Human Rights Abuses In Canada: Challenges And Approaches

Current Human Rights Challenges in Canada

Discuss about the Human Right Abuses in Canada for Indigenous Population.

The current study focuses upon the aspect of human right abuses in Canada and the different approaches which had been taken in order to address the issue. Canada has a global reputation as a defender of human rights, which are guaranteed by the Canadian charter of rights and freedom.  However, the government faces major issues in the dissemination of equal human rights and privileges to the citizens of Canada. Some of serious human rights issues which have emerged during the current decade are placement of children in immigration detention and use of prolonged solitary confinement. There has been a gradual increase in the crime against women and young girls of the indigenous population. The reports of abuses from the mining industries have also gained importance. Increased security concerns from the Canadian government have further deteriorated the living standards of the refugees. There is inadequate attention to housing, water, sanitation, healthcare, education and job prospects of the indigenous community living in the remote area. The water bodies in the local and remote areas have been contaminated though mercury poisoning which has resulted in poor health status of the residents. Although, the Ontario government pledged that $85 million will be spent towards cleaning the rivers, they are lagging behind the targets considerably (Sikkink & Lutz, 2017). Indigenous women constitute 16 percent of the total female homicides in the country and 11.3 percent of missing women. The policing failure has been contributed to making the indigenous women more susceptible to violence.

Therefore, from the above analysis it could be ascertained   that the Canadian government had failed to restructure the human rights considerably as the indigenous population as well as the immigrants have to still suffer from deprivation of the basic privileges. On the other hand, it could also be stated that the long propagated communal sentiments by the colonial government had   reinforced the aspect of racial discrimination within the community.

For the current study, we have taken two counter views into consideration. One of the views says that the Canadian government has failed to restructure the human rights, which could meet with changing requirements the people. This has been further argued by a view which states that it is the long settled racial sentiments of the people which had prevented the equitable social inclusion and upliftment of the ethnic minority communities.  This could be further explained with the help of two such acts which are the exclusion act and the residential schools act.

The Impact of Racial Discrimination

The exclusion act had been passed out in the year 1882 which prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers in the country. This could be referred back to the 1848 gold rush event which brought a huge number of Chinese laborers to US. However, as the surface gold became hard to find along with increased social tension between the different indigenous and refugee communities the Chinese laborers were thrown out. However, during the refugee movement many travelers along with their filial generations were still trapped in the United States of America. The families of the immigrants who were trapped in the United States for later generations had to suffer from racial discriminations and insufficient access to basic social services. As mentioned by Hennebry, McLaughlin & Preibisch (2016), for years the discriminatory attitudes have been prevalent within the population of the united states and the Canadian territory, which are seen to be reflected in the dissemination of the some of the basic social services  such as health, education ,employment.

Thesis statement:  Racial discriminatory attitude prevalent within the Canadian population results in unequal distribution of human rights and social services

The thesis statement could be further mused in the development of appropriate research questions such as –

• How inadequate social reforms by the Canadian government have lead to deprivations of basic right to the ethnic and minority communities?
• How racial discriminatory approaches do affect the lifestyle and social progress of the ethnic and minority communities settled in Canada?

The discussion of the human right abuses in Canada could be grouped into a number of categories such as violence against indigenous girls and women, rights of indigenous people, immigration detention of children, gaps in the availability of palliative care, gaps within the foreign policies.  Report and studies has mentioned that the Canadian government has failed to meet to the human rights of the indigenous women by   failing to investigate the high levels of violence suffered by them (Sikkink & Lutz, 2017). The gaps in the legal services further deteriorated the conditions of women in the society. The police forces have inadvertently neglected the murders and disappearances of the indigenous community groups.  The unequal distribution of human rights results in the indigenous group suffering from sufficient access to clean drinking water. In the rural areas there have been reports of water contamination owing to mercury deposition. This had further resulted in the development of gastrointestinal disorders within the patient along with possessing increased risk of cancers. As mentioned by Freeman (2017), the government has disseminated huge amount of funds for management of waste water in the Canadian economy. However, little results have been obtained till date.

