CLAIHR strongly supports and promotes the use of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P”). The R2P doctrine is the result of a report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, in which Canada played a central role under the direction of our then Ambassador to the United Nations, Hon. Allan Rock. 2011 has seen R2P come to the fore in discussions about how Canada and other nations should respond to the great number of internal conflicts the world has witnessed this year alone. 2011 is also the 10th anniversary of this important development in international law. CLAIHR is proud to be the only Canadian member of the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect.
CLAIHR is commemorating the 10th anniversary of the R2P with a year-long symposium. Our opening event will feature Michael Ignatieff at Hart House in Toronto on October 26, 2011. Professor Ignatieff w more... Read the full article →
The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in two cases from the Ontario Court of Appeal concerning two Ontario residents who were injured or killed while on vacation in Cuba in the case of Club Resorts v. Van Breda. The court heard arguments on the ability of a court to hear a case in which the defendant and the injuries were located outside of Canada. CLAIHR, along with Amnesty International and the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ) were given intervenor status together to make arguments at the Supreme Court. This case was of interest to CLAIHR, CCIJ and Amnesty as it raised the issue of the forum of necessity jurisdiction, which is vitally important for victims of human rights abuses abroad who wish to commence legal actions in Canada. This jurisdiction is an emerging concept in private international law where more... Read the full article →
Trial Update
Following his conviction, Mr. Munyaneza appealed both the conviction and his sentence. CLAIHR, with the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ), has brought a motion to intervene on appeal. The hearing of this motion is expected to be held in the Fall of 2011.
CLAIHR is represented pro bono by Mr. Fred Headon.
In the News
McGill Tribune
The Agenda with Steve Paikin
Overview
Désiré Munyaneza, born in 1966, is a Rwandan man being prosecuted in Montreal for crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. This case is notable as this is the first person to be arrested in Canada on charges of war crimes and crimes agains more... Read the full article →
THE INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
As part of the national Indian Residential Schools Settlement reached in 2006, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the “TRC”) will be established in early 2008. The TRC will be part of an overall holistic and comprehensive response to the Indian Residential School (”IRS”) legacy in Canada with a view to acknowledging and documenting the injustices and harms experienced by Aboriginal peoples as result of forced attendance at the schools for almost a century.
While the TRC will not have judicial or inquisitorial powers and will not have jurisdiction to order reparations or grant amnesties, CLAIHR is of the view that it has the potential to play a critical role in truth telling, public education, creation of a historical record of past violations of human rights in Canada and providing recommendations for the future relationship between Canada and its Aboriginal peoples. Accordingly, CLAIHR wi more... Read the full article →