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International Women’s Day: Reflecting on Human Trafficking in Canada: A Distressing Reality

By Andreina Minicozzi

March 8 is International Women’s Day, first recognized in August 1910 at the International Women’s Conference in Denmark. It was proposed by German socialists, Luise Zeits and Clara Zetkin, who sought to acknowledge women workers in America and Europe.[1] The objective of this annual event was to combat violence against vulnerable women and children and to recognize women’s struggles by forming alliances among them both domestically and internationally.[2] Today, International Women’s Day not only celebrates the actions of women throughout history, but also acts as a time of reflection.

In 2016, we must reflect in particular on the impact that human trafficking has on women. Human trafficking is a growing and significant international problem, especially in Canada. Toronto is the “common destination” for human trafficking in Ontario and a “hub for human trafficking routes.”[3] According to a study released by the Alliance Against Modern Slavery, 551 cases involved Ontario as the destination or “transit point” from 2011 to 2013. Other equally alarming highlights from the report are as follows:

  • 62.9% of victims trafficked to, through, or from Ontario were Canadian citizens;
  • 90% of these individuals were female; and
  • 63% of trafficked person were between the ages of 15-24.[4]

In 2010, 71 percent of reported human trafficking cases in Canada were related to sex trafficking and 63 percent of these victims were Canadian citizens.[5] Toronto police have advised that approximately 20 percent of victims of sex trafficking are Indigenous women, suggesting that this may be connected to their high rates of disappearance and death.[6]

While countries like Sweden and Belgium have been proactively combating and prosecuting human trafficking for decades,[7] Canada’s response has been “lethargic.”[8] Human trafficking was only registered as an offence in the Criminal Code in 2005.[9] Nevertheless, Canada has been working to improve, signing onto several international treaties[10] and instituting legislative reform.[11] In addition, in 2012, the government articulated a “4-P” action plan to combat human trafficking, consisting of Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Partnership. This federal anti-trafficking strategy coordinated with that of the provinces.[12] However, what is still missing is protection for survivors.

In recent years, Canada’s approach to human trafficking has focused on prosecuting the perpetrators. According to the RCMP, as of January 2015, 85 convictions were secured in cases of human trafficking, resulting in 151 individuals being convicted of human trafficking-related offences.[13] What Canada needs now is an action plan aimed at assisting survivors with housing, counselling, and financial support, as well as comprehensive training for law enforcement and the public.

Human trafficking is a form of slave labour.[14] It is not only illegal, but violates human dignity. If the Canadian government is to commit to helping victims of human trafficking, it must adopt a more holistic approach to combat human trafficking. The first step is to create an action plan that not only punishes the perpetrators, but, more importantly, provides support services to survivors recovering from their fear and trauma. Premier Kathleen Wynne has acknowledged that Ontario has fallen behind in the fight against human trafficking and needs more coordination of information and support for victims.[15] In the words of Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins: “This is a Toronto problem, an Ontario problem and a Canada problem. Everyone thinks it’s not happening here, but it is.”[16] The Ontario government is expected to launch a comprehensive action plan to combat human trafficking in June, 2016. Hopefully this action plan will revise legislation, fund service centers providing survivors with shelter, psychological, legal, medical and social assistance, provide educational services to law enforcement and the public, and provide greater funding for ongoing analysis and research across Canada. This International Women’s Day, let us remember those women who survive the indignities of human trafficking by advocating for their support.

[1] T Kaplan, “On the Socialist Origins of International Women’s Day” (1985) 11:1 Feminist Studies.

[2] United Nations Women Watch, History of International Women’s Day (2015), online: <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/history.html>.

[3] CBC News, Toronto a ‘Hub’ for Human Trafficking: Report Says (14 June 2014), online: <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-a-hub-for-human-trafficking-report-says-1.2675941>.

[4] Alliance Against Modern Slavery, The Incident of Human Trafficking in Ontario (2014) at 7, online: <http://www.allianceagainstmodernslavery.org/sites/default/files/AAMS+-+Research+Report+-+2014.compressed.pdf> [Alliance Against Modern Slavery].

[5] Ibid at 9.

[6] K Blaze & T Grant, “Ontario Government to Unveil Strategy to Tackle Human Trafficking” The Globe and Mail (12 February 2016), online: <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-government-to-unveil-strategy-to-tackle-human-trafficking/article28740329/>.

[7] See Belgium and Sweden as leaders for combatting human trafficking: Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR) Belgium, Trafficking and Smuggling of Human Beings: Preface & Part I: An Integral evaluation of Policy in the fight against trafficking in human beings, report 2007 (2008); A Gould, “The Criminalization of Buying Sex: The Politics of Prostitution in Sweden” (2001) 30:03 Journal of Social Policy.

[8]  B Perrin, Invisible Chains: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking (Toronto: Viking Canada, 2010) at xi [Perrin, “Invisible Chains”].

[9] Perrin, “Invisible Chains”, supra note 7 at xi; Bill C-49: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Trafficking in Persons, online: <http://www.lop.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?ls=C49&Parl=38&Ses=1>.

