Roxham Road needs to stay open as one very minimal contribution Canada makes to addressing the pressing global challenge of forced displacement. We should also absolutely put in place a rights-based national strategy, led and supported by the federal government, to ensure that the needs of refugee claimants arriving at Roxham Road are met, and that the responsibility for protection is shared with other communities and provinces. Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules in the coming months, and certainly not waiting for that judgement, we should revoke the Safe Third Country Agreement (the agreement itself anticipates that possibility), and thus encourage refugee claimants to come forward at official land border posts rather than continue to make irregular and sometimes dangerous crossings.

Above all of this, we should up our game when it comes to advancing human rights protection around the world, doing so consistently and as a priority in all of our bilateral relationships and multilateral endeavours. Putting human rights first is always the answer, be it keeping people safe or managing borders effectively.

Extradition is an important criminal justice tool and helps ensure that suspects cannot evade justice by fleeing to another country. But if the process is almost entirely weighted in favour of the state seeking extradition, with little regard for the rights of the person facing the extradition, grave injustices can and do occur.

That unfortunately is an apt description of the present state of extradition law in Canada.

Have lessons been learned? That is far from evident. There has been little effort by any order of government to even reach out and hear these views firsthand.

It is not enough for police to simply say next time will be different. This was a colossal failure on the part by the police and all three orders of government: municipal, provincial and federal. It exposed glaring human rights shortcomings. That requires deep and transformational change.

Those conversations have yet to begin.

As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights readies to turn 75 at the end of this year, we are surrounded by so much human rights failure, but also so many reminders of what believing in and committing to human rights makes possible.

This year, every day, let’s ask ourselves, each other and those who hold and aspire to power, did we put human rights first?

To date, the Muslim charitable sector has largely been left to fight this on its own in a country where Islamophobia remains a stubborn reality.

The charitable sector more broadly, and Parliament, must rally to their side – because what is at stake concerns us all.

Today, International Human Rights Day, marks 74 years since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A day for reflection. But more crucially, a day for strengthened commitment to the Declaration’s purpose.

As the Ontario government’s labour dispute with educational workers heads toward likely resolution, there is a risk that Doug Ford’s bullying resort to the notwithstanding clause in section 33 of the Charter of Rights, to override collective bargaining rights, will be forgotten.

That cannot be allowed to happen.

The likelihood, as is often the case, is that the moment has passed, and the agitation and concern about Doug Ford’s resort to section 33 will dissipate. Crisis averted.

This time let’s not let that happen.

Let’s keep the discussion going and ensure that we start to rein it in, however incrementally and gradually, before the next government decides once again casually and repressively to pull it out of their back pocket.

Is Canada now willing to protect its citizens, after abandoning them to years of human-rights violations?

We need to hear clearly and immediately from the Canadian government that a new approach is under way and that all remaining Canadians detained in northeast Syria will be repatriated.

Their families deserve more than ambiguity and silence.

There is a widely-held sense that the upcoming municipal election is a pivotal one, setting much-needed vision and direction for the city. There are many important issues for voters to sort out, including public transit, housing, community development, and the environment.

Also in the mix are numerous concerns spotlighted during the tense weeks of the Convoy Occupation in February. Reflective of how serious those concerns are, the Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation has been established, and is holding hearings and community meetings, and receiving written submissions.

We are serving as its Commissioners. Dozens of city residents have shared their experiences of the occupation with us, and we will hear from many more over the coming weeks. We anticipate issuing our final report early next year. But already there are common themes emerging, which point to key questions to pose to candidates vying for office, be it as mayor or councilor. We offer six suggestions here.

Many in Ottawa are likely tempted to put far behind us the chaos that descended upon the city in February after the “Freedom Convoy” trucks rolled into town. But for the communities that were turned upside down, it isn’t that simple. When the Rolling Thunder motorcycles arrive or when protesters return for Canada Day, many relive the agony of blaring horns and hate-filled taunts endured during those three long weeks, and are terrified it’s going to happen again.

