Submissions and Statements

2023 Submissions

June 1, 2023

Input on the country visit to Canada of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.

Submitted by Legal Assistance of Windsor, FCJ Refugee Centre, Alliance for Gender Justice in Migration, Collaborative Network to End Exploitation, and Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

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Universal Periodic Review

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Stakeholder Report

We thank the UN for the opportunity to participate in the UPR process. The following recommendations reflect the voices of survivors. We hope they will remind Canada of its human rights obligations—especially those related to gender-based violence.

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2022 Submissions

2022 Statements

Written Brief to Status of Women Committee on Intimate Partner Violence and Domestic Violence in Canada

December 12, 2022

Joint statement urging the federal government to take immediate action on reforms to Canada’s EI social insurance system.

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December 6, 2022

Joint Statement in solidarity with Indigenous families mourning the murder of four Indigenous women.

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2020 Submissions

United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women’s Call for submissions: COVID-19 and the increase of domestic violence against women (June 2020)

This submission has been prepared through the collaboration of leaders, experts, and researchers from a number of frontline and advocacy organizations, including Deepa Mattoo and Alina Butt from the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Lise Martin and Krys Maki from Women’s Shelters Canada, Raji Mangat from West Coast LEAF, Anjum Sultana from YWCA Canada, Suki Beavers from the National Association of Women and the Law, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

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Government’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic (June 2020)

We are pleased to provide the following recommendations to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disability, in relation to the Government’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic. We would like to thank Parliament for their quick, emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the efforts that have been made through the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan to support the Canadians left most vulnerable by this global health crisis.

 

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Submissions to the UN SRVAW thematic report on rape as a violation and gender-based violence against women grave and systematic human rights (May 2020)

Family Law Reform in Ontario: increasing safety for women and children and bringing more consistency between the Children’s Law Reform Act and the Divorce Act (January 2020)

The Clinic is pleased to provide the following recommendations for amending the Children’s Law Reform Act to assist women who are accessing Ontario’s family law legal system for safe and fair resolutions following family breakdown. We believe the following recommendations will increase safety for women and children. In addition, we believe these recommendations will bring more clarity and consistency to the family law system overall for all women, regardless of whether they are married or seeking a divorce.

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2019

Submission to the UN Commission on the Status of Women

The Clinic’s submission pertains to Section 108(1) (a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in which a “claim for refugee protection shall be rejected, and a person is not a Convention refugee or a person in need of protection,” if, “the person has voluntarily reavailed themself of the protection of their country of nationality.”  The Act, in our experience, discriminates against women who are victims of domestic violence in failing to consider the lived realities of these individuals and by not reflecting a gender-sensitive based approach.

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Submissions to the UN SRVAW thematic report on rape as a violation and gender-based violence against women grave and systematic human rights

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Submission to the UN Commission on the Status of Women regarding the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The Clinic’s submission pertains to Section 108(1) (a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in which a “claim for refugee protection shall be rejected, and a person is not a Convention refugee or a person in need of protection,” if, “the person has voluntarily reavailed themself of the protection of their country of nationality.”  The Act, in our experience, discriminates against women who are victims of domestic violence in failing to consider the lived realities of these individuals and by not reflecting a gender-sensitive based approach.

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Feedback to Continuing Committee of Officials on Human Rights (CCOHR) Protocol

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2016

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