Make Your Voice - Canada and Racial Justice Change-Making at the United Nations !
Colour of Poverty
For
Immediate Release -
To honour the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change [COP-COC] has released the first ever tool to help Indigenous and community-based groups and individuals in these lands and territories called Canada to bring their equity and racial justice concerns and advocacy efforts more fully into relevant United Nations spaces.
Entitled “Make Your Voice - Canada and Racial Justice Change-Making at the United Nations,” the guide – available in both English and French – has been created by COP-COC to provide an overview of the relevant UN bodies and structures, as well as key UN Committees that are tasked with monitoring the implementation of various racial justice related international covenants by state members, including Canada.
“The UN and the international human rights instruments play a critical role not only in the shaping of domestic human rights laws in Canada, they also help set the standards against which to measure the Canadian government’s efforts to protect and promote human rights,” said Shalini Konanur - Clinic Director of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, and Steering Committee member of COP-COC. “However, community groups concerned with racial inequalities in Canada are not often engaged in the UN process, either due to the lack of familiarity or the lack of resources. In releasing this new tool, we hope to help break down some of the barriers to accessing these critical UN spaces,” added Debbie Douglas – Executive Director of OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and Steering Committee member COP-COC.
“Taken together these UN mechanisms can be powerful tools to hold our governments to account when it comes to addressing concerns faced by Indigenous Peoples, peoples of colour and other marginalized communities,” said Samya Hasan – Executive Director of the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, and Steering Committee member of COP-COC. “Indeed, through its UN lobbying efforts, COP-COC has secured recommendations from various of these bodies for the collection of race-based data, interrupting child forced marriage, and putting a stop to the immigration detention of children. In turn, COP-COC relies on these UN recommendations to push both the federal and provincial governments in Canada to resolve these and other long-standing issues of racial injustice,” added michael kerr – Coordinator of Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change.
Apart from describing the various UN monitoring mechanisms through the Human Rights Council and expert committees, the COP-COC tool also provides a step-by-step guide on how to produce shadow reports to air community concerns, and links to other relevant and helpful resources that community groups can rely on, should they choose to access the UN system.
While there are no shortage of UN guides out there, the tool created by COP-COC is the first of its kind that targets the specific challenges and needs of racialized communities in Canada – both Indigenous Peoples and peoples of colour. As Canada grapples with rising hate and racism, this COP-COC tool is sure to become that much more timely, useful and relevant. With the release of our tool, COP-COC wishes to enhance community-based capacity to engage in our shared work of building a Canada that is free of racial inequalities and racial injustice.
For more information, please contact:
Shalini Konanur – 416-487-6371 ext 40
Samya Hasan – 416-932-1359
Amy Casipullai – OCASI – 416-524-4950
COP-COC Steering Committee –
Access Alliance Multicultural Health & Community Services
Black Legal Action Centre
Canadian Arab Federation
Chinese and South East Asian Legal Clinic
Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter
Council of Agencies Serving South Asians
Hispanic Development Council
Karuna Community Services
La Passerelle – I.D.E.
Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto
Midaynta Community Services
OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Punjabi Community Health Services
South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
The Neighbourhood Organization
Urban Alliance on Race Relations
Academic Partner: Professor Grace Edward Galabuzi, TMU
Coordinator
Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change
# 505 - 123 Edward St.
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1E2 Canada
Phone - 416-966-3882
Fax - 416-971-6780
E-mail - kerr.m...@gmail.com
Web-site - www.colourofpoverty.ca
Colour of Change Network - https://groups.google.ca/group/ColourofChangeNetwork
YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/colourofpoverty
Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/colourofpoverty.colourofchange
Twitter - @colourofpoverty #racesEDJ