International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: For this year’s IDERD, the Office of Human Rights and Equity is partnering with the Teaching Commons to offer an interactive workshop for faculty members and contract lecturers on how to have challenging conversations in the classroom. Learn more about the workshop series and the upcoming OHRE initiatives.

The Office of Human Rights and Equity ("OHRE") promotes and protects the human rights of students, faculty, and staff at Lakehead University by building and fostering an equitable, diverse, and inclusive university community.

The Office of Human Rights and Equity oversees the implementation of Lakehead University's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Plan, titled Accessing Excellence Together.

We are an arms-length office of Lakehead University that provides private and confidential services to students, faculty members, and staff members as follows:

Information and Consultation

If you are a student, faculty member, or staff member and have questions about your rights, duties, or obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code, or you represent a faculty or department, we provide private and confidential information and consultation on human rights-related matters.

For more information, please see Contact Us section below.

Complaint Investigation and Resolution

If you are a student, faculty member, or staff member and have experienced an incident of discrimination or sexual and gender-based violence, we investigate and resolve complaints under Lakehead University's Harassment and Discrimination Policy and Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response Policy.

For more information, please see Contact Us section below.

Education and Outreach

If you represent a student group, faculty, or department and want a workshop on subjects such as equity, diversity, and inclusion, human rights, or sexual and gender-based violence, we provide in-person and online trainings for students, faculty members, and staff members.

For more information, please contact our Training & Development Advisor, Ayesha Sajid, at asajid@lakeheadu.ca.  

Research and Policy Development

If you represent a faculty or department and want to review or revise a policy, procedure, or practice for equity, diversity, and inclusion principles, or you want to engage in research on human rights or EDI, we provide research and policy development services for academic and non-academic units. 

For more information, please contact our Policy Advisor, George Drazenovich, at gadrazen@lakeheadu.ca.

Contact Us

The Office of Human Rights and Equity is open Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and is located on the 5th floor of the Chancellor Paterson Library (Room 5012) on the Thunder Bay campus.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Human Rights and Equity is providing services online. To contact us, you can:

Book an appointment with one of our team members as follows:

For human rights and discrimination-related matters, contact (807) 346-7763 or humanrights@lakeheadu.ca

For sexual and gender-based violence-related matters, contact (807) 346-7785 or svcoordinator@lakeheadu.ca

For Jonathan:
Join our zoom waiting room for a meeting
Click here

Human Rights and Discrimination-related Matters

You will connect with our Intake & Administration Officer, Jonathan Erua:

Mondays 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Wednesdays 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Zoom meeting ID: 994 0633 2044 Passcode: 270266)

Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Harassment-related Matters:

You will connect with our Sexual and Gender-based Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator:

Tuesdays 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Thursdays 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Zoom meeting ID: 964 4600 9337 Passcode: 363205)

NOTE: When you click on the Zoom link, you will be placed in the waiting room. Please wait to be admitted. For the purposes of privacy and confidentiality, only one person at a time will be admitted. Meetings will not be recorded.