Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) 2006

The CESCR assessed Canada’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in May 2006. This was the fifth review of Canada.  Throughout this process, CURA researchers coordinated an unprecedented number of community groups and NGOs across the country to participate in and attend the review of Canada.

CURA researchers coordinated a compilation of submissions to the CESCR by organizations from across the country. Initially, CURA researchers worked with 13 organizations across Canada to provide the CESCR with a summary of key issues and questions that should be put to the Government of Canada in response to the Government’s written submissions to the Committee. These submissions covered a vast array of issues including questions pertaining to all of the substantive rights contained in the ICESCR with an emphasis on homelessness and poverty, as well as issues relating to Canada’s failure to implement the recommendations of Treaty Monitoring Bodies, the lack of effective domestic remedies; and Canada’s role in international trade agreements and in foreign investment.

NGO Collaborative Submission to the CESCR Pre-Sessional Working Group

CURA researchers then coordinated the compilation of a national report on the key economic and social rights issues confronting the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups in Canada and recommendations on how Canada could better meet its international social rights obligations. It included submissions from Quebec and from disability rights groups. Issues highlighted include: the lack of enforcement mechanisms for Committee recommendations, inadequate housing and homelessness, poverty, health rights, and economic and social rights issues affecting particular groups such as indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, women, refugees, and migrants. 

NGO Compilation Submission for the 2006 CESCR Review – English

NGO Compilation Submission for the 2006 CESCR Review – En français

A number of NGOs also provided the CESCR with more detailed reports on particular issues or on rights issues confronting particular constituencies:

African Canadian Legal Clinic	Alternatives North
Amnesty International – Recommendations en français	Assembly of First Nations
Canadian Bar Association	Canadian Council for Refugees 1 and 2
Canadian Human Rights Commission	Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action
Charter Committee on Poverty Issues	FNCFCS
FORWARD	Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
Income Security Working Group	Independent Indigenous Submission
Justice for Girls	Kairos
La ligue des droits et libertes	Low Income Families Together 1, 2, 3
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation	National Anti-Poverty Organization – Annex
Native Women’s Association of Canada	Organic Agriculture Protection Fund
Poverty and Human Rights Centre	Together for Human Rights
Western Shoshone Defence Project – 1, 2 and Appendix

Government of Canada’s Fifth Periodic Report submitted to the CESCR

Government of Canada’s Reply to the List of Issues: 5^th Periodic Report and 4^th Periodic Report issued at the same time.

In May 2006 the CESCR conducted its oral review of Canada, commencing with statements from a number of NGOs followed by constructive dialogue with a number of representatives from the Government of Canada. After this, the CESCR released its Concluding Observations (2006) based on its review of Canada. Most notable about these Observations was the CESCR’s concern that the GOC had failed to implement most of the recommendations it had made in the last review. As a result, many of the 2006 Concluding Observations are reiterations of the Committee’s original recommendations from
1998.

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