Over one hundred Innu families who have been occupying their traditional territories are facing eviction by the Newfoundland and Labrador government. The evictions are seen as part of an ongoing effort by the government to push through resource development and hydroelectrical projects and ignore Innu land rights. For more information see the following articles and websites:

• Intercontinental Cry - Urgent: Innu People Threatened with Evictions
• CBC - "Williams defends Quebec Innu cabin evictions"
• Rabble Podcast - Government of Newfoundland Labrador Seeks to Evict Innu
• Indian Law Resource Centre - Innu People Struggle for Survival

Recently the Canadian government enacted legislation that gives the same human rights to First Nation members living on reserve as Canadians in the rest of Canada. Previously, native people on reserves were exempt from the Canadian Human Rights Ac. When the Act was passed in 1977, Native reserves were only going to be temporarily excluded from the Act while the federal government made significant changes to the Indian Act. This did not happen, leaving residents of reserves vulnerable to potential abuses by the federal government or their chiefs and council. For more information about the changes to the human rights legislation for reserve members, take a look at the following:

• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada - Repeal of Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act - Frequently Asked Questions
• CBC story - Human rights protection extended to reserves
• Centre for Constitutional Studies - Federal Human Rights Legislation Now Applies to Reserves
• Canadian Human Rights Commission - Canadian Human Rights Commission Applauds Extension of Rights Laws to First Nations

In memory of all the missing and murdered women and children, aboriginal women are walking from Victoria, BC to Ottawa from June to September 2008. Gladys Radek, who lost a niece to the Highway of Tears, launched the Walk4Justice to draw attention to all the missing and murdered women across Canada. The website, www.missingpeople.net has more information and links about the walk. Walk4Justice has created an online petition to gather the names of all the missing and murdered First Nations women across Canada. If you know someone who has been missing or murdered, Walk4Justice asks you to sign the online petition. Also see a Working TV video of the start of the march.

On May 29th, Aboriginal people across Canada will hold the second National Aboriginal Day of in Action. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) calls upon people in Canada to stand together to call on the federal government to ensure First National people are no longer living in poverty, that First Nations children are given equal opportunities as other Canadian children, and that the federal government "set aside the colonial Indian Act and dismantle the Department of Indian Affairs in favour of a new approach that provides First Nations with the right and responsibility to make the decisions that affect their lives." Read more about the demands and the National Day of Action on the AFN site and in an editorial in the Toronto Star, ""Protest message should be heard."

The Canadian Parliament has endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by a majority vote after Canada, along with the U.S., Australia and New Zealand voted against it in the U.N. in September 2007. The Declaration affirms the human rights of indigenous people based on indigenous origin or identity and affirms indigenous people's right to self-determination. The Conservative party has been opposed to the Declaration and voted against the endorsement. Read more on the Amnesty International Canada site and in an article on the site, Indian Country, "Endorsing their rights".

New research by Jack Hicks, a social research consultant living in Iqaluit, Nunavut, tracks how suicide trends in the Arctic correlate with increased colonialism and modernization in the Arctic. Historically, suicide in the Arctic was uncommon, but the suicide rate dramatically increased when national governments forced Inuit people in Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland off the land and into larger communities. Read more in a CBC article, "Research tracks Inuit modernization with suicide, offers hope for improvement" or you can listen to a interview with Jack Hicks on the CBC show, As it Happens. You can also download a copy of the journal, Indigenous Affairs (in PDF) with Jack Hicks' paper, "The Social Determinants of Elevated Rates of Suicide Among Inuit Youth," or you can download a copy of his slide presentation (in PDF).

The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women has a new fact sheet, Women’s experiences of social programs for people with low incomes (in PDF). This fact sheet weaves together the voices of women with critical analysis and detailed evidence on how the devolution of social programs has impacted on diverse low-income women’s lives. It provides important evidence as to why and how listening to women’s voices is critical to knowing the real issues in policy making and programming. It combines existing quantitative research with new qualitative research based on the perspectives of policy makers, social service providers, low-income First Nations, immigrant, refugee women and women with disabilities from three Canadian cities.

