While world leaders are increasingly saying out loud that the postwar liberal world order is dead, the ruling classes in the Global North have an answer for what will come to replace it: fascism. Will they be able to implement their vision?
A guide to standing up to book bans and beyond, and how to protect and strengthen public education in Canada
The Convoy that took over Ottawa for a month last year just met outside Winnipeg this past weekend. While the right to protest is an essential part of our democracy, it is important to look critically at this movement that has harboured white supremacist, libertarian and in some cases even…
Kate Bunker/Flickr” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cat-women-300×133.jpg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cat-women-768×341.jpg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cat-women.jpg 900w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />The international spotlight is about to shine on Canada’s track record on women’s human rights and BC may get caught in the glare. Provincial and federal compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is set to be reviewed on October 25th by the…
Human rights are everyone’s business. The social climate we live in affects us all. When people are subjected to prejudice and discrimination because they are aboriginal or because of their gender or because of their sexual orientation or for some other reason, it creates a society that is more ugly,…
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT Coast Salish Territories/ Vancouver) A report released today outlines for the first time what implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples could and should look like in BC law, policy and practices; the BC government has explicitly committed…
The cost of doing nothing to prevent tragedy As the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) continues, a new study looks at the problems of reactive government policy on MMIWG in Manitoba. The complex impacts on family members of MMIWG are examined in Cost of Doing…
In the December 2000/January 2001 Monitor, I reported that Enbridge Inc., one of Canada’s leading energy corporations, was linked to death squads in Colombia according to information provided by Amnesty International. Below, I examine the impact of this revelation in Canada as well as detail the further damage caused in…
In just three years, much of the McLeod Lake Indian Band’s treaty lands were stripped of their bountiful and exceedingly valuable trees in a surge of logging that included one massive clear-cut that is almost 3,000 hectares in size, or 7.5 times larger than Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The extensive…
Over the past five years, exercise of the fundamental freedom of speech in Canada has been curbed and discouraged by a federal government increasingly intolerant of even the mildest criticism or dissent. Particularly affected have been organizations dependent on government funding which advocate for human rights and women’s equality. Their…
One of the critical causes of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing is government’s lack of commitment to protecting and advancing housing as a human right.
Political assault on social rights is worsening inequality Looking back to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60 years ago, we can now see that, at least in the North Atlantic world, the four decades that followed World War II were the Golden Age for ordinary people,…
The Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL) is holding its annual convention in Brandon October 2 – 4, 2009. There are many important issues to be dealt with however the one issue that should be on the agenda and should be the focus of discussion is the spectre of eroding memberships…
By Lynell and Melanie Anderson Our understanding of rights evolves along with society, yet the required and corresponding evolution in government policy in BC is stagnant. Re-establishing the Human Rights Commission, as recommended in a new report, could change this reality. We’re passionate about women’s and children’s rights, and concerned…