Canada’s human rights report card
Do you remember getting report cards in school? Whether you were proud of the results or not, maybe your report card helped you take stock of where you were on your learning journey. Taking stock is an important part of any effort to improve. This is also true for human rights implementation.
Did you know that Canada gets report cards too? Okay, so not exactly report cards, but something similar. Canada, like many other countries, has made agreements through the United Nations (UN) in treaties. These set out how the country should act—how it must live up to its human rights obligations. How do we make sure countries stay true to the promises they make when they sign treaties? Report cards! More accurately, treaty body reviews.
What is a treaty body review?
During treaty body reviews a group of human rights experts examines a country to see how well they’re following the treaty under consideration. The group of human rights experts is like the teacher writing the report card. However, they don’t work alone as a teacher might. This is a team effort, and that’s where you come in! Your support allows organizations like Canadian Friends Service Committee to tell the group of human rights experts how Canada has done over the past several years. We just did this, together with partners in the Coalition for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In March, the UN reviewed how well Canada was implementing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR lists multiple things countries must do or not do to stay true to the human rights promises they made. For example, when someone is arrested, the ICCPR states they must be informed of the charge against them.
Our submission to the UN
In our contribution to the review (see it in PDF at https://QuakerService.ca/ICCPR2026), we focused on the right of self-determination for Indigenous Peoples. In simple terms, the right of self-determination says that Peoples are allowed to make their own decision about how they live together as a group. This right is guaranteed in the ICCPR in Article 1.
There are many aspects of the right to self-determination. It includes things like the right for Peoples to speak their own language, what kinds of development projects they might allow on their territory, and much more.
One of the key components of this right is that the countries must discuss any laws they’re going to pass—ones that might impact Indigenous Peoples—with Indigenous Peoples. This is part of what we call free, prior, and informed consent. Another way Indigenous advocates have phrased this is, “Nothing about us, without us.”
The report card the group of human rights experts writes for treaty body reviews is called the Concluding observations. It explains what countries are doing well on and what they need to improve on. In this case, the group of UN human rights experts’ concluding observation for Canada included a specific recommendation that it review an omnibus bill (C-5).
The experts agreed with our submission that Canada didn’t properly discuss C-5 with Indigenous Peoples who might be impacted by it. In fact, after introducing the law, Indigenous Peoples were given only a week before it went to Parliament. That isn’t nearly enough time! Especially for something as complicated as a major piece of legislation. As our submission stated, the human rights experts agreed that Canada’s process didn’t live up to their commitment to free, prior, and informed consent and the right of self-determination.
Indigenous Peoples’ voices at the UN
The relationships we’ve developed with Coalition members from Indigenous nations and organizations across the country allow us to work together to bring their voices to the UN. These opportunities are invaluable. Official recommendations from the UN to Canada, informed by the priorities and expertise of Indigenous partners, add tremendous weight to our advocacy. These opportunities require sustained support. Your donations, volunteer efforts, shares on social media, and other engagement are critical to this.
Jeremy Vander Hoek is CFSC’s Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator.