L’impact des programmes sociaux : des femmes à faible revenu racontent (format pdf)
Ce feuillet d’information mêle divers témoignages de femmes à faible revenu avec une analyse critique et des informations détaillées sur l’impact de la dévolution des programmes sociaux. Il présente des informations concluantes qui soulignent l’importance d’écouter les femmes pour connaître les vrais problèmes auxquels doivent s’attaquer les politiques et les programmes. Il s’inspire du rapport intitulé Integrating the voices of low-income women into policy discussions on Canada Social Transfer (CST), une recherche qualitative menée en 2007 dans trois villes canadiennes avec des décideurs, des organismes de services sociaux et des femmes à faible revenu autochtones, immigrantes, réfugiées et handicapées. Des données quantitatives tirées de recherches antérieures viennent compléter le tableau.

In follow up to his recent visit to Canada, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, has released a press release that calls for Canada to take immediate action to tackle the national housing crisis (see press release below). Read an interview between the Tyee and Miloon Kothari "UN Observer: 'Massive Crisis' in Vancouver." and an article on Streams of Justice, "Games should benefit homeless: UN envoy," and on David Eby's blog, "UN Rapporteur demands 3200 Olympic units."

UNITED NATIONS EXPERT ON ADEQUATE HOUSING CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION TO TACKLE NATIONAL HOUSING CRISIS IN CANADA

The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari, issued the following statement today:

Geneva, 1 November 2007: From 9 to 22 October 2007, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Mr. Miloon Kothari, conducted a mission to Canada to examine the status of realization of the right to adequate housing, particularly focusing on homelessness, women and their right to adequate housing, Aboriginal populations' adequate housing and affordability and speculation of land and property including the possible impact of the 2010 Olympic Games on the right to adequate housing in Vancouver.

During the course of the mission, the Special Rapporteur visited urban and rural areas, including Montréal, Kahnawake territories, Edmonton, Little Buffalo and Lubicon, Vancouver, Musqueam territories, Toronto and Ottawa. In these locations, the Special Rapporteur met with high-ranking officials, representatives of various Government agencies, community-based housing and homelessness service providers, housing agencies, representatives of Aboriginal peoples and civil society organizations. He also heard testimonies from many women, men, youth and children across the country that were homeless or living in adequate and insecure housing, and participated in large public forums and hearings. On the last day of his mission, the Special Rapporteur shared his preliminary observations with the Canadian authorities.

General observations

During his mission, the Special Rapporteur heard testimonies and received voluminous reports from independent bodies, about the persistence of homelessness, substandard and inadequate housing and living conditions, an aging housing stock in both the public and private sectors, grossly inadequate housing and civic services, including potable water, conditions for Aboriginal people's on and off reserves, health concerns, inadequate heating systems, and high energy costs.

In its most recent periodic review of Canada's compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights characterized the state of homelessness and inadequate housing as a "national emergency."1

The Special Rapporteur confirms the deep and devastating impact of this national crisis on the lives of women, youth, children and men, including a large number of deaths2. The Special Rapporteur also noted as a cause of this national crisis the lack of a properly funded national poverty reduction strategy.

Homelessness

Homelessness is one of the most visible and most severe signs of the lack of respect for the right to adequate housing, which is even more shocking to see in a developed and wealthy country as Canada. The Special Rapporteur was disappointed that the Government of Canada could not provide reliable statistics on the number of homeless in the country. While the National Homelessness Secretariat has suggested that there might be 150,000 homeless people, experts and academic institutions have suggested that the actual number of homeless people may be at least double that amount.

The large number of people in Canada living in poverty, the growing number of food banks, and studies show that the number of people that cannot afford housing or sustain their rent is increasing, resulting in an increase number of homeless. One major cause of growing homelessness is the high cost of rents and the overall decline in renter household incomes in recent years. In addition to the high number of people who are homeless the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also notes that 1.5 million Canadian households are officially classified as being in 'housing core need' which outs them at great risk of homelessness.

Affordability

The increase of housing prices and the lack of affordability is growing in all sectors of the population. The Special Rapporteur observed how due to the shortage of social housing stock, the original target population has changed and programs are distorted, needing to meet the necessities of a growing and more diverse population than originally assessed.

