Rob Rainer

Executive Director
Canada Without Poverty

Dear friends and colleagues:

We’re writing with some exciting news. A significantly enhanced version of the Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing Act was adopted at the HUMA Committee late yesterday. It is appropriate that this Act was adopted on International Human Rights Day. It is an innovative and important piece of legislation “designed to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the right to adequate housing as guaranteed under international human rights treaties ratified by Canada ” The bill will be referred to parliament for third reading early in the next session. It currently has the support of the NDP, the Liberals and the Bloc.

An unofficial text of Bill C-304 in which we have tried to include all of the new amendments is attached in French and English. It is also at available at the following links:

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing Act

Loi sur le logement sûr, adéquat, accessible et abordable

Bill C-304 was introduced by Libby Davies (NDP, Vancouver East) and a number of groups and individuals did some great work with her to get the bill through second reading in parliament – a relatively rare feat for a private members bill – and referred to the HUMA Committee for hearings and amendments. At the HUMA Committee, we saw a minority parliament work the way it is supposed to. The bill was significant improved with amendments from the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc.

The Act now includes a strong commitment to the right to adequate housing and contains all of the key components of a rights based housing strategy recommended by various human rights bodies and by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing after his visit to Canada Among other things, the Bill commits to:

• targets and timelines for the elimination of homelessness

• provision of financial assistance to those who cannot otherwise afford adequate housing

• priority for groups most vulnerable to homelessness and discrimination or for those at risk of violence, and recognition of different needs of people with disabilities and families with children

• independent review and addressing of complaints about possible violations of the right to adequate housing

• review and follow-up on any concerns or recommendations from United Nations human rights bodies with respect to the right to adequate housing;

• ensuring a key role for civil society organizations, including those representing groups in need of housing, as well as for representatives of Aboriginal communities in designing the delivery, monitoring and evaluation of programs required to implement the right to adequate housing;.

The bill respects the diverse roles of the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels of government in all aspects of the strategy. An amendment introduced by the Bloc provides a choice for Quebec to opt out of the national strategy if it so chooses.

The Bill is far from perfect, of course. There are severe limitations to what can be achieved in a private member’s bill, and a number of good amendments were ruled out of order by the Chair. The opting out provision for Quebec was ruled out of order as a substantive amendment and was only adopted by a challenge to the chair and an over-ruling of him by the Committee. That challenge will likely be made again with the Speaker. So there remain major obstacles in getting this bill through the House at third reading. After that, it will be a challenge to ensure that the processes it puts in place are fully implemented. Still, we think it is an important advance in the model of human rights accountability in the area of social rights and hence worth us promoting and fighting for.

Congratulations to the individuals and groups who have been working hard to ensure the passage of this Bill, to Libby Davies and her staff for persevering with it over a number of years, and to Gerard Kennedy, who, having been a key witness in an historic human rights case many years ago for CERA, undertook to introduce a number of key amendments to better protect the right to adequate housing and ensure more meaningful accountability to and participation of those in need of housing.

Happy international human rights day (one day late)

In solidarity

Leilani Farha – CERA <Leilani@equalityrights.org>

Bruce Porter – Social Rights Advocacy Centre <bporter@socialrights.ca>

Leilani Farha

Executive Director

CERA – Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation

200 MacLaren Street

Ottawa, ON K2P 0L6

CANADA

Tel:+1.613.233.8618

Cell: +1.613.302.7769

Fax: +1.416.352.5507

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