[10] Notably the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (www.un.org).

[11] Such as: (a) Bill C-49: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Trafficking in Persons), which came into force in 2005 creating human trafficking as a crime; (b) Bill C-11: The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the IRPA), which came into force in 2001 defining human trafficking and smuggling as a distinct offence; (c) Bill S-223: The Victims of Human Trafficking Protection Act, which came into force in 2009 to amend the IRPA and include the victims in the definition of human trafficking (this amendment provides victims to stay in Canada for one hundred and eighty days with open access to health care services and counseling, but no other services are mentioned); and (d) Bill C-268: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code, which came into force in 2010 launching a mandatory five-year minimum sentence for those who are convicted of trafficking of persons.

[12] Public Safety Canada, National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking (2012), online: <https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-ctn-pln-cmbt/index-eng.aspx#toc-02>.

[13] Royal Canadian Mountain Police, Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre (2015), online: <http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ht-tp/index-eng.htm>.

[14] A Agathangelou, The Global Political Economy of Sex: Desire, Violence and Insecurity in Mediterranean Nation States (New York: Palgrave/MacMillan, 2006) at 42-43.

[15] Queen’s Park, “Ontario in ‘Drastic Need’ of Tackling Sex Trafficking, Wynne Says” The Star (14 December 2015), online: <http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/12/14/ontario-in-drastic-need-of-tackling-sex-trafficking-wynne-says.html>.

[16] Ibid.

By |March 4th, 2016|Blog|

Celebrating the Ten Year Anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect: Battling WWII Global Displacement Rates with an Emphasis on Implementation

By Heather Cohen

Tomorrow marks the celebration of the ten year anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). At the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly (PGA) will lead a thematic panel discussion from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. For those of you who will not be in New York, you can tune into the live webcast here.

The event brings together leaders and eminent experts involved in the creation, development, and implementation of the World Summit commitment. Panelists will reflect on the progress made to date, current and emerging challenges, and opportunities to accelerate implementation. Member States and observers will have the opportunity to ask questions and make brief comments from the floor.

From the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect:

The adoption of the responsibility to protect at the 2005 World Summit represented a significant step towards realizing the international community’s commitment to end the most horrific forms of violence and persecution. Member States affirmed their primary responsibility to protect their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and accepted a collective responsibility to assist each other in fulfilling this responsibility. They also declared their preparedness to take timely and decisive action, in accordance with the United Nations Charter and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, when national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from these four crimes and violations.

Significant progress has been made during the past decade in elaborating this commitment. The Secretary-General developed a framework for implementation based on three mutually reinforcing pillars, which provides guidance on how States can best protect their populations (Pillar I), assist and encourage each other to uphold their responsibility to protect (Pillar II), and work collectively to ensure timely and decisive response (Pillar III).

Member States have also devoted considerable attention to the responsibility to protect. Since 2009, the General Assembly has adopted a resolution, held a formal debate, and convened six annual informal interactive dialogues. The Security Council has adopted more than thirty resolutions and Presidential Statements that explicitly reference the responsibility to protect. This body has also held an Arria formula meeting on the responsibility to protect. The Human Rights Council has included the principle in fourteen resolutions, covering both thematic and country-specific topics. At the regional level, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has adopted a resolution on strengthening the responsibility to protect in Africa and the European Union has continuously supported the responsibility to protect and its operationalization.

This extensive consideration has contributed to the development of a consensus on core aspects of the responsibility to protect. Member States agree on the need to prioritize prevention, to utilize a full range of diplomatic, political, and humanitarian measures when addressing situations that feature the four crimes and violations, to consider military force only as a last resort, and to ensure that implementation of the responsibility to protect is in accordance with the United Nations Charter and other established principles of international law.

The past decade has also witnessed growing commitment to transforming the principle into practice. International engagement in cases like Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan successfully mitigated the risks of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, demonstrating that the collective weight of the international community can make a difference. The responsibility to protect has also spurred the development of new institutional capacity, including global, regional, and sub-regional mechanisms dedicated to the prevention of these crimes and violations. By the end of 2015, fifty one Member States and the European Union had appointed focal points for the responsibility to protect.

Despite this progress, urgent challenges remain. Acts that may constitute genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity are currently occurring in far too many crises. The world has also witnessed the alarming rise of non-State armed groups that seek to spread violent extremist ideologies and are brazenly perpetrating atrocity crimes. These situations have created protection challenges of a staggering scale and produced widespread humanitarian crises, including a global migration and refugee crisis. These challenges have also stretched the ability of the international community to generate timely and decisive collective responses. The initiative by France and Mexico on restraint on the use of the veto, the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) Group Code of Conduct, and similar proposals by the Elders have all encouraged Member States to refrain from taking action that either hinders or delays robust international responses to genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

In more general terms, not all Member States have become party to the international conventions that set out the legal framework for the prevention and punishment of the crimes specified by the responsibility to protect, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Secretary-General and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross have also recently drawn attention to an alarming decline in respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, particularly in situations where national authorities have argued that exceptional security threats or political crises justify temporary abrogation from their legal obligations.

