Dec 10: OFL Statement on International Human Rights Day
Tomorrow, we mark the most important statement ever to be formulated by the United Nations with a commitment to champion it. As the Harper government continues its assault on the most meaningful aspirations of Canadians and residents, it has been left to the labour movement and progressive organizations and activists to ensure that “inherent dignity” and “the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” become a reality.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted unanimously by all world governments in 1948, is so powerful that populations cite it and rely on it to protect them from state violence, genocide and deprivation.
Yet, in Attawapiskat today, and on more than 100 reserves across the country, deprivation is the reality. The Harper’s government’s response to the terrible housing and health crisis in Attawapiskat, and the call for help, was to shame the very people that it has victimized. In a throwback to the darkest period of our history, the Harper government imposed its third-party financial manager, a modern day “Indian Agent” to take control of the band’s finances.
Meanwhile, chiefs from across the country have passed a resolution to ask the UN for help and some spontaneously took to the streets of Ottawa this week to demonstrate their anger at the federal government’s response.
Indeed, millions of Canadians – Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – are increasingly becoming victims of the Harper government’s right-wing policies and practices that are driving them into poverty and depriving them of any realization of one of the basic tenets of the declaration: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being.
The labour market experience for peoples of colour is shaped by persistent racism and results in higher poverty rates and lower pay. Sexism and racial discrimination pack a double wallop for racialized women in Ontario. Even before the economic meltdown of 2008, women made 53.4 cents for every dollar non-racialized men made in 2005.
Explicitly listed in Article 23 is the right to form and join trade unions; yet, Canada and Ontario continue to thwart agriculture workers’ attempts to unionize. Without it, the men and women who harvest our food and feed our families will continue to face fear, danger and oppression as their daily realities. Despite the compelling need - and the UN’s International Labour Organization’s finding that both Canada and Ontario were in violation of basic human rights’ provisions - the ban remains.
In the face of mounting violations of the declaration and the theft of trillions of dollars of public money by financial institutions and governments, Occupy movements have flourished. Thousands in Canada and millions of people worldwide have provided inspiration to all of us. Their messages of equality, fairness and hope are powerful reminders of what we can accomplish collectively in our efforts to fundamentally restructure our world to ensure that all people are able to live up to their full human potential.
This year, it is our collective challenge to make the words of the International Declaration of Human Rights come alive again.
Related Web Sites:
http://www.Twitter.com/OntarioLabour
http://www.Facebook.com/OntarioFedLabour
cope343
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted unanimously by all world governments in 1948, is so powerful that populations cite it and rely on it to protect them from state violence, genocide and deprivation.
Yet, in Attawapiskat today, and on more than 100 reserves across the country, deprivation is the reality. The Harper’s government’s response to the terrible housing and health crisis in Attawapiskat, and the call for help, was to shame the very people that it has victimized. In a throwback to the darkest period of our history, the Harper government imposed its third-party financial manager, a modern day “Indian Agent” to take control of the band’s finances.
Meanwhile, chiefs from across the country have passed a resolution to ask the UN for help and some spontaneously took to the streets of Ottawa this week to demonstrate their anger at the federal government’s response.
Indeed, millions of Canadians – Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – are increasingly becoming victims of the Harper government’s right-wing policies and practices that are driving them into poverty and depriving them of any realization of one of the basic tenets of the declaration: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being.
The labour market experience for peoples of colour is shaped by persistent racism and results in higher poverty rates and lower pay. Sexism and racial discrimination pack a double wallop for racialized women in Ontario. Even before the economic meltdown of 2008, women made 53.4 cents for every dollar non-racialized men made in 2005.
Explicitly listed in Article 23 is the right to form and join trade unions; yet, Canada and Ontario continue to thwart agriculture workers’ attempts to unionize. Without it, the men and women who harvest our food and feed our families will continue to face fear, danger and oppression as their daily realities. Despite the compelling need - and the UN’s International Labour Organization’s finding that both Canada and Ontario were in violation of basic human rights’ provisions - the ban remains.
In the face of mounting violations of the declaration and the theft of trillions of dollars of public money by financial institutions and governments, Occupy movements have flourished. Thousands in Canada and millions of people worldwide have provided inspiration to all of us. Their messages of equality, fairness and hope are powerful reminders of what we can accomplish collectively in our efforts to fundamentally restructure our world to ensure that all people are able to live up to their full human potential.
This year, it is our collective challenge to make the words of the International Declaration of Human Rights come alive again.
Related Web Sites:
http://www.Twitter.com/OntarioLabour
http://www.Facebook.com/OntarioFedLabour
For More Information:
Patrick (Sid) Ryan, President
p: 416.441.2731 | m: 416.209.0066 | f: 416.441.0722
Toll-free: 1-800-668-9138
Lynn Simmons, Communications Department
p: 416-737-5798 | f: 416-441-1893
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