functions related to the Project:
• Research
• Training
• Evaluation
• Project Communication

The Project is set to run from February 2011 to February 2014. The first year focused on increasing the Project members’ human rights knowledge base, and identifying and prioritizing human rights barriers in the four key areas. Strategies were identified to remove these barriers. The second year continued with developing and implementing the strategies. An interim evaluation of the progress of the Project will be conducted. The third year will continue with implementation and the final evaluation phase will begin.

For more information on the Windsor Police Service Human Rights Project please contact:

519-255-6700 Ext 4425

wps_human_rights@windsorpolice.ca