ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF CANADA'S REPORTS ON COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

CERD
61st session
6 August 2002
Morning




The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning concluded its consideration of the thirteenth and fourteenth periodic reports from Canada on how that country was complying with the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Kurt Herndl, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the reports of Canada, said in a concluding statement that there were problems in Canada with regard to deaths in custody; Aboriginal land title claims; and the high rates of black and Aboriginal prisoners, among other things. He added that Canada should continue its dialogue with the Committee in these areas.
Earlier in the meeting, Committee Experts asked if the "Statement of Reconciliation" was equivalent to an apology. The Canadian delegation responded by saying that the Statement was a formal acknowledgement of Canada's profound regret for the historic injustices committed against Aboriginal people in the country.
The Canadian Government had developed a series of initiatives to ensure that the rights of its Aboriginal people were guaranteed, the delegation said. In 1995, the Government announced the inherent right policy that recognized the inherent right of self-determination as an existing Aboriginal right within the Constitutional Act of 1982. Canada continued to seek new relationships with Aboriginal peoples by enabling them to govern matters internal and integral to their communities.
The following Committee Experts participated in the debate: Marc Bossyut, Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill, Ion Diaconu, Regis de Gouttes, Jose Augusto Lindgren Alves, Yuri A. Reshetov, Mario Jorge Yutis, Agha Shahi and Morten Kjaerum.
As one of the 162 States parties to the International Convention, Canada is expected to submit periodic reports to the Committee on how it was implementing the provisions of the treaty. A 12-member Canadian delegation was on hand to present the reports and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
The Committee will release its concluding observations and recommendations on the periodic reports of Canada towards the end of its three-week session, which will close on 23 August.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will take up the eleventh to fifteenth periodic reports of Senegal (document CERD/C/408/Add.2).

Questions Raised by Experts
The members of the Committee continued to raise questions on various issues related to racial discrimination. An Expert wondered why some of the ethnic minorities fell under the category of "visible minorities". Why were indigenous people not considered as ethnic minorities? What was the consequence of categorizing certain minority groups as visible minorities?
Another Expert asked for further information on the situation of Black African-Canadians. There had been information on a forced mass expulsion of Black Caribbeans out of Canada; the delegation should elaborate on the situation. Were Blacks and indigenous people represented at the higher levels of the public administration? Were they discriminated against in the field of employment? Were there national and institutional standards on equal treatment of minorities?