Given the ongoing occurrence of these grave international crimes and in light of the progress made over the past decade, it is clear that the responsibility to protect remains a vital and enduring commitment. As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has noted, it “offers an alternative to indifference and fatalism” and represents a “milestone in transforming international concern about people facing mortal danger into meaningful response.” The challenge now facing the international community is both practical and political: how to best uphold its responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity by accelerating implementation.

Ten years since the universal adoption of R2P, it remains a vital and enduring commitment, but the next decade must be about moving from commitment to implementation. Partnerships for prevention will be key and CLAIHR is proud to be a member of the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect. In the words of the PGA, “[a]ll of us, at the United Nations and beyond, have responsibility to take greater steps to promote tolerance, human rights, and human dignity.”

By |February 25th, 2016|Blog|

The Mandated 3-Month Wait for OHIP Coverage

By Shalu Atwal

While the Canadian health care system is widely touted for its universality, three provinces – Ontario, Quebec[1] and British Columbia – do not allow landed immigrants[2] to access provincial health care coverage until three months after their arrival.[3] According to a piece published by the Toronto Star, entitled “Ontario urged to eliminate OHIP wait,” there are two main rationales behind this policy.[4] First, the policy operates as a cost-saving measure. The three-month wait has supposedly resulted in $90 million in savings per year for Ontario. Second, delaying access to federally-funded health care serves to discourage medical tourism. In other words, the three-month wait disincentivizes persons moving to Ontario for a brief period of time solely for the purpose of taking advantage of free medical services. Instead, the Ontario Government provides alternatives for landed immigrants, including advising immigrants to obtain private insurance before arriving to Canada.[5] The government also funds several Community Health Centres (CHC), which provide primary care free of charge.[6]

However, critics of the policy maintain that these alternatives are inadequate. Private insurance is often not purchased because it is incomprehensive (e.g. emergency-oriented rather than preventative) or too costly.[7] The CHCs also have their barriers; for instance, Scarborough’s only CHC reported a waiting list of 3,000 uninsured newcomers seeking to access health care.[8] Regarding the policy itself, critics argue that it is not only arbitrary (why not impose a two-month wait instead?), but also ineffective. The Ontario Medical Association (OMA), which publicly advocates for the elimination of the wait, stated in a review paper that any immediate savings gained by not providing insurance to newcomers were subsequently depleted.[9] Immigrants without health coverage often seek primary medical care at hospital emergency departments, an expensive and already overcrowded part of the health care system.[10] Moreover, the OMA found that immigrants tend to delay seeking care until the three-month period is over.[11] Not only can this compound costs, as illnesses can worsen over time, but it also poses a danger to the broader community from a public health perspective. A former president of the OMA, Dr. Mark MacLeod, stated: “whether a person has an infectious disease, an urgent health event, an accident, or a chronic illness, the best possible outcomes will be achieved when the person seeks medical care as quickly as possible.”[12]

Critics also argue that the mandated three-month wait for health care coverage violates the right to health.[13] A right to health is recognized by numerous international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, while Canada is a signatory to the Declaration, it is not, in itself, binding law in Canada. In fact, Canada has not yet recognized a legal right to health.[14]

Even so, opponents of the three-month wait for OHIP coverage emphasize that its removal is the “right thing to do.”[15] When New Brunswick eliminated the wait, the Health Minister, Mary Schryer, echoed this sentiment, stating:

“Removing the three-month waiting period is the right thing to do… Our government recognizes that removing this barrier will enhance access to health-care services for immigrants…”[16]

 

[1] There are exemptions to the three-month wait in Quebec for infectious and communicable diseases and women are provided care for pregnancy, domestic violence, or sexual assault.

[2] This wait also applies to former residents returning from abroad.

[3] Caulford, Paul and Jennifer D’Andrade. “Health care for Canada’s medically uninsured immigrants and refugees.” Canadian Family Physician. 2012. 58: 725.

[4] Keung, Nicholas. “Ontario Urged to Eliminate OHIP Wait | Toronto Star.” Thestar.com. Toronto Star, 3 Feb. 2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

[5] “OHIP Coverage Waiting Period.” Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

[6] “Community Health Centres.” Ontario. Government of Ontario, 9 Sept. 2015. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

[7] Elgersma, Sandra. “Immigration Status and Legal Entitlement to Insured Health Services.” Parliament of Canada. 2008. 7.Parliament of can not only compoitlement to Insured Health Services.”s oned: hese words: ruary 2012. , . This can not only compo

[8] Caulford, Paul and Jennifer D’Andrade 725.

[9] Ontario Medical Review. “Reviewing the OHIP Three-Month Wait.” 2011. 13.

[10] Ibid. 14.

[11] Ibid.

