Digitization of the HRTO Board of Inquiry Decisions (1962 - 2002)

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) Board of Inquiry’s Decisions from 1962 through 2002 were digitized by the University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) in partnership with the University of Guelph, University of Windsor, York University and Internet Archive Canada in 2013.

Prior to being digitized, this unique paper collection was housed at the Ontario Workplace Tribunal Library (OWTL) in the form of loose-leaf materials within binders. It was not available anywhere else in either print or digital format. Access to this collection was therefore very limited and resources were not available to preserve this at-risk material. In 2013, UTL partnered with OWTL to create metadata for all 734 Decisions and have them digitized and preserved by the Internet Archive. The collection, now housed in the Internet Archive’s Canadian Government Publications Portal, is freely accessible to the public, discoverable by individual case and full-text searchable.

This collection is an invaluable source of information for Ontario citizens, legal practitioners, students and researchers interested in the study of discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, sex and disability.

Sam-chin Li, Government Information Librarian, UTL coordinated the digitization project with contributions from Heather Buchansky, Mary Gu, Jesse Carliner and Margaret Wall, of UTL. Martha Murphy (OWTL), Simone O’Byrne (Ontario Government Libraries Council) and Andrea Mills (Internet Archive Canada) were also heavily involved with the project.