Search results for “site/human rights”

  • Public Interest Research Project (BC)

    Paying our public servants

    The season of public sector bargaining is upon us.  While the teachers’ strike is over, bargaining now starts in earnest for the vast majority of public sector workers, leaving British Columbians to wonder if there are more labour disruptions to come.  The answer will, of course, depend on the negotiating…

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    When the impossible becomes possible: COVID-19, the climate crisis and lessons from the Second World War

    “Canada hasn’t seen this type of civic mobilization since the Second World War. These are the biggest economic measures in our lifetimes, to defeat a threat to our health… We all need to answer the call.”—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, April 1, 2020, during one of his daily pandemic briefings outside…

  • Skyrocketing rent pushes modest apartments out of reach for lower-income Canadians in 97% of neighbourhoods

    New study maps the rental affordability crisis in Canada’s cities CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA—In nearly every neighbourhood, in all parts of Canada, the hourly wage needed to afford an apartment rental is far above minimum wages and rising quickly, according to a new study released today…

  • New report: Canada isn’t spending what it takes to succeed in the global shift to a clean economy; Budget 2023 must include ambitious climate investment plan

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT Unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territories [OTTAWA], 9 February 2023 For Canada to compete in the global clean economy, the federal government must adopt an ambitious investment plan to match the scale of the climate and affordability crises, finds a new report released today by…

  • Saskatchewan Notes: The “Melfort” Rape and Children’s Rights

    Why R v Edmondson Matters to All Canadian Kids Download 340.5 KB4 pages

  • Canada and Access to Medicines in Developing Countries

    Intellectual Property Rights First Download 534.1 KB 24 pages Canadian reports have recommended that health as a human right must be Canada’s overarching global commitment and that the primacy of human rights should be prioritized over other elements of international law including international trade and investment law as it applies…

  • The federal election is over. Now can we really talk about how to improve gender equality?

    After an election campaign in which women’s equality became a rhetorical tool in a divisive attempt to instill fear and xenophobia in voters and control women’s religious choices, Canada has opted for a more hopeful federal government. But where does that leave women in BC? We know the primary causes…

  • Managed wind-down of BC’s fossil fuel industries: A just transition to a green economy

    Imagine it’s 2025 and because of the escalating climate crisis, governments in Asia have declared ambitious new climate action plans and an aggressive transition off natural gas. BC’s fossil fuel exports would soon dry up, workers would be laid off and local communities would lose public- and private-sector jobs. This…

  • Trade and Investment Research Project

    Trade committee hears big risks outweigh small rewards in TPP

    I appeared yesterday at the parliamentary committee on international trade alongside Hassan Yussuff and Angella MacEwan (Canadian Labour Congress), Gus Van Harten (who just released a report for the CCPA on investor-state dispute settlement), and Victoria Owen and Susan Haigh of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. For once, at least, the critical…

  • Memo to northeast BC: More fracking earthquakes ahead

    Of the many “unknowns” flagged in a recent science panel report, few are as disturbing as the finding that no one can say how destructive an earthquake may one day be triggered during brute-force oil and gas industry fracking operations. The panel’s report—commissioned by Michelle Mungall, BC’s Minister of Energy,…

  • Fast Facts: Austerity Agendas, COVID and Universities

    An inside view As I write this, the University of Manitoba and all other post-secondary institutions are desperately working to meet the Pallister governments edicts, issued last week, to make plans to reduce their annual budgeted salaries by 10 per cent and to realize those savings within four months.  They…

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    Dismantling tent cities—why choice matters

    [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“When you live on the street long enough, eventually you stop believing in choices. Where you eat, sleep and even socialize is decided for you.”– Kris Cronk, Megaphone Speakers’ Bureau Facilitator and Vendor.[1][/perfectpullquote] On April 25, 2020 the BC government announced a plan…