[12] “Three-Month Wait for OHIP.” Ontario Medical Association. 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

[13] “Right to Health Care Coalition.” Access Alliance. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

[14] “The Health of Canadians – The Federal Role: Final Report” Parliament of Canada.

[15] Goel, Ritika and Michaela Beder. “Welcome to Canada…but don’t get sick.” CMAJ. 2012. 184(1): E103.

[16] Ontario Medical Review 17.

By |February 9th, 2016|Blog, Uncategorized|

Municipal Challenges, Global Obligations: Urban Childhood Poverty and International Treaty Law

By Kevin Laforest

The intersection of the local with the global has found a new manifestation in Canada’s urban cores. Toronto, where this writer is based, was recently crowned Canada’s child poverty capital. The report released by Campaign 2000, indicated that 28.6% of children in Toronto are living in low-income households. This is down only slightly from 2014’s 29%, a startling 149,000 children. This is not to say this is exclusively Toronto’s, or even Ontario’s concern – urban and childhood poverty can be found across the country. And despite the sheer scope of this problem, Canadians everywhere will have to act quickly as the international spotlight is fast approaching.

This coming spring, the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, (CESCR) the body which oversees the implementation of the ICESCR, will be conducting a review of Canada. The last time the Committee visited was in 2006. Ratified by Canada on 19 May 1976, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is otablene of the ten core international human rights treaties.[1]

Toronto’s involvement with the ICESCR began in the mid-1990s when local services realignment saw municipalities in Ontario take on a number of new roles as social assistance providers – something that the provincial government had previously been in charge of. The scale of this project can be seen in the table 1, above.[2]

As the city’s social assistance provider for nearly 20 years, Toronto’s response to the current child poverty crisis, entitled TOProsperity, will target six areas of need: housing stability; access to services; transportation; food access; quality jobs and living wages and; institutional change. The intersection of the Committee’s visit and the City’s poverty reduction strategy proves a timely moment to reflect on these obligations, and the different strategies employed to meet them.

There is a tension in the emergence of municipalities as international actors. The Supreme Court in 1994’s Shell Canada Products Ltd. v City of Vancouver which concerned the City’s boycott of Shell’s products due to the latter’s business interests in apartheid South Africa, held that municipalities, “must be restricted to municipal purposes and cannot extend to include the imposition of a boycott based on matters external to the interests of the citizens of the municipality”[3]. The ratio in Shell Canada provides an interesting challenge for municipalities in the increasingly globalized world – global actors with a limited jurisdiction.

This emergence of municipalities onto the global stage provides opportunities for positive change, but remains shrouded in uncertainty. One the one hand, municipalities engaging with issues such as childhood poverty shows great potential for the creation and implementation of bespoke solutions to very local issues. On the other hand, as creatures of statute, cities are limited in the scope of the solutions they may implement. Given this challenge, there is the need for cooperation across provincial and federal and potentially international jurisdictions to engage with the diversity of issues which accompany poverty. This is precisely what international treaties envision.

Downloading the responsibility of urban poverty onto municipalities increases the risk that international treaties become a highly pluralistic regime, subject to localized interpretations of provisions. Nevertheless, TOProsperity and other municipally crafted anti-poverty strategies provide a much more accessible forum for lawyers and concerned citizens alike to ask that all levels of government recognize and respect Canada’s international obligations. TOProsperity, in its closing remarks, declares itself a movement, not a moment[4]. In which direction this movement is going, we have yet to find out.

[1] OHCHR Human Rights Bodies, online: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/HumanRightsBodies.aspx

[2] Andre Cote & Michael Fenn “Provincial-Municipal Relations in Ontario: Approaching an Inflection Point” (2014) 17 Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance, at 10.

[3] Shell Canada Products v Vancouver (City) [1994] 1 SCR 231 at para 101; [1994] 1 RCS 231, [Shell Canada].

[4] City of Toronto TOProsperity, online: City of Toronto <http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2015/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-81653.pdf>.

By |January 19th, 2016|Blog, Uncategorized|

Bringing the Right Home? Canada’s Domestic Recognition of the International Human Right to Adequate Housing

By Lauren Pinder

Tonight approximately 30,000 Canadians will spend the night homeless. 1 in 5 low-income Canadians spend more than 50% of their income on accommodation. Paradoxically, Canada has signed and ratified several international human rights treaties that identify the right to adequate housing as a fundamental human right. There is an inherent disconnect between recognition of the right to adequate housing and the persistence of homelessness and unaffordable housing in Canada.

In 2007, the UN Special Rapporteur of Adequate Housing visited Canada and published key findings and recommendations for the country. The report identified that a key obstacle in upholding the right in Canada is that the right is not recognized in any Canadian legislation. Eight years have passed since this evaluation took place. Has Canada made any steps towards recognition?

International Recognition of the Right

Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights outlines ‘the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions’.

