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Health and human rights in Canada: a global concern
Correspondence
Health and human rights in Canada: a global concern A new report1 by the UN Committee on Human Rights (UNCOHR) is sharply critical of Canada’s worsening human rights record. The first such assessment in 10 years (a period coinciding with a decade of conservative government), it describes policies that undermine human rights including the ability of civil society to lawfully protest such policies. Most issues cited relate to public health and safety and I illustrate some of them here ahead of Canada’s federal election next week. The report is particularly concerned about the rights of out-groups (such as prisoners, people with mental illnesses, and refugees) and vulnerable populations. For instance, cuts to basic health services for refugees led Canadian doctors and lawyers to petition the federal courts to restore services; in doing so, the courts described government policy as “cruel and unusual”.2 Indeed, with a large parliamentary majority, it is often left to the courts to provide a check on government power. For example, the federal courts reversed attempts to close harm-reduction services for drug users and legislation that threatened the health and safety of prostitutes, and repeatedly stepped in to protect aboriginal land rights.3 The UNCOHR highlights violence against women, especially the 1189 murdered or missing aboriginal women and girls and the need for a national inquiry—an issue to which Prime Minister Harper responded on national television—“Um, it isn’t really high on our radar, to be honest”.4 Overrepresentation of aboriginal people in prisons (who make up 44% of the adolescent females in custody) is also cited by the report, as is use of solitary confinement experienced by one in four inmates. Lack of health-care services in First Nations communities is another www.thelancet.com Vol 3 December 2015
issue mentioned in the report. When child-welfare activist Cindy Blackstock sued the government for failure to provide basic services to First Nations com munities, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Security Intelligence Service placed her under surveillance (collecting a 400 page file on her) until the Federal Private Commissioner ordered them to “cease and desist” and destroy their files.5 The report is especially concerned about the passage of Bill 51 which gives government greater power to undertaken domestic surveillance on groups and individuals such a environmentalists, aboriginal people, or simply any that disagree with government policy—with little or no oversight. One member of the UN committee noted “This is not the Canada that I know”.6 As Canadians queue to vote in the federal election next week, some will be uncomfortable knowing that the new Fair Elections Act that requires an official photo identification will overwhelmingly discriminate against those who are least likely to produce it7—the very groups cited by UNCOHR. Many Canadians perhaps already uncomfortable with Canada’s tepid response to the Syrian refugee crisis will have been further dismayed to learn this past week that it was Harper’s interference with the refugee claimant process that shut the doors; as they cast their ballot, some will recall a different era when Canada welcomed tens of thousands of refugees from Vietnam and Kosovo. But no Canadian will recall anything to compare with the recent descent into identity politics in which the Prime Minister referred to “old-stock” Canadians (as distinct from those born abroad) on national television—the stratification of society to which Michael Marmot so often refers. And because many do not recognise it as Canadian or the context in which it nests, they will reject it— some with anger, others with hope.
© Copyright Simms. Open Access article published under the terms of CC BY-NC-ND.
Chris Simms [email protected] Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 1R2, Canada 1
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Published Online October 16, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2214-109X(15)00191-6
UNCOHR Human Rights Committee. Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Canada http://nupge.ca/sites/nupge. ca/files/documents/ccpr_c_can_ co_6_21189_e.pdf (accessed Aug 18, 2015). Federal Court. Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Daniel Garcia Rodriques, Hanif Ayubi and Justice For Children and Youth vs Attorney General Of Canada and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration: judgment and reasons. https://www.documentcloud.org/ documents/1212674-t-356-13-cdn-doctors-vagc-judgment-and-reasons.html (accessed Aug 18, 2015). CBC News. Mandatory minimums ruling adds to Ottawa’s losing streak. http://www.cbc.ca/ news/politics/mandatory-minimums-rulingadds-to-ottawa-s-legal-losingstreak-1.2696593 (accessed Oct 14, 2015). CBC News. Full text of Peter Manbridge’s interview with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/full-text-ofpeter-mansbridge-s-interview-with-stephenharper-1.2876934 (accessed Oct 14, 2015). Canadian Press. Snooping on activists went too far, privacy commissioner says. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/snoopingon-first-nations-activist-went-too-far-privacycommissioner-says-1.1364426 (accessed Oct 14, 2015). Farhar L. Shining a light on Canada’s deteriorating human rights. http://cips. uottawa.ca/shining-a-light-on-canadasdeteriorating-human-rights-record/ (accessed Oct 15, 2015). Deveaux M, Williams M, Cameron M, et al. Don’t undermine Elections Canada. National Post March 11, 2014. http://news. nationalpost.com/full-comment/dontundermine-elections-canada (accessed Oct 15, 2015).
