Media Releases

Human rights, religion and the law

January 5, 2012

TORONTO, ON – The wear­ing of face cov­er­ings, the ques­tion of whether “Good Fri­day” at East­er should still be a statu­to­ry hol­i­day, and prayers in the school cafe­te­ria over the lunch hour are all ques­tions of reli­gious accom­mo­da­tion in civ­il soci­ety. Begin­ning Jan­u­ary 11, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to and the Ontario Human Rights Com­mis­sion are facil­i­tat­ing a two-day pol­i­cy con­sul­ta­tion on reli­gion and the law. The pub­lic is invit­ed to join the con­ver­sa­tion to explore the bound­aries of reli­gious expres­sion and prac­tice in the pub­lic sphere:

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT:          Human Rights, Reli­gion and the Law (Open­ing ses­sion)

WHEN:          Wednes­day, Jan­u­ary 11, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

WHO:             Bar­bara Hall, Chief Com­mis­sion­er of the Ontario Human Rights Com­mis­sion

Pamela Klassen, Direc­tor of the Reli­gion in the Pub­lic Sphere pro­gram, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to

Win­nifred Sul­li­van, Direc­tor of the Law, Reli­gion, and Cul­ture, State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York

David Sel­jak, Chair of the Depart­ment of Reli­gious Stud­ies, Uni­ver­si­ty of Water­loo

WHERE:       U of T Mul­ti-Faith Cen­tre, 569 Spad­i­na Ave TO, ON M5S 2J7

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WHAT:    Human Rights and Wrongs: Reli­gion and Creed in the Pub­lic Sphere

WHEN:   Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 13, 2012, 1:30 pm

WHO:     Richard Moon, Fac­ul­ty of Law, Uni­ver­si­ty of Wind­sor, past Pres­i­dent of the Cana­di­an Law Soci­ety Asso­ci­a­tion. Iain Ben­son, Senior Asso­ciate Coun­sel with the Lit­i­ga­tionn

Prac­tice Group and Senior Research Fel­low with the Chester Ron­ning Cen­tre for the Study of Reli­gion and Pub­lic Life, Uni­ver­si­ty of Alber­ta.

WHERE:       U of T Mul­ti-Faith Cen­tre, 569 Spad­i­na Ave TO, ON M5S 2J7

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Prof. Pamela Klassen at p.klassen@utoronto.ca or Richard Cham­bers at 416–946-3119 or at richard.chambers@utoronto.ca