What constitutes a bona fide restriction in an insurance contract under the Ontario Human Rights Code?

A bona fide restriction in an insurance contract refers to certain characteristics or criteria that allow an insurance company to justify limiting coverage or access based on legitimate and measurable factors. Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, legitimate grounds for such restrictions can include age, sex, marital status, or handicap. These factors are often associated with increased risk for insurers, and therefore, they may place conditions on their policies to manage that risk.

The rationale behind recognizing these characteristics as bona fide restrictions is that they must be grounded in factual data and objective criteria rather than stereotypes or assumptions about certain groups. In the case of insurance contracts, this means that if an insurer uses these characteristics to differentiate coverage or pricing, it must be based on actual statistical evidence or risk assessments that connect those factors to increased risk.

While geographic location and professional certifications can also be relevant factors in certain contexts, they do not directly relate to the personal characteristics protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code in the same way that age, sex, marital status, and handicap do. Credibility in the industry, on the other hand, refers more to a person's reputation or track record and does not fit the legislative framework regarding discrimination or bona fide restrictions in the context of personal characteristics.