“Canada should be at the forefront of human rights enforcement. Bill C-331 sends a clear message that citizens who have claims that cannot be heard elsewhere can come to the Canadian courts to have their human right claims heard. It is a tragedy that this Parliament declined to send that message today,� said Mark Rowlinson.
The bill would have given non-citizens the ability to bring civil suits to Canadian federal courts for clear violations of Indigenous peoples’ rights, international labour, environmental and basic human rights committed outside of Canada, such as degrading treatment, arbitrary arrest, human trafficking, kidnapping, infliction of emotional distress, genocide, war crimes, and other labour, environmental and human rights violations. Bill C-331 would have applied only in cases where no fair and impartial justice systems are available to the wronged party domestically.