West coast legal group releases report card on women’s rights in B.C. as international groups hear testimony about the disappearances of indigenous women and girls
West Coast LEAF has released its 5th annual report card on women’s rights in British Columbia. The CEDAW Report Card is West Coast LEAF’s annual assessment of how well BC is measuring up on international legal standards of women’s equality set out in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The Report Card [opens to PDF] was released on “Persons Day,” the anniversary of the day on which a group of tireless advocates forced the courts to finally recognize that (some, mostly white) women in Canada were “persons” under the law. This year, the Report Card also comes on the heels of unprecedented international scrutiny of Canada’s human rights record, with three international human rights delegations conducting investigations in Canada in just the past three months.
Failing grades
This is the fifth year in which BC has received a failing grade for its commitment to women’s rights with respect to access to justice, social assistance and poverty, and missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls. BC also received a failing grade this year with respect to women and girls in prison, in light of the shocking discrimination and inhumane treatment women face in remand custody facilities, particularly on Vancouver Island.
The highest grade the province achieved this year was a B- for addressing violence against women and girls. This reflects the fact that there have been a number of positive developments, including passage of the new Family Law Act and government commitments to developing a comprehensive approach to addressing domestic violence, but no additional investment in the February budget to ensure equal access to services for victims of sexual assault or domestic violence.
“It’s important to remember how interconnected all of these grades are, and how they add up to an unacceptable situation overall for BC women” says Laura Track, Legal Director at West Coast LEAF. “If you’re experiencing violence but have no safe housing to go to, you are less likely to leave. If you make slightly more than minimum wage, you make too much to qualify for legal aid to assist you, but you’re unlikely to be able to afford child care. Your health suffers. Your children’s health suffers. And while these issues exist for women across race, class, and ability, we know that indigenous women, women with disabilities, older women and other marginalized women are disproportionately affected.”
Unprecedented international scrutiny
In a year of unprecedented international scrutiny of Canada’s human rights record, West Coast LEAF’s 2013 CEDAW Report confirms that the rights of women and girls remain insufficiently respected, protected, or fulfilled in British Columbia. Indigenous women in particular continue to face shocking levels of violence, poverty, and discrimination, a situation the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples described as a “crisis” at the conclusion of his recent investigation.
Canada’s failure to address the long-standing crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women has drawn particular international attention. In August, commissioners from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights visited Prince George, Vancouver, and Ottawa to hear testimony about the disappearances of indigenous women and girls along BC’s Highway of Tears. In September, human rights experts from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women travelled across Canada to assess the plight of indigenous women and speak to family members of missing and murdered women and girls. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples concluded his week-long investigations in Canada just days ago.
Additionally, Canada’s human rights record was considered by the UN Universal Periodic Review this spring, with dozens of countries calling on Canada to address violence against indigenous women and girls and conduct a national inquiry into the hundreds of murders and disappearances of women and girls across the country.
“This is our fifth annual CEDAW Report Card,” notes Track, “and every year we hope that the next one will allow us to raise the grades and offer the government praise for meeting its human rights obligations and doing right by the women and girls of BC. But until women’s rights to be free from violence, poverty, and discrimination are seen as priorities by our governments, and sufficient resources are invested to tackle these problems, I fear our assessments will remain low.”
Highlights from the 2013 Report Card
• BC’s child poverty rate rose from 10.5% to 11.3%, the worst in the country. The poverty rate leapt from 16.4% to 24.6% for children living with single mothers, meaning some 27,000 children fell into poverty over the course of the year.
• The Legal Services Society continues to face severe budgetary pressures due to a decade of underfunding for legal aid, and will have to significantly reduce some important client services later this year if government does not commit additional funding.
• More homeless women were found sleeping on the streets of Vancouver this year than in any previous year, and housing that is affordable to people receiving social assistance is being lost at an alarming rate in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
• BC is no closer to a provincial child care strategy, seriously undermining women’s economic empowerment. The BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit, which will provide families with $55/month for each child under age 6, does nothing to address to lack of affordable spaces and will barely make a dent in the financial burden of child care on families.
We speak with Laura Track, legal director at West Coast LEAF.
