Blog

By Ana Collins and Alex Neve

Any society, whether Canadian, British, or Wet’suwet’en, is made up of people who have shared territory, interaction, and culture; this doesn’t mean that members of a society will always agree with one another. A fundamental liberal democratic value is to honour and respect the right to disagree. The challenge in any society is how to reconcile differing opinions in order to live together well. Indigenous nations have historically been excluded from this social discussion in the Canadian state, and their traditional teachings and values have not merely been disregarded within social and political discourse but have been entirely supressed by the attempt to eradicate these other ways of being and thinking.

B-r-e-a-t-h-e.  That was difficult for the residents of Lahore, Pakistan on 21 November 2019. The Air Quality Index hit 598, twice the ‘hazardous’ level which begins at 300. Within hours, Amnesty International issued its first Urgent Action focusing directly on climate change. The UA argued that the government’s failure to adequately protect people from exposure to the toxic air puts their human rights at risk, including their rights to health and life.

The Urgent Action generated worldwide media – and success! On 30 November, Prime Minister Imran Khan convened a press conference to announce what steps the government would take to curb emissions. The Minister for Climate Change then sent a letter to Amnesty International: “I want to assure you that our Ministry is committed to play its role for shifting the landscape in Pakistan towards a cleaner, greener and sustainable future and particularly targeting the growing challenge of air pollution and climate change.”

Learn more about the Urgent Action Network here! 

When it comes to human rights there is much relief leaving the turbulent 2010s behind. But we face enormous challenges in the decade ahead. Here are eight ways that Canada can champion human rights in the 2020s.

First step is to adopt overdue legislation making the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Canada’s framework for rights and reconciliation. And to show we truly mean it: address mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows First Nation, halt construction of the Site C dam in NE British Columbia and redress years of discrimination against First Nations children.

On January 18, Amnesty International will take to the streets for the third Women’s March to bring attention to the alarming rollback on bodily autonomy experienced by women, transgender, and non-binary people in Canada and around the world.

The proposed Bill 207 in Alberta would limit access to sexual and reproductive health services including abortion and gender-affirming healthcare by allowing physicians to refuse to provide care they feel is contrary to their beliefs. The last free-standing abortion clinic in Fredericton, New Brunswick is up for sale. Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people continue to be sterilized without their free, full, and informed consent.