[homeles_ot-l] Right to Adequate Housing Bill Re-adopted and referred to Parliament for Third Reading

[Lynne Browne]

Hi Leila,

 

Could you resend your message to the listserv using
homeles_ot-l at list.web.net - somehow you've picked up listserv's  'bounce'
address. Thanks Lynne

 

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

Cell 613-513-6647

Office 613-241-7913, ext. 205

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/> 

  _____  

From: Leilani Farha [mailto:leilani at equalityrights.org] 
Sent: March 26, 2010 6:03 PM
To: 'Lynne Browne'; homeles_ot-l-bounces at list.web.net
Subject: Right to Adequate Housing Bill Re-adopted and referred to
Parliament for Third Reading

 

Hi Everyone, 

Further to Linda Lalonde's recent email .. 

 

Bill C-304,
<http://www.socialrights.ca/documents/Bill%20C-304%20Unofficial%20E.pdf> An
Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for
Canadians ,
<http://www.socialrights.ca/documents/Bill%20C-304%20Unofficial%20E.pdf>
was adopted by the HUMA Committee on Monday and will be reported back to
Parliament for 3rd Reading later in this session.  Originally submitted as a
private members bill by Libby Davies,  the Bill was enhanced by a number of
important amendments at the HUMA Committee in December to provide stronger
protections of the right to adequate housing.  It had to be adopted again
after the prorogation of parliament.  We are very excited about the
possibility of seeing this Bill pass into law during the current session of
parliament.  The Bill provides a ground-breaking framework for a new
accountability to  international human rights and includes a clear
commitment to eliminating homelessness.


It will, however, take a concerted effort by organizations and individuals
across the country to ensure that Bill C-304 is passed at 3rd Reading.   The
major obstacle at this point is that the Bill includes an amendment (3(5))
that was deemed inadmissible by the Chair of the Committee, providing for
Quebec to be exempted from the Act while still receiving full unconditional
payments.   The Liberals and NDP joined the Bloc in over-ruling the Chair at
Committee in order to keep this provision in the Bill for the Report back to
Parliament.  However, the Speaker of the House may make a similar ruling on
3rd reading if the Conservatives challenge the provision, as they did at
Committee.  That would mean the Bloc amendment would be struck from the
Bill, and the Bloc has said they will not support it if that happens.
Liberal and NDP support is not enough to constitute a majority without
either Bloc support or some Conservative support for the Bill.

While Parliament was prorogued we worked with a number of Quebec groups to
try to solve the problem of the inadmissibility of the Quebec provision.  We
developed proposals providing for asymmetrical status for Quebec, built
around Quebec's "ratification" of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights in 1976 and its commitment to implementing the
right to adequate housing through control of its own housing programs.  It
was a challenge to come up with a version of a new provision that was deemed
admissible by the legislative clerks.  At an rate, at the last minute, when
the Committee was about to meet,  the Bloc indicated that they would not
support any alternative provision to the original opt-out.  So the Bill was
adopted as it had previously been amended in December 2009.  The
Conservatives also refused to support an amendment to the definition of
accessible housing that had been proposed by disability rights groups, and
which would have required unanimous consent.

We will keep people posted on strategies to get this bill passed as things
develop.   

We have posted unofficial texts in English and French of  Bill C-304 at the
following links  We will circulate the official version once it is reported
to Parliament. 

http://www.socialrights.ca/documents/Bill%20C-304%20Unofficial%20E.pdf 

http://www.socialrights.ca/documents/Bill%20C-304%20Unofficial%20F.pdf 

We look forward to working with all of you to get this passed into law.

 

In solidarity

Bruce Porter - Social Rights Advocacy Centre
Leilaini Farha - Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) 

www.socialrights.ca <http://www.socialrights.ca/>  



www.socialrights.ca <http://www.socialrights.ca/>  

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