CANADA’S SHAMEFUL POSITION
ON THE RIGHT TO WATER
Once again, on the international
stage, the Canadian government
has played the role
of the bully on human rights,
challenging other countries,
standing firm and articulating
a lonely position.
Does this sound like the other times
Canada has stood out on human rights
and social justice issues? Is it similar to
when we stood alone on banning landmines,
securing an international treaty?
Or when we asked others to join us on
the expanded idea of United Nations
peacekeeping? No, unfortunately, this
time is much different. Today, Canada
isn’t being praised for its courage.
Instead, our country is being criticized
for its obstinacy.
Canada is blocking recognition of the
human right to water – an issue that
affects billions of people who live without
access to safe, clean water. Canada
first took this position in 2002 in a
vote at the Human Rights Commission.
In March, our country confirmed
its stance at the new Human Rights
Council by leading the efforts to gut a
resolution on the right to water.
Why would Canada, a country blessed
by more than our share of water and an
international reputation for supporting
human rights, take this stand? We have
few supporters on this at the international
level, beyond the United States.
Simply put, the Canadian government
argues that acknowledging the human
right to water would result in a loss
of sovereign control over our resources,
and lead to water exports to the
United States. There is absolutely no
basis for this argument, and the UN
resolution that Canada fought hard
against – and in the end successfully
weakened – explicitly stated that it
did not relate to transboundary
water issues.
The reality is that the greatest risk
to our water has always been trade
agreements such as NAFTA, which
do entrench this position and limit
our ability to block transboundary
water transfers.
Supporting the human right to water
does not increase the risk of imposed
water exports. In fact, it does the
opposite, because the U.S. has not even
signed the UN Covenant on Economic
Social and Cultural Rights, the main
international treaty that encompasses
the human right to water. The U.S.
rarely acknowledges any international
human rights instruments, so the U.S.
government would be hard pressed
to invoke them to make a claim on
Canadian water.
As the largest per capita user of water
in the world, the U.S. could also not
claim water scarcity as a human rights
issue. In the United States, water use is
unsustainable because of huge drains
on ancient aquifers and because massive
cities have been built in deserts. The
U.S. has more than enough water for
personal and domestic uses, which is
all that the human right to water
covenant considers.
Beyond removing water from all trade
agreements – something the Council of
Canadians has consistently called for –
the provision of water as a human right,
coupled with recognition of water as
part of the commons and a public trust,
would go the farthest toward protecting
Canadian water and lead to the equitable
and sustainable use of our water.
Canada has very clear obligations to
human rights and stewardship that
we are not meeting. If Canada does
not address the lack of planning, poor
management and outright abuse of our
water, we will soon find ourselves in a
situation similar to that of other countries
that do not have the same access
to water we currently enjoy. For many
suffering boil-water advisories, or who
have lived through water crises like
Walkerton, or the ongoing struggle for
clean water in our Native communities,
the reality of not having access to
clean water is not some future prospect.
The Great Lakes are under threat, the
glaciers are disappearing and drought is
more than something your grandparents
talked about.
We must respect the human right
to water and implement a national
water policy if we are to protect water
in Canada for future generations.
Without dealing with these fundamental
inconsistencies related to our denial
of the human right to water, this will
continue to be a stain on our international
reputation.
Anil Naidoo is the Project Organizer for the
Council of Canadians’ Blue Planet Project.
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