For Canada\u2019s international human rights standing, 2012 was an annus horribilis.<\/p>\n
This year three UN expert committees rated the country\u2019s performance on meeting rights commitments \u2014 and returned a failing grade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese mandatory reviews are carried out every four or five years, and it just happened that this year Canada was the focus of three,\u201d said Alex Neve, who heads Amnesty International Canada. \u201cIt\u2019s a wake-up call that although we have things to be proud of, there are many fronts where we have long-standing issues that need to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Amnesty report released Wednesday says that committees on racial discrimination, prevention of torture and children\u2019s rights found \u201ca range\u201d of \u201congoing and serious human rights challenges,\u201d especially for indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy every measure, be it respect for treaty and land rights, levels of poverty, average life spans, violence against women and girls, dramatically disproportionate levels of arrest and incarceration or access to government services such as housing, health care, education, water and child protection, indigenous peoples across Canada continue to face a grave human rights crisis,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
In response to Amnesty\u2019s report, Rick Roth, spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, said, \u201cwe are proud of the work we\u2019ve done to advance freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law at home and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n