Claiming Adjudicative Space: Social Rights, Equality and Citizenship

Abstract

This article argues that rights claims advanced by people living in poverty in Canada must be understood as more than claims to particular remedies. Poverty related claims in the Canadian context should be recognized and celebrated as claims to a legitimate place within the human rights movement in Canada. The claim for adjudicative space for poverty issues remains a central and contentious issue in Canada. Rather than properly situating social rights claims within the framework of human rights values of dignity and equality in participation and rights, courts often view poor people claiming social rights in a prejudicial manner as making purely economic claims for material benefits. By misconstruing social rights claims as illegitimate attempts to involve courts in socio-economic policy, courts have declared poverty issues (and poor people) to be outsiders to the justice system. The author discusses barriers that impede poor people in Canada from having their legitimate rights claims under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provided with a fair hearing, and discusses how discriminatory attitudes toward poor people have informed socio-economic policy decisions. In particular, historic cuts to welfare programs in the 1990s both reflected and fuelled the irrational belief that poverty is caused by laziness and moral irresponsibility at the height of an international recession that was clearly beyond the control of individuals living in poverty. Denied access to fair hearings in Canada, poor people have turned to international fora in the search for adjudicative space for social rights in Canada. Canada’s reviews by UN bodies have criticized both Canada’s regressive social policies and the denial of access to justice for the violations of the rights of poor people. For poor people in Canada, the right to access adjudication, to have rights interpreted and applied in context, something that is taken for granted by the more affluent, is a victory in itself, and one for which poor people continue to struggle.