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Muslim Woman Appointed to Ontario Human Rights Commission

ONTARIO โ€“ Rabia Khedr, the founder of the Canadian Association of Muslims with Disabilities (CAM-D) and a community activist, has been appointed a commissioner on the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

โ€œI truly believe in the fact that we have a responsibility to ensure rights for everyone around us,โ€ said Khedr, Iqra.ca reported on Monday, October 3.

โ€œItโ€™s not just about me exercising my rights; itโ€™s about me ensuring that my neighbour, my friend, my colleague or the stranger on the street has their rights ensured, too.โ€

Ontario announced the appointment of five new part-time commissioners to the Ontario Human Rights Commission last Friday.

Commissioner Rabia Khedr is a dedicated volunteer and advocate for diverse communities, women and individuals with disabilities.

She is a human rights consultant with diversityworX, founder of the Canadian Association of Muslims with Disabilities and a member of the Mississauga Accessibility Advisory Committee, which she chaired for eight years.

Khedr has also been on the board of directors for the Ontario Womenโ€™s Health Network and a member of the Region of Peel Accessibility Advisory Committee.

โ€œThe world calls Ontario home and Canada home,โ€ she said.

โ€œItโ€™s important that we be proactive to identify and remedy competing interests and continue to educate and raise awareness around our individual civic responsibility to ensure rights.โ€

The Ontario Human Rights Commission was established in 1961 to administer the Ontario Human Rights Code. Its mandate includes developing public policy on human rights, conducting public inquiries and promoting a culture of human rights in the province.

The Commission is one part of Ontarioโ€™s system for human rights, alongside the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC).

The body is an armโ€™s length agency of government accountable to the people of Ontario through the legislature.

There is a full-time Chief Commissioner and a varying number of part-time Commissioners, appointed by Order-in-Council.

Other part-time Commissioners recently appointed included, Karen Drake, Kwame McKenzie, Bruce Porter, and Maurice Switzer.

โ€œIโ€™m a big believer in our multicultural reality as a nation,โ€ said Rabia Khedr.

โ€œI am a big believer in engaging all communities to address any social issues.โ€

โ€œI really feel strongly that we have to be cutting-edge when it comes to human rights, to lead the discourse; that itโ€™s really important, given the changing demographics that we have in our communities and our society, with the constant immigration and population growth.โ€