Approaches to Addressing Human Rights Abuses

 Further research has highlighted the children in Canadian immigration facilities are held in medium security prisons where they are provided with insufficient educational and recreational opportunities (Heifer, 2017).Though, there is availability of primary care facilities little progress has been made with regards to the provision of mental healthcare services. The Canadian child protection agency is a responsible for e providing support carte to the children who has their parents held in detention.  There have been large-scale incidents of abuses in Canada based mining industries. As suggested by Lupu (2015), the legal framework has been relatively loose in handling and management of the offences suffered by the employees of the Canadian firms spread across the world.  However, as argued by Hennebry, McLaughlin & Preibisch (2016), the government has failed to excise monopoly over some of its   country wide forms which are guided by the rules and regulations of the local land.  In the year 2016, Canada government has come out with legislations for providing support and care to the older population to address the concerns of the grievous and irremediable. As supported by social exclusion and reduced sense of responsibilities towards the indigenous adults can further deteriorate their social and health conditions.

In this respect, some of the social issues leading to deprivation   and racisms within the indigenous people are the exclusion act and the residential schools act. Both the acts help in comparing the old world with the contemporary world. The exclusion act is an imprint of the colonial form of government whereas the residential schools could be referred to as the cultural genocide of the (Heifer, 2017).  As mentioned by Sheppard (2017), the governments brutal residential school system was bent upon removing the last specks of any other nationality form the children and make them invigorately adopt the Canadian culture. As argued by Hannum (2016), the move could also been seen as brining mire and more people within the national mainstream. However, nothing could be more torturous than separating the children from their parents at a young stage

A number of different approaches had been implemented by the government if Canada to address and reduce the inequalities in human rights within certain sections of the Canadian society. The Canadian government has recently put much emphasis s upon the implementation of the Responsibility to protect. As per the new rule stated in the light of expansion of the human rights the attribute of responsibility to protect be replaced by humanitarian intervention. As mentioned by Hannum (2016), a humanitarian approach could provide sufficient freedom to the victims to express themselves in front of the society as well as demand for equal lining rights.  As argue by Slade et al. (2014), the international community’s approaches were limited by diplomatic approaches.

The Exclusion Act and Residential Schools Act

Additionally, some of the issues which had been highlighted recently is the provision of low wages to some of the women workers, marginalized, indigenous group of population. The pay gaps have further affected the labor market spectrum, which further creates and intensifies the social imbalance.  As mentioned by Cornish (2012), ending up of the pay gap is a basic human right which needs to be offered to the Canadian indigenous group. Federal laws such as the employment equity act were implemented in this regard, which was aimed at bridging the gap and improve the conditions of the marginalized within the society.

However, as argued by Cole (2015) a number of challenges had been identified, which hindered the efficient implementation and practice of human rights within the Canadian continent. Some of these were suppression of topics during the public polls such as disability, sexual orientation etc. Some of the issues such as abortion were failed to be recognized as the rights of the women. It would only be considered in case the child was deformed, or else the mother of the child was not in the best of physical and mental health.  As mentioned by MacLean (2016), these discussions were brought to the mainstream to give the marginalized women a voice. However as argued by Matsuda (2018), none of the indulged discussions were ever made into legal rights. The Canadian newspaper discusses sufficiently regarding the aspect of same sex marriage or whether or not that should be legalized. However, as argued by Clément, Silver & Trottier (2012), it fails to discuss upon housing as a basic human right. As a suggested by Kivel (2017), though there are a number of   non-governmental organizations working at the central level highlighting the importance in providing equal rights and benefits to the disabled citizens. However, some of these basic ethics and values are often failed to be implemented in the day to day practice.

As argued by MacLean (2016), the interests of larger good have been conflicting with the common good. In the face of increasing terrorism across the globe the countries are tightening their security policies which restrict the immigration of people within the mainland of nations. As supported by Kivel (2017), the policies made owing to the global war of terror have been further seen to limit the rights of the marginalized sections of the society who have been inhering an immigrant mainland for long time.

