KAIROS wish list for 2020
In 2020, KAIROS Canada wishes the following….
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That the Canadian provinces and territories continue to work towards: Full implementation of TRC Call to Action 62.i that urges the provinces and territories to make mandatory from Kindergarten to grade 12 “curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada….” There can be no backsliding. |
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That the Canadian government: Keeps its election promise and passes legislation ensuring that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This legislation should build on Bill C-262, which died on the order paper in the Senate in 2019 despite passing the House of Commons in 2018. |
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Fully implements TRC Call to Action 93, which calls on the government, in collaboration with national Indigenous organizations, “to revise the information kit for newcomers to Canada and its citizenship test to reflect a more inclusive history of the diverse Aboriginal peoples of Canada, including information about the Treaties and the history of residential schools.” |
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Work with Indigenous family members and survivors, gender-diverse people, and Indigenous nations and organizations to develop a transparent and accountable National Action Plan to fully implement the 231 Calls for Justice of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. |
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Ensures that the newly created Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, which repealed the 2012 Environmental Impact Assessment Act, has processes that meet international legal standards and maintains Indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent. These processes should ensure meaningful representation of Indigenous peoples by the appropriate leadership. |
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Puts in place a plan to fully divest from fossil fuel development projects, including pipelines, liquefied natural gas export terminals, fracking wells, and oil and gas mines, which impede Canada’s ability to fulfill its international obligations to limit carbon emissions. This involves rejecting new projects such as the Teck Frontier mine proposal in northern Alberta and ending construction on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project. |
Help KAIROS make these wishes come true. 
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Creates and fully funds concrete initiatives, including a just transition to support workers and communities, to meet the emissions reductions targets of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and ramp up the commitments outlined in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change; establishes an independent body to monitor progress and to hold the government accountable to these targets; brings a more ambitious pledge to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP 26) in 2020 that accelerates the national goal of reaching 523 Mt of GHG emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050. |
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Ends temporary migration and returns to permanent residency as the strategy to strengthen the country, including meeting labour market demands. Addresses the issues facing people without status by introducing a special pathway to regularize their status and become permanent residents. |
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Takes the lead in drafting an International Protocol to recognize and protect the rights of climate affected and forced migrants, and lobbies the United Nations for its adoption and ratification. |
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Empowers an independent office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) to investigate allegations of environmental and human rights violations by Canadian companies and their subsidiaries. |
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Adopts and fully implements a legal framework that requires extractive corporations to conduct consultations according to local traditional practices. These processes must fully engage women and guarantee that communities near proposed extractive project sites ultimately determine if and how a project will move forward. |
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Facilitates access to Canadian courts for overseas plaintiffs who claim harm by the actions of Canadian mining companies |
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Fully funds and implements the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), focusing its support on grassroots organizations and diverse, responsive funding mechanisms that allow for effective long-term support for civil society partners; and doubles Canada’s official development assistance from its current 0.28 by 2025. |
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CCIC members and their partners in the development and humanitarian sector ask the government to Double Canada’s Official Development Assistance by 2025 Complies with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and subsequent similar resolutions in the implementation of its new National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in the context of FIAP. |
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Invites and supports women peacebuilders and women-led human rights organizations to consult on all policy development and peace processes. |
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Works with the international community to end the blockade on Gaza and ensure residents have immediate access to humanitarian assistance and freedom of movement, while putting in place the necessary conditions to address Israel’s legitimate security concerns. |
2019 Wish Assessment
While KAIROS celebrated important gains for temporary foreign migrant workers in 2019, especially for caregivers and their families, many of our wishes were not met.
KAIROS, Indigenous communities, and civil society were deeply disappointed when Bill C-262 did not reach third and final reading in the Senate. The bill was an Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. KAIROS was encouraged when the government of Canada promised to prioritize passage of a government sponsored UN Declaration bill during the current (43rd) Parliament and, in collaboration with partners and other civil society organizations, will hold the government to its promise.
KAIROS is encouraged by progress made on the TRC Calls to Action, particularly 62.i, but Ontario’s new grade school curriculum announcement in May raised several red flags, including non-mandatory Indigenous studies courses and questions concerning proper consultation with Indigenous peoples.
TRC Call 93 – a promise to revise the information kit and citizenship test for newcomers to Canada to reflect a more inclusive history of the diverse Indigenous peoples of Canada – remains just that, a promise. We hope the federal government delivers on Call 93 in 2020.
Regarding corporate accountability, KAIROS was deeply disappointed when the government of Canada failed to empower the newly appointed Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) to effectively investigate human and ecological rights violations by Canadian corporations in their overseas operations. This position still lacks independence and the power to compel documents. Through the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, KAIROS will continue to advocate for a CORE with teeth.
In the fall, KAIROS was troubled by election promises to reduce Canadian aid funding from its already paltry 0.26 percent of Gross National Income (GNI). Working through the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, KAIROS will continue to call on Canada to allocate 0.7 percent of its GNI to Canadian aid in adherence with international guidelines.
