AS SUBMITTED TO ORIGINAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES COURT INTL
CANADA TRUTH & RECONCILIATION COMMISSION : REPORT TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2014
CANADA'S BIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTATION ON ABORIGINAL CHILDREN : MOSLEY REPORT
UN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PERMANENT RAPPORTEUR : REPORT 2014 : APTN REPORT
LAWYERS RIGHTS WATCH : AMICUS CURIAE re HUL'QUMI'NUM' TREATY GROUP (HTG) versus CANADA at IACHR 2009 & AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AMICUS CURIAE
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
- LUBICON CREE
- UPDATE REPORT DEC 2014 "Canada Human Rights :
Concerns: Indigenous rights, women's rights, refugees and asylum-seekers, corporate accountability
In February, Canada's human rights record was assessed under the UN
Universal Periodic Review. The recommendation that Canada develop a
national poverty elimination strategy was rejected by the federal
government which asserted that this was a provincial or territorial
responsibility.
Indigenous Peoples' rights
The authorities failed to ensure respect for Indigenous rights when
issuing licences for mining, logging and petroleum and other resource
extraction. The government continued to make baseless claims that the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples does not apply in
Canada. In September, a hearing opened before the Canadian Human Rights
Tribunal into underfunding of First Nation child and family services,
compared with other communities.
- Massive oil and gas developments continued to be carried out without the consent of the Lubicon Cree in northern Alberta, undermining their use of traditional lands and contributing to high levels of poor health and poverty.
Women's rights
The high level of violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls
persisted. The Native Women's Association of Canada continued to call
for a comprehensive national action plan to address the violence and the
underlying discrimination that contributes to it. Despite a stated
commitment to stopping the violence, the Canadian government took no
steps towards establishing such a plan.
In March, the Federal Court dismissed a challenge to the practice of
transferring battlefield detainees in Afghanistan into Afghan custody
where they were at serious risk of torture. This decision was upheld by
the Federal Court of Appeal in December.
Refugees and asylum-seekers
In February, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal
regarding the Safe Third Country refugee agreement between Canada and
the USA which denies asylum-seekers who pass through the USA access to
the Canadian refugee determination system.
At least one person died after being stunned by police Tasers during
the year, bringing the number of such deaths since 2003 to at least 26.
In February, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) revised its
policy on Taser deployment, limiting Taser use to situations where there
is a "threat to public or officer safety".
A public inquiry into the death in 2007 of Robert Dziekanski after he
was stunned by a Taser continued in British Columbia. The provincial
government accepted all the recommendations in the inquiry's July
interim report, including raising the threshold for police use of Tasers
from the standard of "active resistance" to "causing bodily harm".
In October, the RCMP and other police forces across Canada adopted
directives that officers should not aim Tasers at the chests of
individuals.
Death penalty
In March, the government was ordered by the Federal Court to reverse
its decision not to seek clemency for Ronald Smith, a Canadian citizen
who was sentenced to death in 1983 in the USA. International justice
In May, Désiré Munyaneza, a Rwandan national, was sentenced to life
imprisonment for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by a
court in Quebec. In November, the government charged a second Rwandan
national, Jacques Mungwarere, with genocide.
Corporate accountability
A new corporate social responsibility strategy announced by the
government in March failed to include binding human rights requirements.
Legislation to develop a human rights framework for the overseas
operations of Canadian companies active in the oil, gas and mining
sector was pending at the end of the year.
" 