Canada lacks a national poverty reduction strategy, and only a handful of provinces have implemented provincial poverty reduction plans.

Grossly inadequate social assistance rates are trapping many of the lowest-income Canadian households into chronic poverty and inadequate housing. The Federal Government made major cuts to social spending, and cancelled the Canada Assistance Plan in 1995 (CAP provided a framework of national standards for income assistance) and virtually every province has allowed income assistance levels to drop to extremely low levels since then.

Women's right to adequate housing

The lack of adequate and secure housing particularly impacts women who are disproportionally affected by the homelessness, the issue of affordability, violence and discrimination in the private housing rental market. During the visit, the Special Rapporteur heard dozens of testimonies of women including on the insufficiency of social assistance entitlements that do not match the cost of housing and other living expenses or about children being taken away from their mothers because they were living in inadequate housing, an issue that particularly affects Aboriginal women3.

Amongst the many forms of violence that aboriginal women suffer, studies show that they endure three times higher rate of spousal violence than non-Aboriginal. In this context, the lack of protection law for women living on a reserve, or the impossibility to file complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission constitutes one of the greatest barriers to the enjoyment the right to housing and a life free of violence. Another major barrier that needs to be overcome at the earliest is the family and matrimonial real property laws on reserves. Overcrowding houses, accommodating up to 3 generations in some regions, is one of the major causes for abuse, violence and homelessness. Women and young girls off reserve are experiencing violence in a daily basis.

Aboriginal peoples right to adequate housing

Throughout his mission, the Special Rapporteur was disturbed to see the devastating impact of the paternalism that marks federal and provincial government, legislations, policies and budgetary allocation for Aboriginal people on and off reserve. These policies have seriously compromised the right to self determination that Aboriginal people enjoy under the original treaties and the International human rights instruments and deeply affected their housing and living conditions4.

Overcrowded and inadequate housing conditions, as well as difficulties to access basic services, including water and sanitation, are major problems for Aboriginal peoples5. For instance, during his visit to the Lubicon Lake Nation, the Special Rapporteur could witness how families still live without access to potable water and sanitation and appalling living conditions. He also noted the destructive impact of oil extraction activities that continues to lead to the loss of lands and the asphyxiation of livelihoods and traditional practices.

Preparation of the Olympics in Vancouver

In his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has looked at the negative impact on housing in cities that host mega-events, such as the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, and the Commonwealth Games. These impacts include forced evictions for construction of infrastructures, city beautification and speculation of land and property and measures to remove homeless people from cities prior to and during the event. In Vancouver, the Special Rapporteur also looked into the potential impact of 2010 Olympic Games on the right to housing of low income people.

Vancouver has been an innovative city, incorporating in their bid the Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement, developed by a representatives from a variety of inner-city community organizations and government agencies, which seek amongst its main objectives to address issues related to housing, civil liberties and public safety, health and social services, environment, transportation, accessible and affordable Games. The bid also included a sustainability plan aiming at guaranteeing that the social, economic and environmental impacts and opportunities of the event produce lasting benefits, locally and globally.

The Special Rapporteur is of the view that the resources generated by such an event should be used to improve adverse housing situation in Vancouver. The Special Rapporteur met with the CEO of VANOC who expressed his commitment to ensure that the games would contribute to improve housing conditions of the poor in Vancouver as a positive legacy.

Good practices

Canada has a long and proud history of housing successes, and has been known around the world for its innovative housing solutions especially for its non-aboriginal population. During this mission, the Special Rapporteur visited and received information about a number of programmes, laws and policies addressed at housing that are good practices, including Centers and shelters accommodating homeless people, women fleeing from violence, aboriginal women, HIV-AIDS positive people, children with disabilities, and people suffering from drug addictions. All of these Centers were fully or partially funded by the various programmes of the State.

But the funding support is irregular, groups are often required to rely on voluntary contributions and voluntary labour, and the process of sustaining non-government organizations is occupying a greater amount of time and resources.

Preliminary recommendations

At the end of his mission, the Special Rapporteur made a number of preliminary recommendations to the Canadian authorities including the following:

The Federal Government needs to commit stable and long-term funding and programmes to realize a comprehensive national housing strategy, and to co-ordinate actions among the provinces and territories, to meet Canada's housing rights obligations. The Special Rapporteur also noted that Canada needs to once again embark on a large scale building of social housing units across the country.

