The United Nations’ independent expert on minority issues has included some positive and negative comments about Canada in a “preliminary statement” issued at the conclusion of her recent visit to the country. Gay McDougall, a Yale-educated American lawyer, stated that minorities are “extremely poorly represented in political structures and institutions in Canada” at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.

“Minorities themselves must be more proactive in their own engagement and participation in political processes,” she wrote. “However, more must be done to ensure that minorities are empowered to do so and attention must be given by all political actors, including political parties, to improve the representation of minorities.”

However, McDougall noted that Canada has an “impressive constitutional and legislative framework” and that Canada was a leader in developing a state policy of multiculturalism. She also stated that minorities in Canada freely practise their faiths and speak their languages.

Nevertheless, her preliminary statement noted that income levels for minorities are generally significantly low and unemployment levels are high. She added that minorities are also living in disproportionate numbers in the poorest neighbourhoods. “Poverty alleviation programmes in Canada must be targeted towards racialized communities,” McDougall wrote.

In addition, she noted “a deep level of frustration among minority communities that highly qualified and skilled workers have been encouraged to migrate to Canada, only to find on their arrival that their qualifications are not recognized at the provincial level”. She claimed that federal and provincial efforts to find solutions “appear to be still at an embryonic stage”.

McDougall also cited “disturbing allegations of excessive use of force [by police] leading to deaths particularly of young Black males”. She wrote that minorities feel that mechanisms of redress, such as human-rights commissions, are “inaccessible, underfunded and under threat” and that Muslims “feel targeted, profiled and harassed”.

She also stated that the federal government must be the guarantor of human rights, but that the jurisdiction of the Canadian Human Rights Commission is “severely limited” and provincial bodies are “under-resourced, under threat and have been abolished in some provinces”. B.C. eliminated its human-rights commission after Gordon Campbell was elected premier in 2001.

McDougall will file a report on Canada’s minorities to the UN Human Rights Council in March.