Article 25.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states ‘everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing…’

National Human Rights Act

Canada’s Human Rights Act does not outline a right to adequate housing. In regards to housing, the Human Rights Act states that the purchase of tenancy of accommodation cannot be denied based on prohibited discriminatory grounds. These include race, gender, source of income, etc. This is the only mention of accommodation of housing in the Act.

Provincial Human Rights Legislation

The Special Rapporteur’s Report identified that while no provinces outline a right to adequate housing in their human rights legislation, two provinces in some way addressed social and economic rights that are associated with housing.

Article 45 of Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights, short of directly including a right to adequate housing, guarantees for any person in need “the right for himself and his family to measures of financial assistance and to social measures provided to him by law, susceptible of ensuring such a person an acceptable standard of living.”

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Human Rights Code was amended in 2006 to include ‘source of income’ – whether social assistance, employment insurance, wages, etc. – as a prohibited ground of discrimination for seeking occupancy.

Since the report was released, most provinces have amended their human rights legislation to include source of income and/or social class as a prohibited ground of discrimination along the lines of the national Human Rights Act and Newfoundland and Labrador. To this date, no province has taken the bigger step of including a specific right to adequate housing.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms

In the report, the UN Special Rapporteur stated that since the 1982 induction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the right to housing had seen advances. The Charter does not directly recognize a right to housing, or address housing in general. The report speculates that the section 7 right to life, liberty and security of the person or the section 15 equality right would provide an indirect route to addressing violations of the right to adequate housing.

Last year, this was put to the test with Tanudjaja v Canada Attorney General. Four homeless individuals challenged the constitutionality of the Canadian and Ontarian governments’ failure to implement strategies to address homelessness and provide affordable housing options. A successful challenge would have effectively created a positive duty for the government to create programs to provide affordable, adequate housing.

The case went to the Ontario Court of Appeal where it was dismissed in a 2-1 majority decision on two key grounds. First, the claimants did not identify legislation that violated their rights which is standard in a Charter Challenge. They instead argued that the failure to act was in violation of their right to housing. The decision states that in framing their argument this way, the claimants had made the issue one of politics and policy-making instead of a legal issue within the mandate of the judicial system. This framework could make any exploration of and determination regarding the issue resemble a public inquiry instead of a judicial application of law.

Second, the majority found that there is no law that confers a freestanding right to housing or a positive duty to establish programs that provide affordable housing. The court deferred to the legislature the ability to recognize the right to adequate housing.

In June of this year, the case was denied leave to the Supreme Court of Canada. This suggests that Canadian courts will likely only uphold the right to adequate housing if this right is directly recognized in legislation.

Building a Stronger Foundation

It does not appear that Canada has taken steps to recognizing the right to adequate housing in legislation since the Special Rapporteur’s report. However there have been positive advancements that could indicate a shift in approach. Last month a group of homeless people in British Columbia won a case at the B.C. Supreme Court that allowed them to set up tents and shelters in which to sleep in overnight. Within days of that judgement, Ontario announced that – following the recommendation from a panel of housing experts appointed in the spring – it has set a 10 year deadline to end homelessness in the province. This winter will mark the first point-in-time survey of the homeless population across Canada with the hopes of capturing the state of homelessness in Canada on any given day. The newly elected federal government ran on a platform that included a national housing strategy, which Canada does not currently have. Hopefully, these factors indicate that Canada is building a solid foundation for a future recognition of the right to adequate housing.

By |January 10th, 2016|Blog, Uncategorized|

Canadian Mining Companies and Human Rights Violations Abroad: Part I

This post is first of a three-part series examining Canadian multinational corporations, particularly within the extractive sector, and the issue regarding human rights violations caused by their actions abroad.

By Diana Norwich
In its July 2015 Concluding Observations on Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern over the “allegations of human rights abuses by Canadian companies operating abroad, in particular mining corporations and about the inaccessibility to remedies by victims of such violations”.(1) Last November, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) released a statement on its 153rd Session, stressing its apprehension over reports of alleged human rights violations in Latin America, and urged the Organization of American States (OAS) to “adopt measures to prevent the multiple human rights violations that can result from the implementation of development projects, both in countries in which the projects are located as well as in the corporations’ home countries, such as Canada.” (2) As well as submitting reports of violations to these human rights bodies, some have turned to taking legal action against Canadian companies in Canadian courts, as seen in ongoing lawsuits against Tahoe Resources and Hudbay Minerals.

