Title of paper:
‘The Canadian Experience and CEDAW: Internationalisation by Default’
Abstract:
Since the first UN Decade for Women (1976-1985), Canadian feminists as well as government representatives have undoubtedly contributed to the initial and subsequent waves of acknowledgment and of internationalisation of women’s rights. This paper illustrates through the CEDAW (UN Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) commitment how a vibrant Canadian women’s movement turned international law into transnational law as a domestic resource. This paper first puts into context the relationship between constitutional and international law of human rights in Canada as well as the peculiar position of Canada as a regionally isolated State. It then explores the decade of 1985-1995, one during which the Canadian women’s movement believed that the brand new constitutional standard of equality provided for by section 15 of the Canadian Charter could change the realities of women’s inequalities. The Vienna Conference on Human Rights (1993), the Beijing Women?s Conference (1995), and a dramatic shift in domestic policies linked to a discourse based on the fight against budgetary deficits, changed this dynamic. The final section of this paper is organized around the three last cycles of Canada’s reporting to the CEDAW Committee (1998; 2002 and 2008), outlining the different actors’ discourse related to women’s rights; assessing the evolution of the use of the UN machinery by women’s groups in Canada; and looking at the changes, if any, in domestic institutionalized demands as they relate to Canada’s duty as a State partie to CEDAW to protect, promote, and fulfill all women’s rights, including those specifically guaranteed by the CEDAW. The conclusion of the paper raises actual challenges with regard to the domestic implications of CEDAW in Canada.