[homeles_ot-l] Housing FW:Canada to UN rights review - we'll decide which international obligations we'll observe; promises to do better job on housing, homelessness

[Lynne Browne]

FYI from Michael Shapcott | Director, Affordable Housing and Social
Innovation | Wellesley Institute 

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

613-241-7913, ext. 205

HYPERLINK "http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/"www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca

   _____  

From: nhhn-can-owner at povnet.org [mailto:nhhn-can-owner at povnet.org] On Behalf
Of Michael Shapcott
Sent: June 8, 2009 9:58 AM
To: Michael Shapcott
Subject: [nhhn-can] WI backgrounder: Canada to UN rights review - we'll
decide which international obligations we'll observe; promises to do better
job on housing, homelessness

Canada has signed a significant number of international human rights
treaties that are legally binding in international law, but the federal
government believes that it can pick and choose among its obligations -
according to the HYPERLINK
"http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pdp-hrp/inter/101-eng.cfm"official document tabled
at the United Nations' Rights Council in Geneva today. The good news is that
the federal government has accepted its responsibility to take a stronger
role in ensuring all Canadians are adequately housed, but the federal
government says that companion initiatives to address deep and persistent
poverty and income inequality are mostly the responsibility of provinces and
territories (and not the national government). The federal government
refuses to officially incorporate its international rights obligations into
domestic law (even though many other countries, including the United States,
do this as a matter of course), it won't ratify a new international
agreement that allows for a more robust investigation of human rights
violations within Canada and it won't allow Canadian courts to take on cases
involving international human rights violations.

Canada is in the midst of a Universal Periodic Review of all of its
international human rights obligations, and member countries of the UN have
raised HYPERLINK "http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pdp-hrp/inter/wrk_grp-eng.pdf"68
specific concerns about Canada's failure to meet recognized international
standards. Two of the main sources of international human rights law are the
HYPERLINK "http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm"International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the HYPERLINK
"http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm"International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights - both of which have been ratified by Canada,
along with a number of other international rights instruments.

International human rights cover a wide range of economic, social, cultural,
civil and political activities (such as the right to vote, and the right not
to be imprisoned without trial). The Wellesley Institute focuses much of our
work on the internationally-recognized right to adequate housing, the right
to health and the rights that relate to persistent inequalities (including
poverty). 

On housing and homelessness, the federal government dismantled most of
Canada's national housing program in the 1990s, and has replaced it in
recent years with a fraying patchwork of short-term and unco-ordinated
funding and initiatives at the national and sub-national level. Housing
insecurity and homelessness are nation-wide realities. The feds have a
series of short-term intiatives, including the Affordable Housing
Initiative, the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program and the
Homelessness Partnering Strategy, that only reach part of the country and
aren't adequately funded. In their response tabled in Geneva today, the
federal government has promised to do better on housing and homelessness
issues.

In order for Canada to meet the commitments that it is making today in
Geneva to "intensify" its housing and homelessness work, the federal
government needs to follow the practical strategy set out by Miloon Kothari,
the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing,
whose HYPERLINK
"http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G09/115/02/PDF/G0911502.pdf?OpenElem
ent"final report on his official fact-finding mission to Canada contains a
series of pragmatic suggestions to bring Canada into compliance with its
international housing rights obligations.

Other national and international NGOs are preparing their own analyses of
today's report from Canada to the UN, and we'll post links as they are
available.

 

-          Michael

 

***

 

Michael Shapcott | Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation |
Wellesley Institute 

45 Charles St E, Suite 101                    Tel: 416.972.1010 ext 231
Toronto, ON, Canada,  M4Y 1S2           Mobile: 416.605.8316  
E-mail:   michael at wellesleyinstitute.com

 

www.wellesleyinstitute.com

rigorous research. pragmatic policy solutions. social innovation. community
action.


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