December 10, 2007

Quality public services essential to protecting, promoting human rights

This December 10, International Human Rights Day, the PSAC would like to reaffirm our commitment to defending quality public services and human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the equal right to social security and is entitled to realization of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for dignity and the free development of personality. Our union believes that quality public services have been instrumental in ensuring this right for all Canadians.  Unfortunately, the current government is aggressively dismantling the very systems that promoted human rights in Canada by cutting and privatizing quality public services.  As defenders of social justice for all, we cannot stand idly by and allow this to happen.

In the two years that it has been in power, the Harper Conservative government has pushed an anti-equality agenda that reversed the gains Canadians have made in the area of human rights.  It has eliminated the Court Challenges Program that granted the most marginalized Canadians access to the courts to challenge unequal laws. It has made major cuts and changes at Status of Women Canada that severely limits or obstructs services to women and children. It cancelled the federal-provincial child care agreements which eliminated universal access to quality childcare for all.  It has cancelled the Kelowna Accord and withdrawn Canada’s support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Persons, effectively turning its back on Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples. It has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And the list goes on.

This government maintains the Anti-Terrorism Act and continues further harmonization of security measures with the U.S., eroding fundamental legal rights and civil liberties for which Canada held the highest of reputations internationally as being a strong advocate. It conveniently uses the “war on terror” to increase investigative and surveillance powers of security and police forces while decreasing obligations for civilian scrutiny and public accountability. 

Canadian civil society faces a tougher struggle to protect and promote human rights. This year, to commemorate International Human Rights Day, the PSAC calls on all its members to firm up their resolve and commitment to fight for quality public services. They are essential to ensuring that we not only regain what we’ve lost but also forge ahead in our collective endeavour to building “a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Preamble). 

PSAC members can express their commitment by telling their Members of Parliament to restore and strengthen quality public services because access to education, healthcare and programs that promote economic security are intrinsically linked to our human rights and to ensure that these human rights and our civil liberties are not infringed upon under the guise of a “national security” agenda.