Poverty as a Human Rights Violation (Except in Governmental Anti-poverty Strategies)
Author | Vincent Greason |
Profession | Coordinator |
Pages | 107-127 |
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chapter 3
POVERTY AS A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
(EXCEPT IN GOVERNMENTAL
ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGIES)
Vincent Greason*1
A. INTRODUCTION
Poverty is a fundamental violation of the human rights of the poor. To be
poor means to have substandard housing or bad teeth, an empty fridge
or recurring sickness, or to be aicted by a myriad of other, often com-
bined, situations that affect one’s ability to live as “fully human.” A series
of human rights th at are recognized by States in various internat ional and
domestic instruments are ignored, violated, and shunted aside as govern-
ments entrench themselves within a “balanced budget” logic. This is the
political context in which a majority of Canadian provinces have decided
to “fight poverty” — it also fra mes the new human rights paradigm with in
which we currently find ourselves.
As of December 2010, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Q uebec, Ontario, and Manitoba have adopted formal anti-povert y
strategies.2 Five of these are rooted in legislation, whereas Newfoundland
* Coordinator, Table ronde des organ ismes volontaires d ’éducation populai re de
l’Outaoua is (TROVEPO) and Resea rch Partner in the SSH RC-CURA Resea rch Project
“Reconceiving Social Rights Practice,” online: www.socialrightscura.ca.
1 I wish to acknowled ge the financial s upport of the (now defunct) Commu nity-
University Rese arch Alliance (CU RA) program of t he Social Sciences and Hu manities
Research Counc il of Canada. I wou ld also like to acknowled ge the invaluable resea rch
assista nce of Stephanie Chalou lt, student at the Faculty of L aw, University of Ottawa.
2 Nun avut launched a formal a nti-poverty strate gy in October 2010. Given the
constitution al differences between prov inces and territor ies, we have chosen not to
108► vincent greason
and Labrador has chosen a non-legislative route. Quebec was fi rst to adopt
such a strategy. Between 1995 and 2002, a unique citizens’ movement cen-
tred on the Collectif pour une loi sur l ’élimination de la pauvreté3 gat hered
the support of hundreds of thousands of citizens and 1,600 civil society
groups who urged the Quebec government to adopt a law to eliminate
poverty. Following a massive popular education campaign in the spring of
2002, a citizens’ assembly made up of dozens of delegates from civ il society
groups across Quebec voted for a peoples’law to eliminate poverty, and
several months later, 215,316 petitions in support of this demand4 were pre-
sented to Quebec’s National Assembly.
In December 2002, the Act to Combat Poverty, which contained sev-
eral of the popular law’s recommendations, was unanimously adopted by
the National Assembly.5 Two comprehensive five-year action plans to fight
poverty followed in 2004 and 2010.6
include it in our study.
3 A n Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclu sion, RSQ c L-7 [Act to Combat Pove rty].
Following the adopt ion of Quebec’s law, the Collectif pour u ne loi sur l’élim ination
de la pauvreté cha nged its name to Collect if pour un Québec san s pauvreté [Collecti ].
4 T hat is in support of the pr inciple of a law to elimin ate poverty, not specifical ly
in support of the content of t he popular law. The “popul ar law” was redacted b y
progressive jur ists and reflected the cont ent that the Collectif wou ld have liked to see
in a “law to eli minate poverty.”
5 Act to Comb at Poverty, above note 3. Francois Aubr y & Christia ne Plamondon, “The
Québec Act to Combat Pover ty and Social Exclusion:How Does it Tackle t he Situation
of People with Disa bilities?” (10 June 2010), online: CCD www.ccdonline.ca [Au bry &
Plamondon]. In the foreword to Aubr y and Plamondon’s article, Luc ie Dumais and
Yves Vaillancour t make the followin g statement: “ . . . [t]he fact that th is law had been
democratica lly co-construct ed before its adoption, both in ci vil and political s ocieties,
has allowed it to ac quire greater inst itutional strengt h and durability t han if it had
been the work of a single pol itical party a nd had not been strongly rooted i n civil
society” (ibid at 2). Therefore , they take sides on an iss ue that has profoundly d ivided
Quebec’s anti-povert y movement: Was the Act to Combat Poverty co -constructed?
Or was it the Quebe c government’s calculate d political response to a p olitically
opportuni stic issue? The fact t hat the Collectif un abashedly welcomed the pas sage of
the Act to Combat Povert y certainly pai nted it into a proverbial corner and l imited its
role as a critica l intervener in the ongoing deb ates concerning the implement ation of
the law.
6 Government of Quebec , Reconciling Freedom and Social Just ice: A Challenge for the
Future (2004–2010) (April 2004), onl ine: MESS www.mess.gouv.qc.c a; Government of
Quebec, Combating Pover ty and Social Exclusion: A Pr iority for Québec (2010–2014) (Ju ne
2010), online: MESS www.mess.gouv.qc.ca [Que bec, Combating Poverty].
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