Canada called on the carpet
UN update: When it comes to human rights, there’s plenty of room for improvement
There are enough expressions of “regret” and “concern” in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights’ 10-year update on Canada to merit some serious consideration on the inequities faced by indigenous peoples, women, immigrants and prisoners.
It also has some surprisingly blunt things to say about Canadian mining companies operating overseas.
Canada is home to 75 per cent of the world’s largest oil, gas and mining companies, many of which operate in countries where human rights’ legislation and protections are lax or non-existent. Some have been accused of human rights violations against employees, who then have no access to remedies.
The Canadian government told the committee it is unable to regulate the actions of citizens or corporations beyond its borders even though it recently amended the Criminal Code so Canadians who sexually exploit children abroad can be prosecuted at home.
The committee acknowledged the government’s position but said the existing mechanisms aren’t good enough and recommended an independent body with the power to investigate beyond Canadian borders and a legal framework allowing victims to seek legal redress.
The UN committee’s assessment or recommendations regarding indigenous peoples offers nothing new, coming as it does only a few months after the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Still, it highlights once again the deplorable living conditions of many aboriginal people as well as the tragedy of the missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls.
Like the reports earlier this year on Canada’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and by the inter-American Commission on Human Rights, this report recommends a national inquiry into the murdered and missing women.
It also recommended Canada fully apply the 2011 Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act and remove the lasting discriminatory effects caused when women were prevented from transmitting Indian status to their children as men were.
It’s not a simple proposition. It requires extending Indian status to thousands of children and adults whose status was lost under the old regulations when aboriginal women married nonaboriginal men. Aboriginal men who “married out” retained their status and passed it on to their children.
The committee concluded there are “persisting inequalities” affecting all women — a continuing gendered wage gap between men and women, inconsistent pay equity legislation across the country, under-representation in leadership positions in both the public and private sector and “the continued high prevalence of domestic violence.”
It noted a low level of reporting domestic abuse, ineffective investigation, prosecution and punishment of perpetrators and the shortage of shelters and services for abused women and children.
While these issues have festered, they are well known to Canadians. Others that are less familiar are the committee’s concerns about prisons (overcrowding, disciplinary segregation and insufficient medical support for inmates with serious mental illness) and about treatment of migrants and asylum seekers.
It noted the mandatory detention of migrants and asylum seekers for unlimited periods of time and the denial of hearings to those who come from countries the Canadian government deems “safe.”
Among the recommendations, the committee says detention should only be used as a last resort and only for a reasonable and set time period and that access to essential health care ought to be provided.
Canadians may disagree with outsiders’ perspectives. Canadians are rightly proud of the role Canada has played in promoting and enhancing human rights from work in the early days of the United Nations to an announcement Wednesday of an additional $8 million to support Canada’s ongoing campaign to end gender-based violence during armed conflict.
To many, Canada is still the best place in the world, as Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson’s spokesperson asserted in response to the UN report.
But there is value in seeing ourselves through others’ eyes because there is a need for improvement, particularly when it comes to aboriginal women and girls.
Canada has 12 months to report back on progress made on the committee’s recommendations. That response will provide citizens and the international community a measure of Canada’s commitment to equality and human rights.