Author Archives: phrc

Victoria (City) v. Adams: Advancing the Right to Shelter

By phrc | Published: May 30, 2011
Victoria (City) v. Adams is an important B.C. case about social and economic rights. The issue in this case was whether a City bylaw which required homeless people to remove tents and any overhead protection, while sleeping in Cridge Park, violated their right to life, liberty and security of the person. This is a key case [...]
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Nothing to report: Submission of the B.C. CEDAW Group

By phrc | Published: April 7, 2010
THE B.C. CEDAW GROUP IS A COALITION of women’s non-governmental and non-profit British Columbia organizations that are committed to advancing the equality interests of women and girls. THE B.C. CEDAW GROUP MADE SUBMISSIONS to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at the time of its reviews of Canada in 2003 and 2008. THE B.C. [...]
Posted in Submissions to UN | Tagged , , , |

PHRC Intervenes to Support Homeless People

By phrc | Published: June 9, 2009
The Poverty and Human Rights Centre is intervening to to support homeless people in the Tent City Case. The appeal will be heard in the British Columbia Court of Appeal on June 10 and 11, 2009. The PHRC was granted leave to intervene on April 3, 2009, by Groberman J.A. of the BCCA. The PHRC [...]
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Inaction and Non-compliance: British Columbia’s approach to Women’s Inequality

By phrc | Published: April 7, 2008
Submission of the B.C. CEDAW Group to the United nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on the occasion of the Committee’s review of Canada’s 6th & 7th reports. The B.C. CEDAW Group is a coalition of women’s non-governmental and non-profit British Columbia organizations that are committed to advancing the equality interests of [...]
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Human rights treaty implementation: The Consensus on Canada

By phrc | Published: January 1, 2007
This Law Sheet identifies overlapping areas of human rights treaty obligation in which various international monitoring bodies have found Canada’s performance to be unsatisfactory. The extent of the consensus regarding Canada’s non-compliance with its human rights obligations in particular areas, that exists among the international monitoring bodies applying different treaties, serves to highlight some of [...]
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Human Rights Denied: Single Mothers on Social Assistance

By phrc | Published: April 25, 2005
Human Rights Denied documents the very difficult conditions in which single mothers are raising their children in British Columbia today. It is a call for the Government of British Columbia to abandon its current policies – because they are a cruel failure. Human Rights Denied: Single Mothers on Social Assistance
Posted in Articles & Reports | Tagged , , , |

Gosselin v. Attorney General (Quebec): Autonomy with a Vengeance (2004)

By phrc | Published: August 1, 2004
In Gosselin v. Quebec (Attorney General), the first poverty case under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to reach the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court ruled against the applicant, Louise Gosselin and the class of social assistance recipients she represented. The decision is deeply divided, and the majority decision turns on a finding that the evidence [...]
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Take The Welfare Time Limit Off the Books

By phrc | Published: July 2, 2004
The Government of British Columbia now says that, over the next year, only 339 people will be affected by the 24-month time limit on welfare––the rule intended to limit “employable” welfare recipients to two-years of support during any five year period. On Friday, the Government created a new exemption––the 25th. Now those who follow their [...]
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Letter to the Prime Minister and BC Premier on welfare time limits

By phrc | Published: February 5, 2004
A letter written to Prime Minister Paul Martin and Premier Gordon Campbell, endorsed by 137 organizations, asking them to act immediately, together and separately, to ensure that legislation which imposes a twenty-four month time limit on eligibility for welfare in B.C. is rescinded before April 1, 2004, and that no similar provision is implemented in B.C. or any other [...]
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