No lack of pressing cases, concerns, issues and opportunities face PM Trudeau’s new Cabinet of remaining, shuffled and new Ministers. And so much of it is all about human rights. With advice pouring in from all corners, how could I refrain from offering some of my own…

While not much changed in the election, there must now be real change for Hassan Diab. The next Minister of Justice must be mandated to unflinchingly defend his rights and to fix Canada’s flawed Extradition Act.

Today…

According to the prevailing wisdom, foreign policy does not generally feature prominently during Canadian elections. Unfortunately, the 2021 federal campaign bore that out. The crisis in Afghanistan came up, though far less than it merited; there were also passing references to China, including the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, whose return to Canada we now celebrate, as well as the issue of the Chinese government’s genocide against the Uyghur people.

But that’s about it. And there was nothing about the situation in Iran – a major foreign policy issue that is also a significant concern for Canadians, particularly with respect to the continuing fallout from the shooting down of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards at Tehran’s airport on Jan. 8, 2020.

Now that the election is over, however, it is vital that this incident becomes a top priority for the new government.

The election that we are repeatedly reminded no one really wanted, and the election that never really seemed to be about what it needed to be about, is over. And rarely has the result of an election seemingly changed things as little as this one has. All the parties remain in the same order: Liberal, Conservative, Bloc Quebecois, NDP and Green; and their seat counts (not yet finalized) have shifted only very slightly.

But “nothing much changed” cannot be where the story of this election ends.

Quite the contrary, there must now be significant change. And human rights must drive that change like never before.

The rapid spiral of political collapse, military capitulation, insecurity, terrorist attacks, international exodus and chaos in Afghanistan have been staggering. Unsurprisingly, it comes up daily on the election trail, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers fend off criticism about Canada’s response, particularly regarding the many Canadians and those with close Canadian connections still trapped in the country.

What we need to hear now – from all parties – is what action they will take going forward, nationally and internationally, to mount an effective response to a precipitously deteriorating human rights and humanitarian catastrophe. To most Canadians, that is not yet clear.

With a federal election underway, pundits seek to ascertain what the parties will prioritize in their campaigning.

There is no shortage of pressing contenders, including the health and economic dimensions of COVID-19, the climate crisis, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, systemic racism, gender inequality, the digital world, refugee protection, and humanitarian hotspots around the world.

Beyond pledges about such concerns, however, what we need to hear from leaders is full-fledged readiness to uphold human rights. That is the key to meaningful progress with respect to all challenges we face, nationally and globally.

This is no dazzling red and white Canada Day ode to our nation. As many have urged, whatever the nature and validity of past July 1st revelries has been, this year is and must be decidedly different. I could not agree more.

While there is indeed very much that is remarkable and special about our country, this is not a year of celebrating Canada; not a year of patriot love and glowing hearts for the True North strong and free. This is, in fact, a year of both grieving and mourning the very essence of Canada.

That is not to say that it is a year without celebration. But the celebration – and the honouring – is of the determined survival and tremendous strength of First Nations, Inuit and Métis families, communities and their ancestors across the country throughout these 154 years.

For settlers across the country this Canada Day we must reckon with the undeniable reality we have avoided for so very long. Canada was founded in and exists because of genocide. Canada has grown, expanded and thrived on the back of genocide. Canada is a nation of genocide.

Violating human rights by outright suspending and then ignoring them is a sledge-hammer tactic of repression used by governments everywhere. It leads to and perpetuates political and religious persecution, racism, discrimination, arbitrary detention, torture and widespread violations of countless other rights. It insidiously undermines and erodes the fundamentals of freedom and democracy.

Suspending and derogating from rights is something that the Ontario government and all governments in Canada should stand ready to call out and decry around the world; always and without exception. Instead, turning to section 33, when it is clearly not even remotely within the realm of what is anticipated under international human rights norms, gives repressive governments everywhere a free pass.

This particular step of course most directly strikes at the rights of the people of Ontario.

But in undermining international human rights, it weakens the rights of people everywhere.

The wave of grief has been immense following the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of the government-authorized, Catholic Church-run institution in Kamloops that does not deserve to be remembered as either residential or a school.

Finally, Canadians everywhere are coming to terms with the agonizing truth that our country was founded in genocide, the reality of which is still with us.

With that awareness, nothing can be as before.

My journey to anti-racism.

Failings, no doubt. Harms, unfortunately yes. Missed opportunities, certainly. Regret and apology, absolutely but not enough. Imperfect, yes. Clear road ahead, if only.

Ready to learn, eagerly and nervously. Determination, fully and nervously. Humility and growing self-awareness, to that I do commit.

Friendship should indeed be the foundation of Canada’s response to this devastating crisis.

Friendship with Israel and with Palestine. Friendship with Palestinians and Israelis, with Jews and Arabs. Friendship that is not one-sided.

Friendship that does not mask or ignore the truth.

