Promoting and claiming social and economic rights through an inclusive human rights practice

What's New

In Canada:

Expert affidavits served in Right to Housing Charter Challenge

Leave to Appeal to Supreme Court Filed in Right of Undocumented Migrants to Healthcare Case

Shocking decision finding healthcare necessary for life can be denied on the basis of immigration status subject of concern by United Nations Body. Leave to appeal filed.

Applicant's Memorandum Letter from Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Challenge to Refusal to Waive Fees for Poor People heard by Federal Court of Appeal 

Access to Justice for Those Living in Poverty

Federal Court of Appeal Finds Minister Must Consider Request for Fee Waiver in Toussaint Case but Rejects Important Constitutional Claims: Leave to Appeal to SCC Filed 

 Toussaint v. Minister of Citizenship and

CCPI Memorandum of Fact and Law FCA Federal Court of Appeal Decision CCPI Affidavit in Support of Application for Leave to the Supreme Court of Canada Application for Leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada

No Right to Life or Healthcare for Undocumented Migrants in Canada?

A Leave Application has been filed with the Supreme Court of Canada, appealing the Federal Court of Appeal’s Shocking Ruling That Denying Healthcare Necessary to the Protection of Life and Security of Undocumented Migrants in Canada Violates the Right to Life but is nevertheless in Accordance with Principles of Fundamental Justice

Application for Leave to Appeal to Supreme Court Filed

Applicant's Memorandum Letter from Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights

Federal Court of Appeal Decision Toussaint v. Canada (Attorney General) 2011 FCA 213 The Appellants' Memorandum of Fact and Law See the undisputed evidence of International Expert on

Migration and Health,Affidavit of Manuel Carballo  that the Court chose to completely ignore

Housing and Homelessness Strategy and Human Rights

Amendments Rejected to Ontario's Bill 140. See the key right to housing amendments that were proposed by CERA and SRAC and moved by Cheri DiNovo. See the Letter from Miloon Kothari the previous UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing in support of the amendments. See SRAC Written Presentation and Bruce Porter oral presentation Background Submissions Outcome of Vote

A National Housing Strategy Based on the Right to Adequate Housing

Bill C-304 model housing strategy legislation was at parliament for third reading with support of the Liberals, NDP and BQ after new Quebec provision added. This important Bill will be reintroduced in Parliament by NDP Housing Critic Marie-Claude Morin in February 2012. Stay tuned!

Charter Challenge to Homelessness Filed

A coalition of NGO's, advocates and people who have been homeless has commenced an historic legal challenge to the failure of Governments of Canada and Ontario to adopt effective housing and homelessness strategies, recognizing housing as a right Historic Charter Challenge to Homelessness and Violations of the Right to Adequate Housing  See the Notice of Application

Advanced Costs for Public Interest Litigants

Supreme Court of Canada releases Decision on Advanced Costs Awards to Public Interest Litigants

Internationally:

Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural

Article on the Reasonableness Standard under the OP-ICESCR

The Reasonableness Of Article 8(4) – Adjudicating Claims From The Margins,' Nordic Journal of Human Rights (NJHR), Vol. 27, No.1:2009.

Justice Now: Ratify to Protect All Human Rights

Current Count: 39 Signatories, 7 Ratifications: (Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mongolia,  Spain,) for the OP-ICESCR.  Only 3 more for the OP-ICESCR to come into force.

See the list of Signatories and Ratifications of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR

Toolkit for Action for the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

SRAC Works with Others to Organize Conference to Develop Strategic Litigation of ESCR under the OP-ICESCR. October 12-13, 2010: Workshop- Strategic Litigation Initiative in Support of the OP-ICESCR

See the Background Paper on Strategic Litigation under the OP-ICESCR

Symposium on Enforcement of ESCR Remedies Bogota, Columbia May 6 – 7, 2010,

Bruce Porter, Working Paper In Defense of Soft Remedies (Sometimes): Enforcing Principled Remedies to Systemic Social Rights Claims in Canada Oral Presentations on Enforcement of ESCR Remedies

New Publications

Bruce Porter & Martha Jackman, International Human Rights and Strategies to Address Homelessness and Poverty in Canada: Making the Connection, Working Paper, (Huntsville, ON: Social Rights Advocacy Centre, September 2011).

Bruce Porter, The Reasonableness Of Article 8(4) – Adjudicating Claims From The Margins,' Nordic Journal of Human Rights (NJHR), Vol. 27, No.1:2009.

See further publications:

 

Selected Publications from SRAC Members

Bruce Porter

Bruce Porter,  The Reasonableness Of Article 8(4) – Adjudicating Claims From The Margins,’ Nordic Journal of Human Rights (NJHR), Vol. 27, No.1:2009. Special issue: Perspectives on a New Complaint and Inquiry Procedure: The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  (Malcolm Langford, guest editor) pp. 39 – 53. 

Bruce Porter & Martha Jackman, "Justiciability of Social and Economic Rights in Canada" in M. Langford, ed., Socio-Economic Rights Jurisprudence: Emerging Trends in Comparative International Law(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Bruce Porter “Justiciability of ESC Rights and The Right to Effective Remedies: Historic Challenges and New Opportunities”  in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR, (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 2008); Chinese Translation

Bruce Porter, " Claiming Adjudicative Space: Social Rights, Equality and Citizenship " in Susan Boyd, Gwen Brodsky, Shelagh Day and Margot Young, eds., Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship and Legal Activism (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007). 

Bruce Porter, ' Expectations of Equality ' (2006) 33 Supreme Court Law Review 23. 

