Exactly what that pattern entails, however, is a matter for debate as one Geneva-based NGO says Canada is being repeatedly targeted for political reasons, which others say the issue is the Conservative government's dismissal of the UN human rights system.
On Monday, the UN's human rights chief joined her voice to the growing chorus of concern about Canada's human rights record by blasting Quebec's anti-protest law.
"Moves to restrict freedom of assembly in many parts of the world are alarming," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a major speech in Geneva.
"In the context of student protests, I am disappointed by the new legislation that passed in Quebec that restricts their rights to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly."
The Conservative government immediately responded by deploying Industry Minister Christian Paradis to dismiss Pillay's criticism and launch a sharp attack inside and outside Parliament.
"We have a strong judicial system in this country that actually allows citizens to challenge laws when they feel they cannot be constitutional," Paradis told the House of Commons. "It is indeed strange that the high commissioner would make such remarks given the dire situations in Syria, Iran, Belarus and Sri Lanka."
This latest exchange comes only a few weeks after a UN panel criticized the Harper government for its treatment of alleged war criminals and changes to the refugee system during a routine review, and a month after the visit of a special rapporteur on food.
In both instances, the Conservative government argued the UN should be focused on the countless problems and egregious human rights violations occurring in other parts of the globe.
Some ministers went further by alleging the criticisms were little more than politically-motivated meddling, while one Conservative backbencher called on the government to review Canada's membership in the UN.
The Harper government has earned a reputation of being highly skeptical of the UN's various human rights agencies, said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the right-wing, Geneva-based NGO UN Watch.
This, he alleged, has made it easy for other countries as well as domestic groups in Canada to approach the UN with complaints and requests for studies and investigations about its rights record.
"The word is out among certain UN circles that the current Canadian government has not drank the Kool-Aid on a number of UN positions," Neuer said. "Therefore it's easy to burn Canada, and ideologically it fits.
"I would assume that the law in Quebec did not just happen to cross their desks," he added. "I would bet dollars to doughnuts that some Canadian groups approached the relevant UN officials."
Neuer acknowledged there may be problems with Quebec's Bill 78, which places restrictions and limitations on protests in the province, but for the UN human rights chief to raise the issue as it is working its way through the courts is "hasty, excessive and out of proportion."
At the same time, he said, it sends the wrong message when a country like Canada is criticized while others with poor human rights records aren't mentioned.
But for human rights activists, the pattern that has emerged is not one of the UN repeatedly attacking Canada in recent months. Rather, they see an unprecedented effort by the Conservative government to launch personal attacks and an undermining of the UN human rights system.
"I did not see any dispute of the facts that (the special rapporteur on food) presented," said Diana Bronson, executive director of Food Secure Canada. "I saw a dismissal of his report, and I saw a personal attack. But I did not see any dispute on the facts that he presented."
"What we need to hear and see from Canada, rather than them attacking the message or ridiculing the process or even delegitimizing the process, is to simply engage in a genuine manner with respect to the substance," said Amnesty International Canada secretary-general Alex Neve.
"Sadly, there are far too few countries that do engage with UN human rights reviews in that sort of way, but Canada is precisely the country that should be modelling the very best practice on this front."
Source: calgary herald
Author: Lee Berthiaume
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