July 9, 1999

Charter Committee on Poverty Issues Welcomes Supreme Court Ruling

The Charter Committee on Poverty Issues applauds the decision released today by the Supreme Court of Canada in Mavis Baker v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

CCPI , one of the interveners in the case, was greatly relieved that the inhumane decision to deport Mavis Baker, a Jamaican single mother with four Canadian born children, was set aside by the Court.

The immigration officer had refused a reconsideration of Ms. Baker’s deportation on "humanitarian and compassionate grounds", writing that:

CCPI considers the decision a tremendous victory, not only for Ms. Baker, but for all poor people in Canada. "The Court condemned the kind of stereotypes people living in poverty face on a daily basis. This will be very important in challenging the discrimination that is so common in our welfare system and elsewhere" Bruce Porter, Co-ordinator of the Charter Committee said today.

The Court found that administrative decision- makers must act in accordance with values articulated in international human rights treaties that Canada has ratified and that the immigration officer failed to consider the "special importance [of] protections for children and childhood" recognized in these treaties. While a two person minority decision rejected the majority’s use of international human rights treaties because it would, indirectly, give force and effect within the domestic legal system to international obligations without incorporation by parliament or legislatures, both the majority and minority decisions emphasized that international law will be "a critical influence on the interpretation of the scope of the rights included in the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms.]"

Professor Craig Scott, international law expert and lawyer for the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues in the case, noted that: "One way or the other, decision-makers will have to give greater consideration to the values and principles of international human rights law, either through the vehicle of the Charter or through their independent effect on statutory interpreation." "While the Court has limited its discussion in this case to children’s rights, it seems to me that the Court is very judiciously giving the government a chance to get its house in order in incorporating international human rights into decision-making - not just in immigration matters but in all areas touched on in international human rights," Professor Scott said.

"We hope that this decision will inaugurate a new era of courts taking international human rights law more seriously, " Porter said. "The courts will have to give full consideration to rights in international law, such as the right to adequate food, clothing and housing, both in interpreting the scope of rights under the Charter and in determining what is a reasonable exercise of discretion in administrative law. This decision mandates the courts to start to address some of the glaring violations of international human rights law related to the extent of poverty and homelessnes. These have been condemned by United Nations Treaty monitoring bodies but ignored by our own courts."

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