SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Families of Sisters in Spirit Evening Vigil, October 2012 (Susanne Ure / Amnesty International)
Canada Slammed for Abysmal Human Rights Crisis
UN Committee, Amnesty urge Canadian government to take action
Dec 19, 2012
Canada is failing to address serious human rights concerns within the country, particularly for its indigenous populations, Amnesty International reports Wednesday. Following three UN committees on racial discrimination, prevention of torture, and children's rights, which reveal a "range" of "ongoing and serious human rights challenges," Amnesty called on the Canadian government to acknowledge the country's rights abuses and swiftly implement policy changes.
"By every measure, be it respect for treaty and land rights, levels of poverty, average life spans, violence against women and girls, dramatically disproportionate levels of arrest and incarceration or access to government services such as housing, health care, education, water and child protection, indigenous peoples across Canada continue to face a grave human rights crisis," Amnesty said.
The Amnesty report was not the only report this week to highlight human rights issues for indigenous people in Canada. The British Columbia government's Missing Women's Inquiry found a disproportionate number of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls in Vancouver between 1997-2002; the report shows that such cases did not receive proportionate attention by police compared to non-indigenous cases.
In addition to unequal treatment to indigenous people, both the UN committees and Amnesty have concluded that the Canadian government is also failing to protect the human rights of its refugee and migrant populations for a long list of reasons including: allowing deportation to countries where those deported will be tortured; deportations without a process of appeal; and indefinite detention for many "irregular migrants" in the country.
Additionally, the report finds that Canada has failed to consider the human rights of people around the world by failing to implement legal standards on the conduct of multinational Canadian companies.
"It's time for us to grapple with the fact that we have a broken system," said Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada. "We don't expect to be perfect, but it has gotten worse. How can we criticize Iran or Congo if we ourselves are failing to do what the UN is asking?"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Canada is failing to address serious human rights concerns within the country, particularly for its indigenous populations, Amnesty International reports Wednesday. Following three UN committees on racial discrimination, prevention of torture, and children's rights, which reveal a "range" of "ongoing and serious human rights challenges," Amnesty called on the Canadian government to acknowledge the country's rights abuses and swiftly implement policy changes.
"By every measure, be it respect for treaty and land rights, levels of poverty, average life spans, violence against women and girls, dramatically disproportionate levels of arrest and incarceration or access to government services such as housing, health care, education, water and child protection, indigenous peoples across Canada continue to face a grave human rights crisis," Amnesty said.
The Amnesty report was not the only report this week to highlight human rights issues for indigenous people in Canada. The British Columbia government's Missing Women's Inquiry found a disproportionate number of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls in Vancouver between 1997-2002; the report shows that such cases did not receive proportionate attention by police compared to non-indigenous cases.
In addition to unequal treatment to indigenous people, both the UN committees and Amnesty have concluded that the Canadian government is also failing to protect the human rights of its refugee and migrant populations for a long list of reasons including: allowing deportation to countries where those deported will be tortured; deportations without a process of appeal; and indefinite detention for many "irregular migrants" in the country.
Additionally, the report finds that Canada has failed to consider the human rights of people around the world by failing to implement legal standards on the conduct of multinational Canadian companies.
"It's time for us to grapple with the fact that we have a broken system," said Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada. "We don't expect to be perfect, but it has gotten worse. How can we criticize Iran or Congo if we ourselves are failing to do what the UN is asking?"
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Canada is failing to address serious human rights concerns within the country, particularly for its indigenous populations, Amnesty International reports Wednesday. Following three UN committees on racial discrimination, prevention of torture, and children's rights, which reveal a "range" of "ongoing and serious human rights challenges," Amnesty called on the Canadian government to acknowledge the country's rights abuses and swiftly implement policy changes.
"By every measure, be it respect for treaty and land rights, levels of poverty, average life spans, violence against women and girls, dramatically disproportionate levels of arrest and incarceration or access to government services such as housing, health care, education, water and child protection, indigenous peoples across Canada continue to face a grave human rights crisis," Amnesty said.
The Amnesty report was not the only report this week to highlight human rights issues for indigenous people in Canada. The British Columbia government's Missing Women's Inquiry found a disproportionate number of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls in Vancouver between 1997-2002; the report shows that such cases did not receive proportionate attention by police compared to non-indigenous cases.
In addition to unequal treatment to indigenous people, both the UN committees and Amnesty have concluded that the Canadian government is also failing to protect the human rights of its refugee and migrant populations for a long list of reasons including: allowing deportation to countries where those deported will be tortured; deportations without a process of appeal; and indefinite detention for many "irregular migrants" in the country.
Additionally, the report finds that Canada has failed to consider the human rights of people around the world by failing to implement legal standards on the conduct of multinational Canadian companies.
"It's time for us to grapple with the fact that we have a broken system," said Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada. "We don't expect to be perfect, but it has gotten worse. How can we criticize Iran or Congo if we ourselves are failing to do what the UN is asking?"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.