Category: Articles & Reports

Human Rights Denied: Single Mothers on Social Assistance

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
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Gosselin v. Attorney General (Quebec): Autonomy with a Vengeance (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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Beyond the Social and Economic Rights Debate: Substantive Equality Speaks to Poverty (2002)

An emerging issue in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms1 jurisprudence is the defeat of poverty-related challenges based on their characterization as ‘social and economic’ rights claims. In a variety of cases, governments have argued, with some success in lower courts, that the Charter is a negative rights instrument—a document of civil and political rights rather than of social [...]
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Rolling Back Human Rights in B.C.: An Analysis of Bill 53 (September 2002)

On May 30, 2002, the Government of British Columbia tabled Bill 53, which, if passed will amend the current Human Rights Code. The implications of this bill are extremely serious for the administration and protection of human rights in the province, and for all residents who may need protection from discrimination in the future. The Government proposes to [...]
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What Do Rights Have To Do With It? (May 2002)

What is the point of talking about human rights in relation to cuts to social programs? This is a moment in Canadian political history when government commitment to social programs is at a low ebb. Frequently, governments defend their decision-making in the area of social programs on the basis of cost saving. Among progressives, one common mode of [...]
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Poverty is a Human Rights Violation (December 2001)

This paper is about obstacles to an understanding that poverty is a human rights violation.
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