Bruce Porter, " Socio-Economic Rights in a domestic charter of rights - a Canadian perspective " in Human Rights and Peace-Building in Northern Ireland: an international anthology (Committee on the Administration of Justice: Belfast, January 2006)

Bruce Porter & Aoife Nolan, " The Justiciability of Social and Economic Rights: An Updated Appraisal " (January 2006) Just News. 

Bruce Porter, " Toward a Comprehensive Framework for ESC Rights Practice, revised and updated version of 'The Crisis in ESC Rights and Strategies for Addressing It " in Bret Thiele and Malcolm Langford, eds.,Litigation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The State of Play(Sydney: University of South Wales Press, 2005). 

Bruce Porter, " Canadian Constitutional Challenge to NAFTA Raises Critical Issues of Human Rights in Trade and Investment Regimes " (2005) 2 ESC Law Quarterly.

Bruce Porter, " A Right to Healthcare only if You Can Pay for it " (2005) 6 ESR Review.

Bruce Porter, " Twenty Years of Equality Rights: Reclaiming Expectations " (2005) 23 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 145 [in English and French].

Bruce Porter, " ReWriting the Charter at 20 or Reading it Right: The Challenge of Poverty and Homelessness in Canada " in Wesley Cragg & Christine Koggel, eds., Contemporary Moral Issues, 5th ed., (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2005) 373.

Bruce Porter, " The Right to Adequate Housing in Canada " (Paper presented to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission Special Hearings on the Right to Housing, Washington, D.C., March 4, 2005).

Bruce Porter, " The Right to be Heard: What's at Stake ?" (Paper Presented to the High Level Expert Seminar on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Paper presented to the French Department of Foreign Affairs, Nantes, France September 5 & 7, 2005).

Bruce Porter, Aofie Nolan & Malcolm Langford, " The Justiciability of Social and Economic Rights: an Updated Appraisal " (Paper presented to the Human Rights Consortium of Northern Ireland, Belfast, Ireland, November 20, 2005).

Bruce Porter, " Social and Economic Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms " (Paper presented to the International Conference on Social and Economic Rights: Models of Enforcement, hosted by the Irish Human Rights Commission, Dublin, Ireland, December 10-11, 2005).

Bruce Porter, " Homelessness, Human Rights, Litigation and Law Reform: A View from Canada " (2004) 10 Australian Journal of Human Rights 133.

Bruce Porter, " The Human Right to Adequate Housing: Making the Case in U.S. Advocacy " (2004) 38 Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy 97.

Bruce Porter," The Domestic Implementation of the ICESCR:The Right to Effective Remedies, the Role of Courts and the Place of the Claimants of ESC Rights." Remarks for the Workshop for Judges and Lawyers in North East Asia on the Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights hosted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Commission of Jurists (Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia, January 26-28, 2004).

Bruce Porter, Poverty and the Courts Keynote Address by invitation of the National Judicial Institute to Judges of the Ontario Superior Court (Niagara Falls, May 7, 2004)

Martha Jackman 

Martha Jackman, Under the Knife? Charter Equality and the Right to Publicly Funded Health Care, (in progress). 

Martha Jackman, Socio-Economic Rights in Canada, in M. Langford, ed.,Socio-Economic Rights Jurisprudence: Emerging Trends in Comparative International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming) (with Bruce Porter). 

Martha Jackman, "The Last Line of Defence for [Which?] Citizens" : Accountability, Equality and the Right to Health in Chaoulli (2006) 44Osgoode Hall L.J. , 349-75. 

Martha Jackman, Reality Checks: Presuming Innocence and Proving Guilt in the Charter Welfare Context , in S. Boyd, G. Brodsky, S. Day & M. Young eds, Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship and Governance(Vancouver: U.B.C. Press, forthcoming). 

Martha Jackman, Commentary: Section 15 can help bring legitimacy to our democracy, (18 August 2006) 26:14 Lawyers Weekly 11. 

Martha Jackman, Sommes nous dignes? Légalité et l'arrêt Gosselin (2006) 15 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law/Revue Femmes et Droit 161-76. 

Martha Jackman, Misdiagnosis or Cure? Charter Review of the Health Care System in C.M. Flood, ed., Just Medicare: What's In, What's Out, How We Decide (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006) 58-79. 

To the top!Martha Jackman, L'égalité réelle dans le contexte des droits linguistiques , in A. Braën, P. Foucher & Y. LeBouthillier, eds,Languages, Consitutionalism and Minorities/Langues, constitutionnalisme et minorités (Toronto: Butterworths, 2006) 629-34. 

Martha Jackman, Canadian Charter Equality at Twenty: Reflections of a Card-carrying Member of the Court Party (Dec.2005-Jan.2006) 27:1 Policy Options 72-77. 

Martha Jackman, Section 7 of the Charter Charter and Health-Care Spending, in G.P. Marchildon, T. McIntosh & P.-G. Forest eds, The Fiscal Sustainability of Health Care in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004) 110-136. 

Martha Jackman, L'article 7 de la Charte et les dépenses en soins de santé, dans G.P. Marchildon, T. McIntosh & P.-G. Forest réds, L'avenir fiscal du système de santé canadien, Ottawa, Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa, 2004, 124-53. 

Martha Jackman, The Implications of section 7 of the Charter for Health Care Spending in Canada: Discussion Paper No. 31 (Saskatoon: Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, 2002) 24pp. 

Martha Jackman, Report of the Independent Panel on Access Criteria(Ottawa: Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2002) 99pp. (with Arthur Kroeger, Paul LeBlond, Gordon Munro and David Newhouse). 

Martha Jackman, The Application of the Canadian Charter in the Health Care Context (2001) 9 Health Law Review 22-26.