Progress Report

In January 2003, the United Nations’ CEDAW Committee reviewed Canada’s 5 th report to the UN on its adherence to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which was ratified by Canada in July 1981

As a result of this review, the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action convened a national two-day conference in June 2003 with representatives from 25 national and locally based equality-seeking organizations to devise a proposed plan for follow-up on the twenty-three (23) UN recommendations that emerged from the UN’s committee most recent review.

Representatives at this meeting agreed that the Canadian government must take the following immediate steps in order to respond adequately:

1. Establishment of a Cabinet-authorized cross-departmental process

The establishment of a Cabinet-authorized cross-departmental process leading to an action plan for implementing the 2003 CEDAW Committee recommendations, (as well as the related recommendations of CESCR 1998, the Human Rights Committee 1999 and CERD 2002) with three components:

• a mandate to implement the recommendations that fall directly within federal jurisdiction;
• a mandate to assume the leadership role which the treaty bodies expect the federal government to play with the provinces and territories, and, to that end, to use all available levers including communication, promotion, training, monetary incentives, and the creation of new collaborative mechanisms, to ensure that provinces and territories comply with their international human rights commitments to women;
• a mandate to address intergovernmental agreements and fiscal arrangements which can determine whether CEDAW standards are met and to incorporate human rights standards into the design of these agreements and fiscal arrangements.

Rationale: The federal government has three key roles to play with respect to Canada’s compliance with international treaty obligations:

1. using its direct authority within federal jurisdiction to ensure that policies and programs meet international rights standards;
2. taking political leadership with the provinces and territories to foster provincial and territorial compliance; and
3. using negotiating authority and the federal spending power at intergovernmental tables as a means of ensuring that there is Canada-wide compliance with international human rights commitments to women’s equality.

Canada has procedures in place for dealing with ratification of treaties and for reporting to United Nations treaty bodies. However, procedures for responding to treaty body findings and recommendations remain undeveloped. The regular reviews by treaty bodies of Canada’s compliance with its human rights obligations should provide an opportunity for an accountable and transparent review of Canada’s performance and for necessary changes to be made. The cross-departmental process outlined here will permit this.

Progress to date : To our knowledge, no Cabinet mandated process currently exists. In its absence, Status of Women Canada has established a senior level forum on human rights with the departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs and International trade, and is coordinating and/or participating in a few other inter-departmental exchanges on compliance with CEDAW. In addition, at the federal, provincial territorial meeting of Ministers responsible for the Status of Women in September 2003, the issue of CEDAW was addressed.

2. Incorporation of a feminist integrated analysis

The use of an analytical framework for designing the appropriate means of implementing the 2003 CEDAW (and related) recommendations which takes into account the intersection of sex discrimination with discrimination based on other grounds including race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability, sexual orientation and socio-economic class.

Rationale: It is essential to be sure that measures taken to remedy discrimination or inequality will benefit all women, and take into account the ways in which different groups of women can be adversely affected by a policy or program because of their social location and the forms of discrimination that they encounter.

Progress to date: As a result of minimal action on the part of the federal government in responding to the UN CEDAW Committee’s recommendations, the status of women confronting gender and other types of oppression, including racism and xenophobia, has not changed significantly. This is particularly true for Aboriginal and First Nations women who, as the UN Committee’s recommendations note, continue to confront “discriminatory legal provisions” as well as barriers to “the equal enjoyment of their human rights to education, employment, and physical and psychological well-being”.

3. Inclusion of women’s non-governmental organizations in policy-making

The inclusion of women’s non-governmental organizations, and experts designated by these organizations, as partners in the development of the action plan to implement the 2003 CEDAW (and related) recommendations.

FAFIA has agreed to take the lead in organizing this participation.

Rationale: There are two reasons for establishing this process as a government- NGO partnership:

1. women’s non-governmental organizations have substantial expertise to offer; the action plan will be a more effective one, more accurately tailored to deal with the identified inequalities if this expertise informs both the Action Plan and other decision-making processes;
2. women have a recognized right to participate in decision-making that affects them. This right was acknowledged by Canada when it agreed to the Beijing Platform for Action.