I declare no competing interests.
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Health and human rights in Canada: a global concern A new report1 by the UN Committee on Human Rights (UNCOHR) is sharply critical of Canada’s worsening human rights record. The first such assessment in 10 years (a period coinciding with a decade of conservative government), it describes policies that undermine human rights including the ability of civil society to lawfully protest such policies. Most issues cited relate to public health and safety and I illustrate some of them here ahead of Canada’s federal election next week. The report is particularly concerned about the rights of out-groups (such as prisoners, people with mental illnesses, and refugees) and vulnerable populations. For instance, cuts to basic health services for refugees led Canadian doctors and lawyers to petition the federal courts to restore services; in doing so, the courts described government policy as “cruel and unusual”.2 Indeed, with a large parliamentary majority, it is often left to the courts to provide a check on government power. For example, the federal courts reversed attempts to close harm-reduction services for drug users and legislation that threatened the health and safety of prostitutes, and repeatedly stepped in to protect aboriginal land rights.3 The UNCOHR highlights violence against women, especially the 1189 murdered or missing aboriginal women and girls and the need for a national inquiry—an issue to which Prime Minister Harper responded on national television—“Um, it isn’t really high on our radar, to be honest”.4 Overrepresentation of aboriginal people in prisons (who make up 44% of the adolescent females in custody) is also cited by the report, as is use of solitary confinement experienced by one in four inmates. Lack of health-care services in First Nations communities is another www.thelancet.com Vol 3 December 2015
issue mentioned in the report. When child-welfare activist Cindy Blackstock sued the government for failure to provide basic services to First Nations com munities, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Security Intelligence Service placed her under surveillance (collecting a 400 page file on her) until the Federal Private Commissioner ordered them to “cease and desist” and destroy their files.5 The report is especially concerned about the passage of Bill 51 which gives government greater power to undertaken domestic surveillance on groups and individuals such a environmentalists, aboriginal people, or simply any that disagree with government policy—with little or no oversight. One member of the UN committee noted “This is not the Canada that I know”.6 As Canadians queue to vote in the federal election next week, some will be uncomfortable knowing that the new Fair Elections Act that requires an official photo identification will overwhelmingly discriminate against those who are least likely to produce it7—the very groups cited by UNCOHR. Many Canadians perhaps already uncomfortable with Canada’s tepid response to the Syrian refugee crisis will have been further dismayed to learn this past week that it was Harper’s interference with the refugee claimant process that shut the doors; as they cast their ballot, some will recall a different era when Canada welcomed tens of thousands of refugees from Vietnam and Kosovo. But no Canadian will recall anything to compare with the recent descent into identity politics in which the Prime Minister referred to “old-stock” Canadians (as distinct from those born abroad) on national television—the stratification of society to which Michael Marmot so often refers. And because many do not recognise it as Canadian or the context in which it nests, they will reject it— some with anger, others with hope.
© Copyright Simms. Open Access article published under the terms of CC BY-NC-ND.
Chris Simms [email protected] Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 1R2, Canada 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Published Online October 16, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2214-109X(15)00191-6
UNCOHR Human Rights Committee. Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Canada http://nupge.ca/sites/nupge. ca/files/documents/ccpr_c_can_ co_6_21189_e.pdf (accessed Aug 18, 2015). Federal Court. Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Daniel Garcia Rodriques, Hanif Ayubi and Justice For Children and Youth vs Attorney General Of Canada and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration: judgment and reasons. https://www.documentcloud.org/ documents/1212674-t-356-13-cdn-doctors-vagc-judgment-and-reasons.html (accessed Aug 18, 2015). CBC News. Mandatory minimums ruling adds to Ottawa’s losing streak. http://www.cbc.ca/ news/politics/mandatory-minimums-rulingadds-to-ottawa-s-legal-losingstreak-1.2696593 (accessed Oct 14, 2015). CBC News. Full text of Peter Manbridge’s interview with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/full-text-ofpeter-mansbridge-s-interview-with-stephenharper-1.2876934 (accessed Oct 14, 2015). Canadian Press. Snooping on activists went too far, privacy commissioner says. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/snoopingon-first-nations-activist-went-too-far-privacycommissioner-says-1.1364426 (accessed Oct 14, 2015). Farhar L. Shining a light on Canada’s deteriorating human rights. http://cips. uottawa.ca/shining-a-light-on-canadasdeteriorating-human-rights-record/ (accessed Oct 15, 2015). Deveaux M, Williams M, Cameron M, et al. Don’t undermine Elections Canada. National Post March 11, 2014. http://news. nationalpost.com/full-comment/dontundermine-elections-canada (accessed Oct 15, 2015).
I declare no competing interests.
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