Response of Canada
In response to questions raised this morning and during the previous meeting, the members of the Canadian delegation said that with regard to the Aboriginal issues, the Government had developed a series of initiatives to ensure that Aboriginal rights were guaranteed.
The delegation said that responsibilities in human rights matters were shared by the Federal and provincial governments; and cases of complaints of human rights violations were presented to the provincial administration of justice office.
Asked if the "Statement of Reconciliation" was equivalent to an apology, the delegation said that it was a formal acknowledgement of Canada's profound regret for the historic injustices committed against Aboriginal people in the country. To the victims of sexual and physical abuse in the residential school system, the Government had said it was sorry. In particular, the Government recognized the tragic impact of the school system and acknowledged its role in the development and administration of those schools. The commitment of $350 million to develop healing initiatives, among other things, highlighted Canada's resolve to deal with the legacy of residential schools.
Canada no longer required a reference to extinguishment of surrendered land and resource rights in land claim agreements, the delegation said. The development of new procedures to provide certainty was a positive response to Aboriginal peoples' concerns about extinguishment of their rights in a land claim agreement.
In 1995, the Government of Canada announced the inherent right policy that recognized the inherent right of self-determination as an existing Aboriginal right within the Constitutional Act of 1982, the delegation said. Canada continued to seek new relationships with Aboriginal peoples by enabling them to govern matters internal and integral to their communities.
In relation to the right to self-determination, the delegation said that Canada recognized that all collectivities, indigenous and non-indigenous, who qualified as "peoples" under international law had a right to self-determination. Canada's view of how the right to self-determination was to be exercised by groups living within a democratic state applied to both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples alike. Where a people, living within a democratic state but not forming the whole population of the state, sought to exercise their right to self-determination with that state, it was Canada's understanding that it should be done in a manner respecting the democratic process and the territorial integrity of the state.
A question was raised about the Government's failure to conduct inquiries into the death of individuals, to which the delegation said that under the federal and provincial division of powers in Canada, responsibility to ensure respect for Canada's human rights obligations was shared between provincial, territorial and federal governments. The federal Government had the authority to call for public inquiries into matters within federal jurisdiction but did not have authority to conduct inquiries into allegations of misconduct by provincial officials and the province's police force.
Asked about the high number of homeless Aboriginals in urban areas, the delegation said that the Government had invested a significant amount of money to resolve this problem. In addition, 28 projects had been approved to improve housing facilities for Aboriginals.
Measures had been taken to significantly reduce the percentage of Aboriginal people entering the criminal justice system so that within a generation it was no higher than the Canadian average, the delegation said. The Correctional Service of Canada, the federal agency responsible for the care and custody of offenders, had identified the reduction of the incarceration rate of Aboriginal offenders as one of its corporate objectives for the next three years.
Responding to a question on high rates of Aboriginal deaths in custody, the delegation said that there had been no formal commission of inquiry examining the alleged high rate of Aboriginal deaths in custody to date. In the event there was a suspicious death of an inmate within the federal correctional system, there were mechanisms in place to ensure a proper investigation.
Any propaganda motivated by hatred had been prohibited in Canada, the delegation said. Although there had been a problem in the interpretation of article 4 of the International Convention, the Government had taken steps to cope with the phenomenon of hatred on grounds of race. The Canadian approach to groups or organizations promoting hatred was to criminalize their acts and penalize those individuals involved in such activities.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation was prohibited under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guaranteed protection against such discrimination, the delegation said.
The delegation said that during the last few decades efforts had been made to close wage gaps among migrant and Canadian workers, and to reduce the rate of poverty within the migrant communities. In the early 1990s, the poverty rate among recent immigrants had risen significantly. However, the rates were now beginning to decrease.
Overall representation of visible minorities in the public sector had increased from 5.5 per cent in 2000 to 6.1 in 2001, the delegation said. Considerable progress was needed before the public service reached the visible minorities' current 8.7 per cent availability and the 20 per cent hiring goal set for 2003.
The delegation said that the term "visible minorities" was not used for the purposes of the equality guaranteed in either the Charter, the Canadian Human Rights Act or any of the provincial human rights codes, all of which were key components of Canada's anti-discrimination policy. The term was specific to the Employment Equity Act and was part of a particular programme relating to employment only.
Despite higher levels of education and better skills, labour market performance had deteriorated for immigrants who arrived in the early 1990s compared to groups who arrived in the 1980s, the delegation said. However, skilled workers caught up with average Canadian earnings within three years of arrival. There was a considerable gap in earnings and employment rates when immigrants were compared to similarly educated Canadians.
Under the Canadian Constitution, education was an area of provincial responsibility, the delegation said. The law authorized every minor child in Canada, except children of visitors, to study at the pre-school, primary and secondary level without a student permit. The provision included children of foreign nationals who might be in Canada without any status whatsoever. However, in those cases, provincial requirements relating to access might apply.
Asked why Canada was late in submitting its reports under the Convention, the delegation said that Canada took its implementation and reporting obligations seriously. However, it had experienced difficulty in submitting its reports because the number and complexity of reports required under the various treaties, workload and priority pressures had affected the ability of all jurisdictions in Canada to produce reports in an expedient manner.
Canada did not consult with non-governmental organizations specifically in the preparation of its thirteenth and fourteenth periodic reports, the delegation said. However, consultation with NGOs on racism issues occurred regularly through other fora. For example, Canada's Multiculturalism Programme had ongoing relationships with a network of NGOs and community partners through which they develop projects to combat racism and strengthen the sense of citizenship among all Canadians.
A question was asked about the persistence of the Government in collecting landing fees from immigrants without regard to their ability to pay, the delegation said that it was intended to cover the cost of the Government of Canada in administering the immigration programme.
Asked if Canada's removal practices were discriminatory, either in policy or in outcome, the delegation said that the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act required that those individuals who did not have the right to remain in Canada be removed as soon as reasonably practicable. The Act allowed persons to be removed to any country that was willing to accept them, if they objected to returning to their country of origin.
Following the responses of the Canadian delegation, the Committee Experts raised additional questions on issues pertaining to multiculturalism; equality of opportunities and the sharing of resources; mass deportation of the Jamaican diaspora in Canada; the concept of visibility and invisibility of groups and their definition; and the implementation of decisions by the Royal Commission for Aboriginal Peoples, among other things.
In a brief response to the questions raised by the Committee Experts, the members of the Canadian delegation said that the concept of multiculturalism would be beneficial to any society if adopted. Canada had made efforts to combat the phenomenon of racism and racial discrimination in all its forms, and it was committed to continue its efforts in that area.

Concluding Statement
KURT HERNDL, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the reports of Canada, thanked the members of the delegation for the presentation of the reports. He said Canada had problems with regard to deaths in custody; Aboriginal land title claims; and high rates of black and Aboriginal prisoners. The dialogue should be continued with the Committee in these areas. He wished success and good governance to the Canadian Government.



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