This may be considered the Canadian iteration of the chronic quandary of finding and holding legal accountability to transnational corporations (TNCs) in their home state, for the misconduct of their affiliates abroad. Over 50% of the world’s mining companies are headquartered in Canada, holding interests in properties across more than 100 countries. (3) When a violation of international humanitarian law occurs on the site of one of these mines outside of Canada, can the Canadian company be held legally responsible in their home state? Should it? The serious allegations of human rights abuses abroad, some of which are outlined in the report submitted by the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability to the IACHR, raise pressing questions on Canada’s extraterritorial obligations. In many of these situations, the remedies that the domestic jurisdiction in which these violations occur can offer are inadequate, or entirely out of reach. In the background of the plaintiffs’ claims against Tahoe Resources, which asserted liability for severe shooting injuries allegedly caused by Tahoe’s mining security personnel, hangs concerns of the lack of judicial independence and corruption in Guatemala. Regardless, in their judgement issued November 9th, the British Columbia Supreme Court exercised forum non conveniens, declining jurisdiction in favour of Guatemala as “clearly the more appropriate forum”. (4) With these events, it is apparent that, given their considerable economic influence (in 2010, Canadian mining companies held 41% of the larger-company mineral exploration market in Latin America and the Caribbean) (5) and border-transcending dimensions, the actions of Canadian mining corporations play a significant role in the human rights conditions of their operational spaces, a role for which many stakeholders are demanding greater accountability and oversight from the Canadian government.

The business structures, multiple jurisdictions and the entangled nature of the interests of involved actors make a clear-cut division of responsibility difficult. As exactingly summarized by Professor John Ruggie, the former UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Business and Human Rights, “[t]he root cause of the business and human rights predicament today lies in the governance gaps created by globalization – between the scope and impact of economic forces and actors, and the capacity of societies to manage their adverse consequences. These governance gaps provide the permissive environment for wrongful acts by companies of all kinds without adequate sanctioning or reparation. How to narrow and ultimately bridge the gaps in relation to human rights is our fundamental challenge.” (6) Professor David Bilchitz, a human rights and constitutional law professor and Chair of the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law, identifies three legal doctrines which exacerbate the accountability gap and prevent access to remedy for victims of human rights violations:(7)

  1.  The jurisdictional challenge: International law generally gives each state sovereignty over its own internal affairs, meaning that although the home state may have jurisdiction over a parent company that has incorporated in that state, it has no jurisdiction over the parent company’s foreign subsidiaries. Although the Maastricht Principles (8) provide that “[a]ll States must take necessary measures to ensure that non-State actors which they are in a position to regulate…such as…transnational corporations and other business enterprises, do not nullify or impair the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights”, there are serious considerations a state must balance when exercising extraterritoriality (as detailed by Jennifer Zerk in her report for the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Business and Human Rights).
  2.  Weak governance zones: Certain jurisdictions may lack an independent judiciary, or its laws may not be properly enforced. States wishing to encourage foreign direct investment may be reluctant to impose or enforce regulations on these businesses.
  3. Corporate structure and the separate legal personality: TNCs are not one entity. They are typically comprised of separate corporations constituted individually for different countries, each considered its own distinct legal entity with limited liability. As Professor Bilchitz puts it, “How does one hold the main corporate structure (or actors therein) accountable for its failure to meet its human rights obligations where it is divided into distinct legal entities across national borders?” (9)

In my next post, I will outline the current international and domestic framework of norms that have been established to address this issue, as well as transnational private regulation.

 

(1)UNHRC, “Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Canada”, CCPR/C/CAN/CO/6 (July 2015).

(2)OAS, “IACHR Wraps Up its 153rd Session” (7 Nov 2014), online: <www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2014/131.asp> [6].

(3)Government of Canada, “Doing Business the Canadian Way: A Strategy to Advance Corporate Social Responsibility in Canada’s Extractive Sector Abroad” (June 2015), online: <www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/assets/pdfs/Enhanced_CS_Strategy_ENG.pdf.>

(4)Garcia v Tahoe Resources Inc, 2015 BCSC 2045, [5].

(5)Natural Resources Canada, “Canadian Global Exploration Activity”, online: <www.nrcan.gc.ca/mining-materials/exploration/8296>

(6)UNHRC, “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights” A/HRC/8/5, online: <www.reports-and-materials.org/sites/default/files/reports-and-materials/Ruggie-report-7-Apr-2008.pdf> 3.

(7) David Bilchitz, “The Necessity for a Business and Human Rights Treaty,” available at SSRN 2562760 (2014) 15-16.

(8)Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States on in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. online

(9)Bilchitz, 16.

By |December 22nd, 2015|Blog, Uncategorized|

Day of the Endangered Lawyer: Honouring the Brave

January 26, 2016 @ 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Day of the endangered lawyer

The Day of the Endangered Lawyer, marked on January 24th of each year, is a time to reflect on the plight of lawyers around the world, who risk harassment, persecution and injury as they work to protect the rights of those who need it most.

On January 26, 2016, theLaw Society and Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) held a special event honouring our colleagues, and calling for the safe and unobstructed practice of law around the world.

By |December 15th, 2015|Past Events|

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2015

By Jessica Mank

The United Nations has designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The day recognizes women around the world who are subject to rape, domestic abuse, and other forms of violence. [1] This day also marks the start of the White Ribbon Campaign (men against violence against women) in Canada. In addition to raising awareness, one of the goals of this day is to highlight that violence against women and girls is not inevitable; prevention is possible and essential.