As part of a comprehensive national housing strategy, particular funding should be directed to groups that have been forced to the margins, including women, Aboriginal people, elders, youth, members of racialized communities, immigrants and groups with special needs. There should be a national adoption of the housing continuum concept including a plan to make available various forms of housing including transitional and supportive housing.

The Government and Parliament of Canada, along with the provinces and municipalities, are urged to take immediate steps to comply with concluding observations from United Nations treaty bodies including the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. Economic, social and cultural rights should be fully recognized in all relevant government legislation and should be fully justifiable including monitoring, implementing, investigative and accountability mechanisms.

The Federal Government needs a comprehensive and properly-funded poverty reduction strategy based on its human rights obligation. Complementary plans should be implemented in the provinces and territories that are linked to a comprehensive national housing strategy.

The Federal Government should commit the funding and resources to ensure all households have access to potable water and proper sanitation consistent with the recognition of water as a human rights and recommendations for State policies as detailed in General Comment Number 15 of the CESCR.

Canada should implement measures to address urgent, short term and long term needs of women in the country. Immediate implementation at all levels of the government of the recommendations from the United Nations treaty bodies on these specific measures, would eliminate the various barriers that women face both in urban and rural context in their daily life.

The Federal Government needs to commit funding and resources for a targeted national Aboriginal housing strategy – both on- and off-reserve – that ensures that Aboriginal housing and services are under Aboriginal control.

In line with treaty body recommendations, the Special Rapporteur calls for a moratorium on all oil and extractive activities in the Lubicon region until a settlement is reached with Lubicon Lake Nation. The Federal Government should resume negotiation with the Lubicon Lake consistent to the Human Rights Law instruments including the Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Vancouver Olympic officials, and the relevant city authorities, need to continue to implement specific targets and strategies on housing and homelessness, and to commit funding and other resources to support these targets, including the construction of 3,200 units of affordable housing6. The social development plan of the Vancouver Games should be developed and implemented in public, so that the progress of Vancouver officials can be effectively monitored. The Special Rapporteur would recommend the formation of an independent monitoring body to assist VANOC in complying with its commitments to improve the housing rights situation in the region where the Olympics will take place.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Notes

1. Concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Canada (E/C.12/CAN/CO/4, E/C.12/CAN/CO/5), para. 62.
2. As far back as 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Committee after reviewing Canada's State report expressed concern that "... homelessness has led to serious health problems and even to death. The Committee recommends that the State Party takes positives measures to address this serious problem ...."
3. These testimonies matched other testimonies received by the Special Rapporteur in other occasions. See for instance the Women and Housing reports of the Special Rapporteur available at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/women.htm.
4. The United Nations Human Rights Committee review in 2006 referred to this phenomenon of having the potential to lead to "… extinguishment of inherent aboriginal rights …."
5. Report on the Mission to Canada of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.3.
6. See http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/commsvcs/housing/pdf/icihousingtablemar0....

Legal Services Society has just approved the following report: Building Bridges: Improving Legal Services for Aboriginal Peoples (PDF) prepared by Ardith Walkem (First Nations lawyer). The report documents the unmet needs of Aboriginal people and recommends how LSS could improve services for Aboriginal people by finding solutions within Aboriginal cultures and delivered in partnership with Aboriginal communities.

Last week, at the National Aboriginal Women's Summit, the Minister for Heritage and the Status of Women announced five years of funding to build and support women's shelters on reserves. According to the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada news release, $56 million dollars will support 35 existing women's shelters and build up to five new shelters on reserves. Aboriginal women who live in the northern communities and off reserve are concerned because the funding does not include all aboriginal women. Read more in the CBC article, "Northern women 'excluded' from federal shelter announcement."

The federal government has promised an increase of $21 million for First Nations in this years budget. This is a far cry from the $5 billion dollars promised in the Kelowna Accord which the Conservative government scrapped last year. The BC Union of Indian Chiefs says this will further entrench the poverty of First Nations people and he warns that this will likely result in protest and conflict this summer. Read more in a CBC article, "Budget day a 'black day' for First Nations," read a statement by the Assembly of First Nations - "First Nations not included in a 'Stronger, Better' Canada" and a statement from the United Native Nations, "A Step Backward: United Native Nations Responds to Federal Budget."

