UPR Intervention for Canada,
16th Session April 26, 2013
As Delivered by Ambassador Eileen C. Donahoe
The United States warmly welcomes H.E. Elissa Golberg, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and the Canadian delegation.
We commend the Government’s long-standing commitment to the promotion of human rights and its implementation of recommendations from its first review.
We praise the government’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, which created a streamlined taskforce and committed the state to increasing support for victims, enhancing law enforcement investigation efforts and training opportunities, and strengthening coordination with domestic and international partners.
We recognize progress on initiatives to better support aboriginal groups. However, we remain concerned by the disproportionate levels of poverty, violence and discrimination Aboriginal women and children face. Recent statistics indicate that on a per child basis, federal funding for First Nations child and family services has fallen to less than 80 percent of that provided by provincial and territorial governments for services in predominantly non-Aboriginal communities. Moreover, Aboriginal women and girls represent a higher number of victims of violence and discrimination.
We welcome ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and look forward to full implementation and enforcement of uniform accessibility standards.
We recommend:
- Ensure parity of funding and services between Aboriginal and non Aboriginal communities;
- Expand services and support to prevent violence and discrimination against Aboriginal women and girls;
- Implement and enforce national uniform standards of access to buildings, information, and communications for persons with disabilities.