On the international stage, Canada has supported resolutions calling for the elimination of violence and women. For instance, Canada’s work at the United Nations has supported the development of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the mandate for a UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences. At home, the Government of Canada advances a plan of action with undertakings in prevention, protection and prosecution. To read more about the Government of Canada’s general strategy to eliminate violence against women, click here.

With the recent culmination of this year’s federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now faced with the challenge of implementing the reforms he pledged during his campaign, including those for the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault. Prime Minister Trudeau has announced the launch of a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada by summer 2016. Other policies promised in the Prime Minister’s electoral platform include developing a federal gender violence action plan, increasing investments in growing and maintaining Canada’s network of shelters and transition houses, and establishing a tougher stance on intimate partner violence. [2] The new government has also spoken out against Bill C-36. [3]

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Nearly 1,200 Indigenous women were murdered or went missing between 1980 and 2012, according to an RCMP report issued in May 2014. A 2015 update has since been released including statistics and analysis on new cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women that have occurred since then. The update also addresses the initiatives and preventative developments the RCMP has taken in meeting the “Next Steps” outlined in the 2014 Overview.

The previous government did not undertake a federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. Part of the action taken by the previous government was extending the Canadian Human Rights Act to cover Indigenous peoples on reserves, launching an RCMP database of missing persons and unidentified remains intended to help police services across the country investigate unsolved disappearances and suspected homicides, and toughening laws related to violent crime. [6]

Craig Benjamin, campaigner for the human rights of Indigenous peoples at Amnesty International Canada, says its time to move past “simplistic explanations,” such as attributing the phenomenon to crime. “We have to get to the point of understanding the violence is far more pervasive, that it has multiple causes and that it does in fact have deep roots in our society and the relationships between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.” [7]

At this point, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett has announced that Prime Minister Trudeau expects to launch pre-inquiry consultations with families, civil society groups and other stakeholders in the next few weeks regarding the national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The government plans to make an announcement on its findings in early December 2015. [8]

Domestic Abuse

In January 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that called for National Action Plans to end violence against women. The resolution provides that all states should adopt National Action Plans in order to address gaps in current policies, programs and services, to involve various women’s organizations in identifying the necessary solutions, and to ensure accountability in delivery. [9]

Trudeau has pledged to develop and implement a comprehensive federal gender violence strategy and action plan, though it is not yet clear what this plan will look like. His government has also pledged to increase investments in growing and maintaining Canada’s network of shelters and transition houses as part of a broader investment in social infrastructure, and to amend the Criminal Code to reverse onus on bail for those with previous convictions of intimate partner violence. [10]

The UN resolution recognizes that violence against women is rooted in historically unequal power relations between men and women and urges states to take action to eliminate all forms of violence against women by means of a more “systemic, comprehensive, multisectoral and sustained approach, adequately supported and facilitated by strong institutional mechanisms and financing.” [11]

In its 2013 report, the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses made the case for a Canadian National Action Plan in Violence Against Women, noting:

  • The federal government does not currently identify women as an at-risk population in terms of partner violence or sexual assault.
  • Focus at the federal level is on gender-neutral victims of crime and family violence.
  • Federal initiatives offering support and services to victims of violence against women maintain gender neutrality
  • There are many needs that remain unmet by the traditional justice system, social services, and health care system. [12]

The report states that some of the most pressing issues for victims of domestic violence include the financial impact of crime and violence:

  • Many women living with abuse cannot afford to escape the violence and, for economic reasons, may be forced to remain in homes with violent partners.
  • Women’s shelters often suffer from inadequate funding to meet the demand in communities for women and their children.
  • There a is a lack of safe, affordable community housing for those fleeing violence. [13]
  • Victims who require mental health support to deal with the trauma they have suffered must often seek help at their own expense.

Sex Work and Bill C-36

In December 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s prostitution laws. The court held that the provisions violated the Charter by threatening sex workers’ rights to life, liberty and security of the person. Significantly, critics of Bill C-36 argue that the new bill largely recreates the problems in Bedford and actually limits the safe ways for sex-trade work. Trudeau and the Liberal Party voted against Bill C-36, and have spoken to repealing it while in office. [15]

In Bedford the SCC acknowledged that prostitutes in Canada face a high risk of physical violence, and held that ss. 210, 212(1)(j) and 213(1)(c) not only deprived applicants of their liberty in light of the availability of imprisonment as a sanction, but also made any security enhancing actions or methods illegal.

Evidence demonstrated that working in-call is the safest way to sell sex, yet those who attempted to increase their level of safety by working in-call faced criminal sanction. Out-call work may be made less dangerous if a prostitute is allowed to hire a bodyguard, but these business relationships were illegal. The law prohibited street prostitutes, largely the most vulnerable prostitutes, from screening clients at an early stage in the transaction, putting them at an increased risk of violence. [16]

Bill C-36 criminalizes the sale of sexual services in public spaces where persons under the age of 18 could be present. The act also makes it illegal for a person to get a “material benefit” from the sale of sexual services by anyone other than themselves. The enacting federal government maintained that the intention of the bill was to target johns, pimps and traffickers, but critics warn that the bill criminalizes prostitution and its effect will be placing sex workers in jail. [17]

Prior to being elected, Trudeau campaigned on repealing Bill C-36. It is unclear what his government will propose in its place.

