National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL)

This document is a nongovernmental report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. It includes information on violations of the rights of Aboriginal women focusing on a legal analysis of the protection of property and cultural rights and an examination of Aboriginal women's right to self-determination. The report also specifically identifies which articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights have been violated by the Canadian government. [Descriptors: Indigenous Women, Canada]

This brief uses a human rights approach to analyze the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of 2001. One of the key recommendations within the report is the necessity of a gender-based analysis of the particular changes to the law. As well, the report notes that the new legislation fails to incorporate many of the regional and international human rights treaties to which Canada is a signatory. Areas of immigration law discussed in the report include family class, sponsorship regime, humanitarian and compassionate considerations, gender-based persecution, and human trafficking.

This report to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) examines the specific living conditions of Canadian women in order to assess the areas in which their social, economic and cultural rights have been violated. The report begins with a discussion of the rights of equality and the importance of gender analysis in law and policy. The report also provides a detailed discussion of poverty and its gendered impacts. Additional topics discussed include social programs, healthcare and legal aid. There is also a review of inequalities in the Canadian workforce.