Hunger strike protest against human rights discrimination

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a Canadian citizen who immigrated in Canada together with my wife and daughter ten years
ago. We lived under Ceausescu's communist dictatorship and we came here with a great hope for
our daughter's better life and future, but this is not the life that we expected to have here.

When Harris government came to power in 1995, I was an immigrant on welfare attending an
employment placement at the Ministry of Environment. Although the scope of the placement was for
employment, I received a very successful assessment and I signed an agreement for one of four
available positions, they hired other person and I was directed to an immigration agency to find a job.
In addition, I was a 50-year-old immigrant on social assistance, and that placement was designed to
help me get off welfare. Ironically, after two years, Harris government pretended that it has created
the workfare program for helping people on welfare get jobs!

In a few words, it's about a very clear human rights discrimination in employment against the grounds
of ethnic origin, place of origin, citizenship, age, and receipt of public assistance. I was trying to
resolve my case complaining to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and Ombudsman, but
without success so far. Practically, the Human Rights Commission made a very flawed investigation
that covered up the government's discriminatory policy. Right now, my file is at the Ombudsman
office, but this office is still refusing to make an investigation about the Human Rights Commission's
flawed decision although I complained many times so far. This is an obstruction of justice.

That discrimination ruined my profession, our family life, and the future of our daughter. Due to our
on-going difficult problems, our daughter quitted the high school more than three years ago. Now,
she is isolated and is struggling with a strong depression. In addition, instead of resolving my case,
they cancelled our assistance, too, and I am counted now among those 600,000 welfare recipients
who found jobs through workfare. Unfortunately, we could become homeless very soon. I hope you
would be touched by the pain and troubles our family has endured under Harris government and
would support my case and contact the Ombudsman in order to invest Commission's decision that has been contrary to the law, unjust, oppressive

The Ontario Ombudsman can be contacted at:
Mr. Clare Lewis, Q.C., Ombudsman
125 Queen's Park \par Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C7
Tel: 1-800-263-1830, Fax: 416-586-3485, E-mail: info@ombudsman.on.ca
Enough is enough! I have started a protest of hunger strike on April 28, 2003. For more information
regarding my case, please visit my Home Page at: http://home.ica.net/~imoraru/. I stand up for my
rights because I strongly believe that this kind of discrimination must not be tolerated in a country
like Canada. If you are a born-here Canadian, you should know that your parents or ancestors were
immigrants, too. If your parents, or your ancestors, would have been treated like Harris government
treated me you would not have been as you are today. I believe, therefore, that my daughter deserves
a better future in this country. It's respect for human dignity and human rights. Justice must be done!

Thank you so much,
Ioan Moraru, Toronto, E-mail: ionmoraru@ica.net

P.S. Your support would be good enough if you could fax this letter of protest to the Ombudsman office at: 416-586-3485, including your name and your address or phone number. Thank you very much.