Toronto - City Council has approved two organizations and nine individuals to be recipients of the City’s 2007 Access, Equity and Human Rights Awards for their contribution to advancing human rights in Toronto.

The recipients are:

Aboriginal Affairs Award - Elder Vern Harper

Access Award for Disability Issues - Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre

Constance E. Hamilton Award on the Status of Women - June Larkin, Helen Liu and Beverley Wybrow

Pride Award for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Two Spirited Issues - Rupert Raj, Deb Parent and Central Toronto Youth Services

William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations - Afua Cooper, Anne Gloger, and Kevin Lee

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Human Rights Day - Monday, December 10 at City Hall. The Awards ceremony will be hosted by Merella Fernandez, weekend anchor, “CityNews Weekend” and reporter, “CityNews.”

Information about the award categories, and previous award winners can be found on the website at http://www.toronto.ca/civicawards. For multilingual services, call Access Toronto at 416-338-0338 and for TTY service call 416-338-0889.