Canada's Role in International Human Rights

     Where is Canada in the promotion and protection of human rights on the international stage?  Being Canadian, and concerned with human rights, this is an area of interest to me.  Historically Canada has had a reputation of being a peacekeeping nation, interested in maintaining peace, not waging war, and a bulwark for the protection of human rights.  We frequently lead the way in the development of charters and treaties for the protection of human rights worldwide and were known as the land of human rights.  Our efforts in these areas earned us a voice on the international stage, a voice well beyond any influence we would have had as a result of size or economic power.  We were granted this voice because not only had we consistently provided contributions of value but we had also demonstrated, through both our financial and human contributions, that we held by what we said.  Many Canadians, myself included, pride ourselves on this reputation. 

     In the last 10 to 20 years, however, Canada’s attitude appears to have changed.  There is less talk about keeping peace and more about waging war.  This has been noteworthy enough to prompt texts such as Noah Richler’s “What we talk about when we talk about war”.  Our attitude towards human rights appears to have changed as well.  To my observations we do not appear to be as concerned with other nations’ behaviours in this area as the reputation which I identify with suggests we should be as we proceed, for instance, in promoting trade agreements with countries known for their human rights offences, think Columbia and China, and refusing support for those suffering from attacks on their basic human rights, think Canada’s November 29, 2012, membership in the group of only 9 nations to not just abstain but to actually vote against Palestine’s application for non-member observer status with the United Nations (UN News Press Document).  This apparent disconnect between the reputation in which I pride myself and our current behaviour disturbs me, so when the opportunity presented itself on Friday evening to hear Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, speak on Canada’s role in international human rights I made sure to attend, interested to hear what someone more involved and with more experience had to say on the topic. 

     What Mr. Neve had to say was not reassuring.  He summarized Canada’s influential history in the development of institutions for the protection of human rights and our historical participation in actions to support these institutions.  He discussed our reputation, sharing with us his experience of 20 years past where, upon learning that one of the representatives sent to help with his country was Canadian, a member of the state in crisis stood up and cried out that all would be well since a Canadian, a representative of the “land of human rights”, was there to help.  Mr. Neve then discussed how this has all changed.  How more recently the reaction of a U.S. marine to hearing that a Canadian was investigating human rights issues was to ask “what the hell are you guys doing?”.  How now Canada is viewed as being a partisan nation siding with Israel, that this influences our approach to human rights issues in this area of the world, and how this partisanship on the part of Canada is being used by some to attempt to explain Canada’s recalcitrance in condemning recent actions by Syria, as well as refusal to support Syria’s referral to the ICC.  He brought up the example of Canada’s lack of intervention with Omar Khadr, an individual taken, as a 15 year old and therefore a child, from the battlefield in Afghanistan, then held and tortured in Guantanamo Bay, as a perplexing example of a serious lack of follow through by a country which had originally been one of the strongest supporters on the charter on the rights of the child and the treatment of child soldiers.  He mentioned how Canada, originally a supporter of the charter on prevention of violence against women, has not yet instituted federal level assessment structures as is mandated by that charter.  He brought up our reaction to the recent exposure of our poor treatment of our aboriginals, and the abrogation of their human rights that this included.  How we have yet to ratify the charter on the rights of aboriginals, and when concerns about our domestic behaviour are brought up as a potential matter for concern our reaction is to deal out personal and/or unrelated insults to the individual delivering the message of concern.  How we have used jurisdictional technicalities as an excuse to afford differential rights as a basis of race stating outright that aboriginal people whose management falls under federal jurisdiction because of this do not have the same rights to education as individuals whose education falls under provincial jurisdiction.  He pointed out that a poor human rights record at home undermines the value of any attempt to contribute to human rights issues worldwide.  He mentioned our decline in participation in peacekeeping missions, and the progressive melding of our approach to human rights issues, aide, and trade, which has culminated now in the most recent federal budget with the relegation of the Canadian International Development Agency to a section within the Department of Trade.  The list of examples of Canada’s declining involvement in the promotion and protection of human rights was not limited by an end to the examples but by a lack of time, presenting a depressing picture of a country once strong in the promotion and protection of human rights now descended to one weak in moral fibre and concerned not with the well being of the human race but more with its own individual, short term, material gain.   This is not the Canada I am proud of, nor the one I wish us to continue to be. 

     So what can we do?  Is it a lost cause?  Should we pack up and run, abandoning the sinking ship?  No, I do not think so.  All is not lost, as Mr. Neve stated at the end of his presentation.  We can still change.  We can, as a country, come back and return our support to human rights.  We did it before, we can do it again, and if we do perhaps this last twenty years or so will be seen simply as a little blip.  But how do we do this?  How do we get the momentum swinging the other way, back towards protection of human rights?  Well, our country is still a democracy.  The citizens do have a voice.  If we raise it loud enough, perhaps the government will start to listen.  But to get that voice raised the population needs to know what’s going on, and they need to have some way to raise it.  So…. follow along with what’s happening, both at home and in the world.  Agencies tracking human rights issues, such as Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, and Amnesty International, often have news centres (Human Rights Watch News, UN News Centre, UN Daily News, Amnesty International News, Amnesty International Canada News) which regularly share international happenings.  The larger Canadian newspapers, such as the Globe and Mail, are a good source for Canadian events, as well as a Canadian perspective on worldwide events.  All of the above have facebook pages which makes it even easier to receive updates…. all a person has to do is “like” the facebook page and the updates are sent directly to the individual’s news feed.  And really, news from Human Rights Watch or the UN is probably a far more valuable contribution to our news feed than the current sales being offered by Future Shop!  If you see something of concern, follow up on it.  What is Canada doing about this?  If the answer is nothing, then write.  Write to your MP, the representatives of other parties (NDP, Liberal Party, Green Party), the Prime Minister's office .  Tell them what the issue is and that you think Canada should be doing something about it.  Or if our country has become involved, and you approve, tell them so, this will encourage them to continue to be involved.  If you haven’t the time to find out what Canada is doing about the issue, write and ask.  Whatever you write the letter doesn’t need to be long, the goal is to indicate a desire for Canada to be involved, not to propose a solution.  Once you have written, talk to your friends.  Share what you’ve found out, what you’ve done, and why (because Canada has been moving away from taking a stand on issues of human rights, and you want that to change).  On your facebook pages provide an easy way for your friends to follow suite – provide the background information, information on what you wrote, and the addresses that they could send letters to if they would like to do the same.  The more letters our government gets, the more likely it is to listen.  Not just on a particular issue, but on the overall approach to human rights issues.  Eventually, if they receive enough letters on enough issues, they might start to get the impression that Canadians care, and we expect our government to care too.  And slowly, perhaps, the momentum will shift, and we may, just may, move that pendulum back to the side of peace, and human rights, and respect for all of earth’s inhabitants.