Far from leaving it behind, we must all understand what happened more fully, learn from what was a traumatic experience for thousands of residents, and commit to the changes needed to avoid it happening again.

So the one thing I’ve discovered about recently turning sixty is that it unavoidably invites reflection; and that inevitably includes reflection about the state of our world.

That is a good thing. However, these days it is tempting, almost irresistible, for that to end up in a place of dismay and even despair. How could that not be the case after even just a cursory survey of the world around me?

There is, nonetheless, ample cause for hope and optimism, which is where I am confident I will end up in this rambling reflection. Even when thoughts go first to the many grim reminders of callous inhumanity and absent or bankrupt leadership that surround us.

It cannot take the Emergencies Act to kickstart federalism when we need quick action to uphold human rights. It is time to make sure that federalism works well, all the time, to implement the country’s international human rights obligations consistently, effectively, transparently and accountably.

That is what should have carried the day in responding to the Freedom Convoy occupation, blockades and protests. The inquiry and parliamentary committee offer an opportunity to lay out a road map for getting there.

In March, the federal Liberals and NDP entered into a Supply and Confidence Agreement, Delivering for Canadians Now. The NDP has pledged support for the Liberal minority government through to 2025 in return for promised progress on several important public policy files, including national dental and pharmacare programs, reconciliation, the climate crisis, and affordable housing.

While it focuses on laudable goals, the deal is not explicitly anchored in human rights. Also absent are commitments to address the sorry state of world affairs. That too circles back to human rights.

Perhaps it is not too late? A Human Rights Addendum to the Liberal/NDP agreement would be very welcome.

Events at the Ambassador Bridge, in downtown Ottawa and elsewhere in the province during the self-styled Freedom Convoy have put protest and human rights in the spotlight.

We have been reminded of the fundamental importance of peaceful protest, had debates about the nature and tactics of protest, and come to realize that in exceptional circumstances human rights also allow and, in fact, may require police intervention to curtail harmful conduct.

In response we need thoughtful reflection and reform. Bill 100, currently, does neither. But there is still time to get it right.

But here’s the rub. Will states go further and find universal human rights resolve to call out all countries deserving of condemnation and advance reform agendas wherever needed?

Or will politics, timidity and hypocrisy prevail?

Let us dare to dream. That is what we owe to the people of Ukraine, and to all peoples.

It may feel daunting to imagine what any of us can do for Ukraine. But there is so much we can and must do.

It certainly does not lie in staying silent or giving up. It lies in joining together for human rights, everyone’s human rights.

We must ensure that the legacy of this stunning debacle is, at long last, a truly national embrace of human rights in Canada – not the easy embrace of stirring words, but the meaningful embrace of tough decisions, adequate resources, and coordinated and consistent action.

21 days of the occupation of downtown Ottawa; and now police, long past time, marshal to respond. How could it have come to this? On so many levels it defies belief or understanding.

What is abundantly clear is that the combination of emotions in the air in Ottawa is thick with apprehension, frustration, disappointment, disillusionment, exhaustion, fear and a looming sense of dread.

There are growing signs that a major police operation to dismantle the occupation will soon be underway in the city. Meanwhile, rain pours down, turning streets and sidewalks treacherously slick and a major snowfall is expected later today. That does nothing to smooth the way for an easy end to this (unless bad weather accomplishes what police could not or would not for these past 20 days).

Like many friends and colleagues active in human rights advocacy, I have engaged in the up and down legal and political debates about protest, human rights, public safety and emergencies for three weeks. Debates that we will need to take forward once this crisis phase “ends”, whatever that may entail.

On my mind at this point?

Face à ces graves questions qui ont été mises en lumière par cette occupation et ces manifestations, tous les paliers du gouvernement doivent agir rapidement pour convoquer un Sommet national sur le droit de manifester et sur les droits de la personne.

Nous étalons ci-dessous cinq points essentiels qui devront être explorés