For the past eight years native groups have been asking the BC government for an inquiry into the death of Frank Paul. Frank Paul, a Mi'kmaq man from New Brunswick, died of exposure after police left him in an alley. After a corrections officer came forward with new information on the case, the Solicitor General agreed to call an inquiry into Frank Paul's death. On the same day the chief of the Vancouver Police announced he was stepping down.

Across the country there are two projects involving low income women taking photographs of their lives. In Saskatchewan a group of First Nations women are photographing what they see everyday as part of a project called The Marginalization of Indigenous Women. In New Brunswick, a group of low income women were asked to take photos of their joys and frustrations. Some of photos were of a electricity bill, a fridge door or a luxury cruise ship docked in the harbour. Read more about these two photo exhibits on CBC: "First Nations women use 'photo voice' to tell stories," and "Saint John display exhibits the power of poverty."

In November, women who use the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC) asked the centre to be remain open after regular hours and act as a shelter for homeless women. With the help of volunteers, the Elder's Council and staff members the centre acted as shelter to over fifty women each night. In December the provincial government granted to centre a one time funding of $80,000 to allow DEWC to operate as an emergency shelter for women for the next couple of months. Read a press release about the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and a CBC article, "Women occupy Vancouver drop-in centre."

First Nations people across Canada have become increasingly unhappy with the Conservative government's policies on First Nations issues. According to an article in the Straight Goods, "Deep-sixing the Kelowna Accord and UN Declaration," the Conservative government has refused to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as the Kelowna Accord. Though far from perfect, the Kelowna Accord was an agreement between Aboriginal peoples and federal, provincial and territorial governments that set out benchmarks for addressing Aboriginal poverty and marginalization the areas of education, health, housing and economic opportunities. Ottawa has recently pushed to extend human rights protection to people living on reserves but some First Nations leaders are calling this a smoke screen to other issues such as poverty. Read the CBC article, "Rights legislation a smoke screen: First Nations leader," about the issue.

Some churches in Australian are calling on a campaign to make indigenous poverty history in Australia. Indigenous leaders in Australia have had to continually remind Australian Christians that the poverty in indigenous communities has been largely ignored for the past two hundred years. The National Council of Churches in Australia is calling on Australians to remember the injustices done against indigenous people; recognize and implement the changes recommended by indigenous people and national investigations such as Royal Commissions into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the "Stolen Generations" report; and rectify the poverty itself.

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to protect the rights of aboriginal peoples throughout the world. This includes their rights to land and resources as well as a requirement that they are treated with respect and allowed to be different and independent. Canada was one of two countries that voted against the resolution saying that it was too ambiguous on areas of land, resources and self-government. Many aboriginal leaders and rights activists were disappointed by Canada's position, especially because they had helped carry the resolution throughout many stages of its development. For more information read the CNEWS story on the resolution.

Only Canada and Russia voted against a Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People. By a 30-2 vote, the council approved the declaration that said indigenous people should be free from discrimination and that they have a right "to consider themselves different and to be respected as such." Read a Dogwood Initiative story, a Canoe News (CNews) article, The Declaration reads:

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples says indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law. Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity. Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

"The First Nations Summit Chiefs, upon creating the First Nations Technology Council in 2002, declared the internet a crucial element of life, as vital as clean water or community land." The Tyee's online news story: "Wiring BC's Native Villages," describes how the internet is changing life in First Nations communities.

A major study by the Medical Journal entitled "The Lancet" shows that indigenous communities in every world country have poor health in comparison with 'non-indigenous' populations. Evidence of this is found in disproportionately high infant mortality rates, loss of land and population, poverty, unemployment, drug and alcohal abuse, and homicide. The study underlines that the concept of indigenous communities can be complicated, in particular in Africa and India. As causes for the poor health of indigenous communities, the study points to caste distinctions, colonialism, and the administration of Aid funding from the UN. More information is available online through a BBC news story.