#WhyRights in the pursuit to end poverty in Canada? CWP board member, Laura Cattari, continues our blog series with her perspective on rights as a person with lived experience of poverty. Check it out here.
#WhyRights? So that we can all feel we belong
By Laura Cattari, Vice President of CWP Board of Directors
So often, I’ve been known as simply a case number and an expendable budget line item. It’s because of this that I so firmly rely on promoting, and happily celebrate, the 50th anniversary of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Rights, like those enshrined within the ICESCR, define my humanity in a way that the Canadian government can respond to. They re-enforce the idea of a social contract between governments and their citizens; they are accountable for this – they are accountable to me.
The history of these rights is so important. Human rights were born of the atrocities of WWII. With hindsight we saw the devastation and genocide that withholding these rights could produce. We in Canada today cannot fathom our government behaving in such a way.
Yet when we identify groups that ‘can do with less’ – those with disabilities, the elderly, lone parent families, newcomers and our First Nations communities – we re-enforce the discriminatory idea that not all of us have equal value as humans. This re-enforcement of inequality comes not so much through ideology but through the allocation of resources.
As a person who has now lived with disability for over a decade, the full realization of these rights would have a tremendous impact on my life. And although an adequate standard of living (that provided for shelter, food and clothing) is necessary for survival and health, the idea of full participation in society is what living is all about. My reason #WhyRights is about the opportunity to be able to participate and live fully in my community. I believe that Canada can fulfill its obligations and bring all of us to a point where we can feel “I belong”.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU #WhyRights?
As we build up to Human Rights Day next Thursday, we want to know why human rights matter to you in the pursuit to end poverty. Is there a particular benefit of a human rights approach that you think is important? Accountability? Effectiveness? Empowerment?
Share your opinion by tweeting your reason with the hashtag #WhyRights !