Will Trudeau make an impact on the elimination of violence against women?  

Questions remain as to whether Trudeau’s government will be able to deliver on campaign promises to bring reform to the issue of violence against women, and also as to what these reforms will look like. The selection of a gender-equal cabinet signifies a commitment to change and diversity, and holding a majority government will certainly assist the Liberals in implementing reform. However, it also means that expectations for reform remain high. [18]

So far it is clear that the new government is making the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women one of its first priorities. How quickly this inquiry will materialize and whether it will lead to more purposive action on the part of the federal government remains uncertain.

No timelines have yet been given to a National Action Plan to end violence against women, or to addressing Bill C-36. It regard to the former, it is unclear whether such a National Action Plan will respond to the areas identified in the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses’ 2013 report on violence against women.

As to Bill C-36, Pivot, a legal group that helped fight for sex workers’ rights at the SCC has recently stated they will launch a Constitutional challenge if the Liberal government does not act immediately to repeal the bill. [19] Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould recently commented that the government would look at possible changes to Bill C-36. She stated, “we’ve had some preliminary discussions around the Bedford decision and how we approach it more broadly, and . . . that is going to involve having substantive discussions with people who are fundamentally impacted by this. And that’s something that we’re definitely going to look into and have further to say on that.”[20]

 

 

By |November 25th, 2015|Blog|

Re-Claiming The Right-To-Work

Come celebrate International Human Rights Day with CLAIHR and friends:

RE-CLAIMING THE RIGHT TO WORK:

LABOUR RIGHTS AS HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

DECEMBER 10, 2015

In recent years, the phrase “right to work” has come to be synonymous with a right-wing agenda in the United States to undermine the trade union movement by prohibiting union security agreements, restricting the payment of union dues, and weakening the economic power of unions. Ironically, far from providing a general guarantee of employment to people seeking work, so-called “right-to-work” laws restrict freedom of association by limiting the kinds of contractual agreements unions can make with employers and, in many cases, have resulted in lower wages and benefits for workers.

This event, co-sponsored by Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), the Centre for Labour Management Relations, Faraday Law, and Goldblatt Partners, seeks to re-claim the “right to work” by re-framing work as a public good, rather than a commodity. Such a shift has far-reaching implications:

  • If the right to work is a human right, what does this mean for the right of workers to participate in productive activities and to obtain an adequate standard of living?
  • What are the implications for national and international regulatory systems, as well as transnational migration?
  • How can such a shift help organized labour and non-unionized workers to respond to growing conditions of precarity and the erosion of decent work?

We will explore these questions, and more, at a panel discussion of trade unionists, workers’ activists, and academics.
Panelists:

Moderator:

 

The event is FREE.
Come learn and share 
your thoughts.

Light snacks & refreshments will be served.

 

Date: Thursday, December 10, 2015

Time: 05:30 PM – 07:30 PM

Location: TRS Commons (1-150), 7th Floor, Ted Rogers School of Management, 55 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON

 

 

Register here.
By |October 22nd, 2015|Past Events|

Philippe Kirsch Institute Event to Launch its International Criminal Law Certificate

On October 2nd, our friends at the Philippe Kirsch Institute will be launching its online International Criminal Law (ICL) Certificate with an in-person event featuring war crimes expert Dr. Joseph Rikhof, Robert Petit and University of Ottawa Professors Jennifer Bond and Timothy Radcliffe.

Event details are as follows:

 

Date: October 2, 2015, 10am-4pm
Location: 120 University Pvt, Room 4004, 4th floor, Ottawa
Price: 

  • Regular price: $400
  • Registered charities use Promo Code CharityICL at checkout for a price of: $180
  • Students use Promo Code StudentICL at checkout for a price of: $100

Morning agenda:

10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. – Welcome remarks
10:05 – 10:45 a.m. – Overview of ICL around the world in both criminal and refugee proceedings
10:45 – 11:25 a.m. – ICL in Canadian criminal law
11:25 – 12:15 p.m. – The link between international criminal law and refugee law

Lunch – 12:15 – 1:00pm

Afternoon agenda:

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. – Recap of morning session and Q&A
1:45 – 3:50 p.m. – Interactive session

  • 1:45 – 1:55 p.m.

o   Regroup participants in teams of 3-4 people
o   Handout of short scenario (incorporating all three topics of morning lectures)
o   Assign roles (such as prosecutor and defence counsel) and explain assignment

  • 1:55 – 2:25 p.m. – Break for teams to discuss
  • 2:25 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. – Discussion moderated by Diana with engaged discussion with the panelists.

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m – Closing remarks

You can learn more about the event and the ICL Certificate at http://www.kirschinstitute.ca.

 

By |September 29th, 2015|Blog|