Article 1: Hannum, H. (2016). Reinvigorating Human Rights for the Twenty-First Century. Human Rights Law Review, 16(3), 409-451.

The article calls for reinforcing the human rights as international human rights law and thus maintains a difference between law and morality. The article has been written has been reviewed upon policies implemented by the commission and the effect of these policies on the society as a whole. The article has been broken down into various components of the human laws which have been discussed with respect the large scale society.

The article offers sufficient evidences in the form of the social challenges which are faced before the implementations of a policy.  Some of these are resistance from the coalition government.

Article 2: Cornish, M. F. (2012). A living wage as a human right. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ontario Office.

The book evaluates the basis of discrimination within the Canadian society. It focuses upon realized, marginalized, segregated and ethnic minority group. The book helps in evaluating the different policies and programs which have been compared with respect to their usefulness or gaps.

The article correctly relates the socio-cultural aspects of Canada with the economic disparity. However it fails to discuss the extent of the success rate of any policy or context which has been seen to benefit the aspect of marginalization within the community.

Article 3:Clément, D., Silver, W. A., & Trottier, D. (2012). The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada. Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The book discusses the context of evolution of Canada’s human rights over time. It brings into light the different scenarios over time along with the changing political situations which   affects the prospects of implementation of the human rights. It also highlights their various challenges, which are faced in the implementation of the human rights.

These have been further explained on the basis of the process gaps as well the innate mentality of people which challenges the optimum implementation of the human rights.

References

Clément, D., Silver, W. A., & Trottier, D. (2012). The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada. Canadian Human Rights Commission, 78-125.

Cole, W. M. (2015). Mind the gap: State capacity and the implementation of human rights treaties. International Organization, 69(2), 405-441.

Cornish, M. F. (2012). A living wage as a human right. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ontario Office, 55-89.

Freeman, M. (2017). Human rights. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 656-718.

Hannum, H. (2016). Reinvigorating Human Rights for the Twenty-First Century. Human Rights Law Review, 16(3), 409-451.

Heifer, L. R. (2017). Overlegalizing Human Rights: International Relations Theory and the Commonwealth Caribbean Backlash Against Human Rights Regimes. In International Law and Society (pp. 125-204). Abingdon: Routledge.

Hennebry, J., McLaughlin, J., & Preibisch, K. (2016). Out of the loop:(In) access to health care for migrant workers in Canada. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 17(2), 521-538.

Kivel, P. (2017). Uprooting Racism-: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. London: New Society Publishers, 271-318.

Lupu, Y. (2015). Legislative veto players and the effects of international human rights agreements. American Journal of Political Science, 59(3), 578-594.

MacLean, G. A. (2016). Human security in the national interest? Canada, POGG and the ‘New’Multilateralism. In A Decade of Human Security (pp. 79-88). Abingdon: Routledge.

Matsuda, M. J. (2018). Public response to racist speech: Considering the victim’s story. In Words that wound (pp. 17-51). Abingdon: Routledge.

Osler, A. (2015). Human rights education, postcolonial scholarship, and action for social justice. Theory & Research in Social Education, 43(2), 244-274.

Ramasastry, A. (2015). Corporate social responsibility versus business and human rights: Bridging the gap between responsibility and accountability. Journal of Human Rights, 14(2), 237-259.

Sheppard, C. (2017). Challenging systemic racism in Canada. In Race and Inequality (pp. 57-76). Abingdon: Routledge.

Sikkink, K., & Lutz, E. (2017). The justice cascade: the evolution and impact of foreign human rights trials in Latin America. In International Law and Society (pp. 319-351). Abingdon: Routledge.

Slade, M., Amering, M., Farkas, M., Hamilton, B., O’Hagan, M., Panther, G., … & Whitley, R. (2014). Uses and abuses of recovery: implementing recovery?oriented practices in mental health systems. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 12-20.

Stephens, B. (2017). The amorality of profit: transnational corporations and human rights. In Human rights and corporations (pp. 21-66). Abingdon: Routledge.