Forum of Ministers on Human Rights: At long last, a chance to advance a national human rights agenda?
Federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for human rights in Canada launched a new initiative last month that did not receive much attention, let alone fanfare, at the time. They agreed to establish the Forum of Ministers on Human Rights, through which they will come together for an inter-ministerial meeting every two years. The first such meeting should take place in 2022.
Perhaps that sounds rather humdrum and not deserving of attention or fanfare. But it could in fact be very significant and is certainly long overdue. And if ministers proceed with political will and imagination, it is a development that could lead to considerable progress in more reliably and consistently protecting human rights across the country. At long last.
Long overdue
It is staggering that it has taken until 2020 to take this step.
The occurrence of what are often referred to as “FPT meetings” is well-established in Canada. Recognizing the shared and enormous challenges, the need to streamline programs, pressures to overcome resource constraints, and the sensitivities of overlapping constitutional jurisdiction and authority, it long ago become commonplace to hold such meetings across a wide array of ministries and topics, bringing the federal government together with provincial and territorial counterparts. The Premiers, with or without the Prime Minister do it regularly. So too do ministers of finance, health, environment, justice, status of women, agriculture, Indigenous affairs, public safety, social services, energy and mines, tourism, and more. Many meet yearly, some more frequently.
How is it then that something as fundamental and overarching as human rights has not been on that list, until now? Ministers did have a human rights meeting back in 1988. They did not reconvene again until 2017, a staggering 29-year gap; and have now had this follow-up three years later.
No surprise, therefore, that there has been no sign of a pan-Canadian approach, framework or agenda for upholding human rights. The leaders responsible for crafting it, overseeing it, and delivering it have, to date, largely been ignoring each other.
International human rights compliance undermined
What has been particularly problematic is that along that very long way, this leadership vacuum has undermined our vital responsibility to comply with and implement our crucial international human rights obligations.
Canada ratified our first UN human rights treaty, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, fifty years ago, in October 1970, and has become party to six others over the decades since, dealing with civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, discrimination against women, torture, the rights of children, and persons with disabilities. We have also endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for which the government tabled federal implementing legislation in the House of Commons today.
These human rights treaties, and associated optional protocols, lay out binding human rights standards and carry various forms of review and complaint procedures through which independent experts examine Canada’s human rights record and make recommendations to address the shortcomings that emerge.
Additionally, as a member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, Canada’s record is also subject to examination by other bodies, experts and even other governments, including the UN’s Universal Periodic Review, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the work of UN human rights experts known as the Special Procedures. They too regularly highlight concerns and put important recommendations in front of Canada.
All of these recommendations -- some of which may focus on one individual’s situation of injustice, while others map out wide-sweeping reforms to address longstanding and systemic concerns -- are directed to Canada as a country. The responsibility for action may sometimes rest squarely with one ministry in one particular government; but by virtue of our federal system, it often requires attention and response from all 14 federal, provincial and territorial governments across the country.
And if they are not coordinating their decisions, cooperating in the action they take and collectively demonstrating accountability, the likelihood of complying with those international human rights obligations is minimal at best.
To date that has sadly been the case. Over several decades, pages of important UN recommendations dealing with a wide range of human rights concerns have gone unheeded. Equally frustrating, it has been impossible to ascertain which ministries within which governments are even tasked with considering the UN’s advice and what the status of any such deliberations may be.
It also means that there is no comprehensible and accessible process for taking collective decisions to sign on to new human rights treaties adopted by the UN or the OAS. A case in point is the UN’s important torture prevention treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which was adopted by the UN in 2002. Canada has been “considering” becoming a party to OPCAT since 2006, actively so since 2016. But outside of a very small circle deep within government, no one in Canada would be able to ascertain how close we are to that goal or whether any ministries or governments in the country have objected.
Domestic and global implications
As a result, concrete action to address serious human rights violations in Canada, dealing with such concerns as the rights of Indigenous peoples, racism and discrimination, women’s human rights and gender equality, poverty and homelessness, the rights of people with disabilities, refugee protection, the rights of children, protection against torture and ill-treatment, national security, corporate accountability, and many other pressing issues, is stalled.
That is of twofold concern. First and foremost, it means that human rights are inadequately protected in Canada, in many cases daily impacting the equality, safety and well-being of millions of people.
Secondly, it is also of global concern. As long as Canada disregards and fails to take meaningful action to live up to our own international human rights obligations, our ability to press other nations to do so is undermined. One of the best strategies for strengthening the global effectiveness of the international human rights system is to demonstrate scrupulous respect for it on the homefront ourselves.
Human rights secrecy
For decades there has been a committee of mid-level officials across federal, provincial and territorial governments, that has largely served as a venue for information-sharing and preparing reports to UN human rights bodies. The work of this Continuing Committee of Officials on Human Rights is, however, not public.
More recently a new Senior Officials Committee Responsible for Human Rights, at the level of assistant deputy ministers, has been established. Its work too is largely behind closed doors, and it does not report publicly as to its agenda or the outcomes of its meetings.
The degree of secrecy shrouding the work of these two committees is astounding.
The way ahead
This step to convene at ministerial level can and should bring a sense of transparency, accountability and coordinated decision-making to human rights protection in Canada that has been so sorely lacking over the past 50 years.
But only if done right.
First, there needs to be an entirely new approach to engagement with Indigenous peoples organizations and civil society groups when it comes to human rights, an approach that by its very nature can only be developed jointly and collaboratively.
Second, governments need to commit meaningful and consistent resources to implementing human rights obligations. It cannot and will not happen through wishful thinking, piecemeal budget lines, or on the backs of overstretched frontline groups.
Third, transparency and accountability need to be ramped up dramatically. The meetings of the Forum of Ministers offer a tremendous opportunity for a complete reset when it comes to regular, meaningful and public reporting about human rights. That must include a much more active role for Parliament and for provincial and territorial legislatures so that governments can be held accountable.
Fourth, all governments must acknowledge that they collectively share the obligation to comply with the country’s international human rights obligations. Alberta was not represented by a minister at this month’s meeting and disassociated itself from two documents adopted at the meeting, asserting (wrongly) that it is not bound by human rights treaties to which it is not directly a party. That entirely misapprehends what is entailed in a federal state ratifying an international treaty. It is the entire country that is obliged to comply, not just the government or ministry that travels to the UN to sign on.
Finally, the agenda that guides the Forum of Ministers must fully embrace the indivisible, interconnected and intersectional nature of all human rights. That certainly includes unequivocally recognizing the equal standing and vital importance of economic, social and cultural rights (glaringly exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic), and committing to a feminist, anti-racist and anti-ableist framework for upholding human rights.
Photo-ops or real change?
The Forum of Ministers on Human Rights could be photo-ops and bland communiqués. Or it could mark the beginning of a new chapter in protecting human rights in Canada that will truly address deep-seated and systemic human rights failings at home, while demonstrates strong global leadership abroad, at a time when that is in short supply and sorely-needed.
That is the challenge that the 14 ministers responsible for human rights in this country face before they next come together in 2022. The work to make that happen starts now.