Progress to date : Opportunities for collaboration between non-governmental organizations and the federal government have been minimal in the absence of the development of an action plan.

4. Establishment of a time frame for the process

• The process, developed further through discussions between representatives of the Government of Canada and representatives of FAFIA, should be in place by January 31, 2004 - one year from the date when the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women adopted its Concluding Comments;
• The action plan, developed through the joint process, should be completed and tabled in the House of Commons no later than January 31, 2005 so that it can be reviewed by Parliament.

Rationale : An elaborated time frame is necessary to ensure that steps are taken, response is reviewed publicly, and progress is made before Canada provides its next report to the CEDAW Committee.

Progress to date : It is nearly a year since the UN CEDAW committee made 23 recommendations to the Canadian government on its adherence to this Convention. Unfortunately, with the exception of some small but significant efforts by Jean Augustine and her staff, the Canadian government has not signaled its intention to fully respond to the UN’s recommendations. In a written response to a question on CEDAW follow-up, former Minister Sheila Copps stated that “efforts to address the issues are expected to be ongoing over several years” and that “information on the measures implemented and the results achieved will be included in Canada’s next report.”

Unfortunately, the Canadian government is already four years behind in its reporting to the United Nations. It did not provide its report on Canada’s compliance to CEDAW for the period of April 1994-March 1998 until April 2002. Despite the fact that Canada is significantly behind, Canada’s next report at the United Nations is not scheduled for another four years , April 2006 and will cover the period April 1998 to March 2002. It will likely not be reviewed by the United Nations until 2007. Having to wait until 2006 for the Canadian government’s full response to recommendations made by the United Nations in 2003 for a period that, at that point, will almost be a decade in the past does not honour the significance of the CEDAW commitments.

5. Sufficient funding for strategic policy interventions and inclusive policy-making

Adequate funding be provided to support the process and the implementation of the CEDAW 2003 (and related) recommendations. This funding should include:

• Funds set aside in the current federal budget and the next federal budget for the implementation of the CEDAW 2003 (and related) recommendations, such as the provision of adequate civil legal aid and anti-poverty strategies directed to women, including funds to be transferred to the provinces and territories and designated for this purpose;
• Funding to support the participation of women’s non-governmental organization representatives and designated experts in the development of the process, the plan of action, and the monitoring of implementation;
• Funding (beginning immediately) to support research on the part of women’s non-governmental organizations to identify permanent mechanisms (existing or new) for monitoring Canada’s compliance with its international human rights commitment to women. Such permanent mechanisms may include: a Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Issues; regular human rights audits by the Canadian Human Rights Commission; enactment of legislation to transform treaties into domestic law; federal/provincial/territorial agreements, such as the Social Union Framework Agreement;
• Funding (beginning immediately) for public education regarding Canada’s international human rights treaty commitments, and dissemination of the CEDAW 2003 (and related) findings.

Rationale: While implementing some of the CEDAW 2003 (and related) recommendations will not have cost implications, others will. Responsiveness to the Committee’s findings requires appropriate financial allocations. Additionally, genuine participation by women’s non-governmental organizations in the development of an immediate action plan and in the development of longer term, permanent mechanisms for ensuring and monitoring compliance with Canada’s treaty obligations requires financial support for research, administration and organization, travel and other related costs. Finally, though Canada provides funds to other countries for training and public education regarding CEDAW obligations, it has not provided funding for such initiatives at home, though they are clearly needed.

Progress to date: To our knowledge no funds have been set aside during this fiscal year to implement a plan to respond to the CEDAW Committee recommendations or to fix specific inadequacies noted by the Committee.

The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) has received approximately $70,000 from Status of Women Canada to conduct popular education activities between April 2003 ? October 2004 to improve women’s awareness of and capacity to use Canada’s international treaty obligations.