Search results for “site/human rights”

  • Trade and Investment Research Project

    Is progressive free trade a pipe dream?

    Can the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) be redesigned as a progressive trade deal? Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland seems to think so. Under her guidance, Canada has entered the NAFTA renegotiations with an eye-catching set of objectives. Not only does Minister Freeland promise that Canada’s negotiators will push…

  • The Middle East Revolution (Part IV)

    Saudi Arabia helps crush the democratic uprising in Bahrain In a display of astounding hypocrisy in mid-August, the Saudi Arabian government denounced the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad as “a killing machine” and recalled its ambassador from Damascus. Saudi Arabia claimed to be outraged by the slaughter of an estimated…

  • Reflections on the Tamil migrants from the child of “queue-jumping” asylum seekers

    If the 492 Tamil asylum-seekers who recently arrived by boat on BC’s shores are “queue-jumpers”, then I guess my parents were too. They came as Vietnam War draft dodgers from the US in 1967. Like a couple of the Tamil women just arrived, my mom was pregnant with me. My…

  • Fast Facts: Remembering Don Sullivan

    Don Sullivan was an environmentalist, best described as an ecosocialist, and a highly skilled political activist. He played a lead role in many environmental campaigns in Manitoba. He was the Director of the Boreal Forest Network. He played an important role as special advisor to the government of Manitoba in…

  • Civil liberties, First Nation rights compromised by C-51, committee hears

    Our content is fiercely open source and we never paywall our website. The support of our community makes this possible.

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: Supreme Court Rulings on Labour Legislation

    An Affirmation of Workers’ Constitutional Rights The January 30, 2015 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada was a very significant one for the labour movement, and in fact for Canadian society. In their decision the Court once more reaffirmed that a strong base of fundamental rights for union members…

  • Out-of-control rents

    Rental wages in Canada, 2023

    CMHC, “Rental Market Survey Data Tables,” 2023. For a notable exception, see John Rapley, “Canada’s approach to housing is bad for the economy,” The Globe and Mail, July 14, 2023. David Macdonald, “Unaccommodating: Rental Housing Wage in Canada” (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2018), policyalternatives.ca/unaccommodating. David Macdonald and Ricardo…

  • Why Governments Can Safely Ignore Hunger

    Corporate food charity keeps hunger off political agenda Over the past 30 years, Canadians have increasingly been led to believe that community compassion expressed through charitable food handouts is the most effective way of feeding our hungry poor and homeless. Since the establishment of the first food banks in the…

  • Let’s Not Go There Again

    You would think that the fiasco of the government forcing BC Hydro in recent years to buy run-of-river and other IPP supply that it didn’t need, resulting in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars per year, would have put that unfortunate policy on the back burner for a long…

  • People holding up a sign saying “BC needs pay equity legislation!”

    We know BC has a gender pay gap – it’s time to do something about it

    This article is excerpted from an open letter released today by a coalition that CCPA-BC helped to convene, and that includes Indigenous organizations, workers’ rights groups, labour unions, law and policy advocates, researchers and community leaders. Want to add your voice to the call? Individuals can sign on here, and…

  • Over 125 organizations and advocates demand BC enact pay equity legislation

    READ THE OPEN LETTER. VANCOUVER, UNCEDED XʷMƏΘKʷƏY̓ƏM (MUSQUEAM), SḴWX̱WÚ7MESH (SQUAMISH) AND SƏLILWƏTAɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH) HOMELANDS – A coalition of more than 125 leading BC organizations, academics, and advocates are calling on the BC government to urgently enact pay equity legislation. In an open letter addressed to Premier David Eby and key cabinet…

  • Fast Facts The First Rung on the Ladder: community-based literacy programming in public housing complexes

    A wealth of evidence—both global and local—confirms the value of literacy and the importance of programs that promote literacy. This is especially the case for low-income individuals and communities, for whom gains in literacy can be transformative. Manitoba has embraced this truth by laying the groundwork for real gains in…