Friendship that puts human rights, for all people, first.

This month’s Federal Court of Appeal ruling, reversing a July 2020 Federal Court judgement that had found that the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is the latest chapter in a determined Canadian government effort going back nearly three decades to shut the Canada/US border down to refugees.

As is so often the case, it was clear that once again governments were retreating to their tendency to view human rights as an unnecessary distraction from the real work that needs doing. Human rights are seen as platitudes, rather than the clear road map they offer.

It is beyond regrettable that a year has been wasted in instituting a human rights framework, including meaningful oversight, for COVID-responses, certainly in Ontario but across the country. In fact, it is a complete dereliction of the most fundamental responsibilities of government.

Will governments finally take that step?

Or will they continue to leave human rights on the wishful-thinking sidelines?

And fail to deliver equality, dignity and safety to their people, all of their people, at one of the most crucial times in recent history.

It defies belief. Or does it?

Ten years ago, on March 15, 2011, thousands of Syrians marched through the streets of Damascus and Aleppo, calling for democracy and freedom for political prisoners. Inspired by the Arab Spring, they condemned the arrest and torture of high school students from Daraa, whose only crime was scribbling “it’s your turn next, doctor” on a wall, in an apparent reference to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The security forces responded by opening fire on the protestors. Teenagers’ graffiti had set into motion a chain of events that would quickly escalate into catastrophic violence.

It was the beginning of the Syrian civil war and the horrific atrocities that have haunted the world’s conscience ever since. Yet the Trudeau government’s recent decision to invoke the UN Convention Against Torture to hold Syria accountable for the Assad regime’s horrific atrocities has given hope to numerous victims of these crimes against humanity that they may witness a glimpse of justice before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague.

This is a historic and courageous step that will profoundly shape Canada’s place in the world community, demonstrating that its commitment to a rules-oriented international order is not a mere platitude.

The global response to the spread of COVID-19 teaches us that, although border closures may be critical to fighting the spread of disease, they cause harm, often irrevocable damage, to many of the world’s most vulnerable, namely refugees and asylum seekers.

At the height of the pandemic, 168 countries fully or partially closed their borders, and among those countries, nearly 90 refused to grant exceptions to asylum-seekers. Even among those who did not close their borders to asylum-seekers, procedures for admitting asylum-seekers, and processing their claims, slowed to a snail’s pace, leaving them in positions of profound insecurity. In many cases, the choice to refuse entry to asylum seekers amounted, in effect, to a violation of international law’s commitment to non-refoulement.

At the level of moral philosophy, these facts force a reckoning.

If governments and the Olympic movement are going to rebuff boycott suggestions it is incumbent upon them to demonstrate they are nonetheless committed to addressing the harrowing human rights backdrop behind the Beijing Games’ fanfare.

This is not playing politics. It is about respecting what the Olympics aspire to be.

Above all, it is about honouring the Uyghur people, the people of Hong Kong, Tibetans, Mongolians, Falun Gong practitioners, democracy campaigners, human rights defenders, journalists, labour activists, imprisoned Canadians, and countless others.

For them, the Olympic flame offers no inspiration or comfort. For them, we must set the flame ablaze with concern, solidarity, and action for human rights.

Generous cheques, good intentions, aspirational words, wishful thinking and serendipity are not enough. Taking a human rights approach requires deliberate and very explicit measures.

What have been missing are concrete and tangible approaches that deliberately adopt human rights principles in keeping with both international and national standards, ensure intersectional analysis and measurement of compliance with those human rights obligations, institute oversight to track implementation, provide public transparency and reporting on human rights results, commit to accountability for human rights failings, and meaningfully involve rights-holders, communities and independent experts at all stages.

That is why, in early days of the pandemic, over 300 wide-ranging Indigenous organizations, civil society groups, former political leader and academics came together in a proposal directed at all levels of government across the country, calling for robust human rights oversight that would encourage adoption of strong human rights measures and guard against intentional or unintended human rights violations.

The proposal was twofold.

As I write, there are 340 days until the flame is set to be lit in Beijing, opening the 2022 Winter Olympics and the Paralympics after that.

We can be absolutely certain that every single one of those 340 days will share one grim reality.

Each day, grave human rights violations will suffocate freedom in Hong Kong; brutalize Tibetan, Falun Gong, pro-democracy and other prisoners held because of who they are or what they believe; and jeopardize the very survival of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities whose plight is increasingly called out as a genocide.

Every day the rest of the world will espouse dismay, lament the inability to stop it, regret that it continues, pretend it is not happening, assert it is not their business, or enthusiastically support the Chinse government.

And each of those days it will continue.

Take just the past week.

Bill C-15 is, of course, Indigenous rights legislation. It is also one of the most important pieces of human rights legislation in a generation. It takes our international human rights obligations seriously, brings those promises home and commits to action to uphold them.

And that should be embraced by us all.