In 2017, at the first meeting of federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for human rights in almost 30 years, the ministers committed to “strengthening Canada's implementation of social and economic rights” and “reaffirmed their commitment to the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights.” Almost a decade has passed and nothing has been done to implement that commitment.
Treaty monitoring bodies and states participating in Canada's Universal Periodic Reviews have repeatedly recommended stronger national mechanisms for implementation, reporting and follow-up, and civil society organizations have worked for many years to press for these changes. These efforts are described here.
There are particular systemic concerns, however, with respect to Canada's failure to implement economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights. Domestic legislation such as human rights legislation in Canada tends to focus on non-discrimination as a civil and political right and the rights that are explicitly included in the Canadian Charter are generally thought of as civil and political rights. ESC rights require courts to interpret Charter rights such as the right to life or the right to equality correctly, consistently with Canada's international human rights obligations as requiring positive measures to address socio-economic inequality and deprivation, and ESC rights require governments to implement their obligations through new legislation, strategies, funding agreements and accountability mechanisms.
The crisis of homelessness, poverty, food insecurity and lack of access to health care, water, sanitation and other ESC rights are not simply policy failures. They reflect a systemic human rights crisis directly linked to the denial of access to justice and accountability for ESC rights.
Human rights bodies have recommended three critical areas of action required to address the ESC rights crisis in Canada. Action in all three areas is urgently required.
1. Access to Justice, Effective Remedies and Legislation
Canada must adopt legislation giving domestic effect to economic, social and cultural rights and ensuring access to effective remedies. Treaty bodies have recommended stronger legislative protection for these rights, including express reference to social, economic and cultural rights in human rights legislation, enforceability through provincial and territorial measures, and effective remedies for Covenant rights in every relevant jurisdiction.
- CESCR 1993, E/C.12/1993/5, paras. 21 and 25
The Committee was concerned that social and economic rights were being treated as “policy objectives” rather than fundamental human rights, called for more effective legal remedies for Covenant rights, and recommended more explicit reference to social, economic and cultural rights in human rights legislation.
- CESCR 1998, E/C.12/1/Add.31, paras. 51 and 52
The Committee urged governments to expand human rights legislation to include social and economic rights and warned that economic and social rights should not be downgraded to “principles and objectives” in federal-provincial-territorial agreements.
- CESCR 2006, E/C.12/CAN/CO/4; E/C.12/CAN/CO/5, para. 40
“The State party should take immediate steps, including legislative measures, to create and ensure effective domestic remedies for all Covenant rights in all relevant jurisdictions.”
- CESCR 2016, E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, para. 6
The Committee recommended adopting legislative measures to give full effect to Covenant rights in Canadian law and ensure that victims have access to effective remedies.
2. Federal-Provincial-Territorial Agreements and Funding Conditions
The realization of economic, social and cultural rights requires serious intergovernmental cooperation based on shared commitments to obligations under ratified international human rights treaties. Treaty bodies have urged Canada to incorporate economic, social and cultural rights into intergovernmental agreements and legislation enabling municipal action, to identify responsibilities for implementing Covenant rights in funding and other agreements, and to make federal transfers or fiscal arrangements conditional on compliance with human rights obligations.
- CESCR 2016, E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, paras. 7 and 8
The Committee recommended that funding and other agreements with provinces, territories and municipalities identify responsibilities for implementing Covenant rights, and that federal transfer payments take account of compliance with Covenant rights.
- CRPD 2025, CRPD/C/CAN/CO/2-3, para. 8(a)
The Committee recommended legally defined mechanisms to ensure Convention compliance by all provinces and territories and recommended conditioning federal fiscal transfers on adherence to the Convention.
- CRPD 2025, CRPD/C/CAN/CO/2-3, para. 67(a)
The Committee recommended an intergovernmental mechanism to coordinate effective CRPD implementation federally and in provinces and territories, with public reporting on progress.
3. Charter Litigation and Interpretation
The Canadian Charter has been recognized as the primary vehicle for implementing international human rights, but governments have repeatedly urged courts not to interpret the rights to life, security of the person or equality as including economic, social and cultural rights obligations, even where life and security are clearly at risk. Treaty bodies have therefore urged Canadian governments to promote interpretations of the Charter and other domestic law that are consistent with the Covenant and to review litigation strategies to ensure conformity with international human rights obligations by ensuring access to justice and effective remedies.
UN treaty bodies have recommended that government lawyers be instructed to advance positions aligned with access to justice and effective remedies for all human rights. They have expressed concerns about Canada's arguments in cases such as Toussaint v Canada and climate change litigation arguing that the right to life does not require positive measures to protect life, including by addressing homelessness, climate change, access to health care and poverty.
- CESCR 1998, E/C.12/1/Add.31, para. 50
“The Committee urges the federal, provincial and territorial governments to adopt positions in litigation which are consistent with their obligation to uphold the rights recognized in the Covenant.”
- CESCR 2006, E/C.12/CAN/CO/4; E/C.12/CAN/CO/5, para. 41
The Committee reiterated that governments should promote interpretations of the Charter and other domestic law consistent with the Covenant.
- CESCR 2016, E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, para. 6
The Committee recommended implementing Canada's commitment to review litigation strategies to foster justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights, engaging civil society and Indigenous organizations, and broadening interpretation of Charter sections 7, 12 and 15 to include those rights.
- UPR 2018, A/HRC/39/11, recs. 142.149 and 142.151
States recommended that Canada ensure the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights and interpret the Charter consistently with the interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights, including access to food, health and adequate housing.
- UN Human Rights Committee 2026, CCPR/C/CAN/CO/7, para. 31
The Committee expressed concern about Canada's position that the right to life does not, or would not, create positive obligations.