THERE ARE GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS EVERY DAY IN CANADA, and federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions are all culpable.  This despite the persistent claims that Canada champions human rights everywhere.  Yes, everywhere but here?

That’s why OPCAT!

The last entry in this space dedicated to this apparently alarming United Nations protocol is dated January 7 of 2024.  Like two earlier postings and several other references, our government is urged to ratify OPCAT to back up our human rights guarantees.  More than ninety countries are on board.  Several have stepped forward to ask Canada to do the same.  We haven’t.  As an aside, the United States has also declined to take part, but that is no surprise.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) was adopted by the United Nations on August 14, 2006.  That’s correct.  2006!  It complimented the Convention Against Torture (CAT), referred to as the “Mandela Rules,” adopted by the UN in December of 1984 and which came into force in June of 1987 after 20 countries, including Canada, ratified it.

So, what does OPCAT do?
It sets up a routine of regular, independent visits to places of detention (i.e. immigration, military, and juvenile detention centers, prisons, police stations, psychiatric hospitals, and any place where people might be deprived of their liberty under public authority).
National and international bodies visit with a goal to preventing abuse and ill-treatment of detainees.
OPCAT further establishes independent National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) to monitor places of detention and make recommendations to governments.
OPCAT’s intent is to protect people who are deprived of their freedom, help to prevent the most serious human rights’ violations, and holds states accountable in a non-combative way.

Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger and the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s Charlotte-Anne Malischewski wrote four federal government ministers and several civil servants on November 1, 2023, urging them to finally ratify OPCAT.  (See OPCAT! OPCAT! OPCAT! from December 3, 2023, and Reasoning for OPCAT dated January 7, 2024).  They may have received responses but there’s been no action.

Deputy Minister Shawn Tupper’s December 14, 2023, letter to this writer, reviewed in the January 7 posting, proves the necessity for OPCAT.  It lists the laws and policies Canada already has in place to guard human rights.  In practice they do not prevent violations.  Mr. Tupper lapses into political double-speak when he writes, “consideration of Canada’s potential accession to the OPCAT is ongoing.  Consultations have previously been undertaken, and efforts continue to be explored within the Government of Canada to work through the range of policy and implementation considerations.”  Since 2006, Shawn?

Let’s look at one example of OPCAT’s potential.

In 2019, the government passed an amendment to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act which abolished the use of “administrative segregation” (solitary confinement) in federal prisons and replaced it with “structured intervention units” (SIUs), meant to reduce prisoner isolation and increase out-of-cell time with specified meaningful human contact.  This change was prompted by government losses in both the Ontario and B.C. Courts of Appeal, which ruled that the status quo violated the Charter.

The government wanted to avoid a further certain loss in the Supreme Court of Canada, and given the possibility that the proposed legislation would be ruled inadequate, a ‘rigorous’ review requirement was added to the bill.  The government “must” undertake a comprehensive review of the legislation starting in 2023.  The law doesn’t say “may” but “must.”  It’s now 2025 and the “must” that Parliament legislated to begin in 2023 hasn’t started yet.

You must follow the law.  If you are charged with a crime, you must show up in court…even if it is inconvenient.  Not appearing may lead to a further criminal charge, and 45 per cent of Canadians who are found guilty of failing to appear in court go to prison.  It seems things are different when the law requires Parliament to inconvenience itself, especially when it is politically inconvenient.

Further, this legislation set up a 10-member Structured Intervention Units Implementation Advisory Panel with a mandate expiring on December 31, 2024.  The group was chaired by former Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers and included Professors Anthony Doob and Jane Sprott, and John Howard Society of Canada executive director Catherine Latimer, all seasoned observers of our carceral system.

The panel’s title explains its purpose.  12 reports were issued during its term, and all underscored the extent to which the purpose of the law is not being achieved.  The use of solitary confinement persists throughout the prison system, and vulnerable groups are especially at risk of experiencing its negative effects.  Many prisoners are treated in ways the courts have prohibited because they violate the UN Nelson Mandela Rules.

You would think our government would be eager to obey the law, carry out the required review and initiate improvements.  You’d be wrong.

OPCAT could not order the Canadian government to follow its own laws, or to make changes in how prisoners are treated, but OPCAT would put Canada on notice internationally.

This is but one instance where OPCAT will work to keep Canada honest.

There are government sanctioned human rights violations every day in Canada.