Submission to Senate Committee on Human Rights: UN Rights of the Child as Applied in Canada

Submission by METRAC to Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, examining the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Opening text: “It is our respectful submission that although Canada is a signatory to the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), the government has fallen short in implementing the laws that protect the rights of children. We are in agreement with the Senate Committee’s concern as expressed in the Who’s in Charge Here? Report that Canada has failed consistently to ensure that international human rights treaties are incorporated directly into Canadian law. Further, we submit that the current implementation strategies relied upon by the government (i.e. reliance on conformity of pre-existing legislation to international treaties) is inadequate. The result is that the rights of children in Canada as stipulated in the CRC are not being protected.”