21 March 2006
“We think of Canada as a country that respects human rights, but in fact we often fall short,” said Elizabeth McWeeny, CCR President. “Along with aboriginal peoples, refugees and immigrants are those whose rights are most frequently violated in Canada.”
The CCR report highlights family separation as one of the key problem areas for Canada. Immigration policies and practices keep children separated from their parents for years, sometimes for ever, despite Canada’s obligation to protect families. Among the barriers to family reunification are regulations which exclude certain family members, deny family reunification to those who are poor and to separated refugee children, and impose family separation on live-in caregivers and seasonal farm workers.
The
report notes that discrimination against non-citizens underlies the
problems
highlighted and in itself represents a violation of the right to
non-discrimination. The report also
documents how some non-citizens are denied government benefits and
services,
such as the National Child Tax Benefit Supplement, leaving children in
poverty. Another topic highlighted is
Canada’s failure to respect the rights of temporary workers to organize
and
bargain collectively.
The CCR
report was
prepared for the UN’s examination in May 2006 of Canada’s compliance
with
obligations under the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
one
element of the International Bill of Human Rights.
The
report can be
found at http://www.ccrweb.ca/CESCRsubmission.pdf
and supporting background
information at http://www.ccrweb.ca/CESCRbackgrounder.pdf.
Contacts:
Janet Dench, Executive Director, (514) 277-7223 (ext. 2)
Tanya Chute Molina, KAIROS, (416) 463-5312 (ext. 252) on the rights of temporary workers
Geri Sadoway, Parkdale Community Legal Services, (416) 531-2411 (ext. 229) to organize an interview with a person directly affected by points raised in the report
EMAIL: ccr@web.ca WEB SITE: www.web.ca/ccr