A Call to Action - U.N. Convention Update

Steve Estey was a member of the committee that drafted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Canada has yet to ratify the treaty

The new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was negotiated by the Ad Hoc Committee in record time. No United Nations human rights instrument has moved from the concept stage to the final draft as quickly as the CRPD. Many have asked: How and why did it happen so quickly?

There are many reasons, but the keys, most agree, were the general consensus that the Convention was a good idea whose time had come, and the recognition that, in order to proceed, it was essential to maintain the momentum the process picked up as it moved along.

The magic of any successful negotiation is to build momentum towards the mutually agreed-upon goal. The drafters of the CRPD were able to do this due to the work of the chair and an ability to see that the main goal was to actually complete the work and to do a good job, as opposed to creating a “perfect treaty.”

Imagine, if you will, being in a room with dozens or even hundreds of delegates from all over the world, gathered to consider drafts of the new treaty and trying to agree on the right wording, line by line, page by page, for a treaty that, in the end, has 50 Articles and covers more than 30 pages.

The magnitude of this task is overwhelming, and perhaps the most extraordinary thing about it is that the Ad Hoc Committee actually managed to get it done. Over and over again during the long weeks and years of negotiations, the Committee chair, Ambassador Don MacKay from New Zealand, invoked what was to become the mantra of the process. When discussions broke down, as they often did, Ambassador MacKay reminded delegates, “The perfect is the enemy of the good,” and he would urge that we find an acceptable approach, compromise on it, and move forward.

Ambassador MacKay was making it clear that we could debate one approach over another, or one text over another, for a long time, but the fact was that we had limited time to accomplish the drafting of the Convention. More to the point, he was saying that if we continued to debate, time would run out, and with it, we would lose the opportunity to create the new treaty.

In the end, this logic prevailed, and the Ad Hoc Committee was successful in drafting the treaty in record time. While few would suggest that it is a perfect treaty, most will agree that it is a good treaty, and all will recognize the enormous potential to effect positive change in the lives of millions of people around the world.

But this is all history, and you may be asking, “Why bring it up now?”

WHERE IS THE PROCESS IN CANADA?

Well, it’s been 29 months since Canada, along with 80 other nations, signed the CRPD in New York City at the March 30, 2007, ceremony. By signing, we committed to embarking on a process of intergovernmental discussions to make sure that our domestic laws were in compliance with the new treaty, and the government committed to consulting with Canadians to seek our views.

Now, after more than two years, we can see that Canada has lived up to the commitments to consult and discuss. Our process has been good, very good, but dragging it on longer – or, to borrow from the language of the Ad Hoc Committee, to engage in a “perfect consultation process”– we put Canada in danger of perhaps never ratifying the treaty at all.

The longer we delay, the more momentum we lose, and the greater the tendency will become to seek “perfection” by considering every possible scenario that could come into play under the new treaty. If the Ad Hoc Committee, or for that matter any decision making process, adopted such an approach, it would signal the end of progress on the issue under consideration.

No, at some point, it must be recognized that things are “good enough,” that we can accept them and move on. It is only by moving forward that the momentum can be regained, and it is only with momentum that any goal can be reached.

A TIME TO ACT

The time has come to act. The result of the recent consultation with Canada’s disability and human rights leaders was clear: “The time has come for Canada to ratify the CRPD.” No good reason can be found not to move forward, and to do so with energy and determination.

While Canada delays, almost 60 countries around the world, from Argentina to Yemen, have taken the next step and have ratified the CRPD. These states are now in the leadership position around the treaty, while Canada, which once led the way on the CRPD, is forced to sit on the sidelines while others move to participate in the important work of interpreting and implementing the treaty.

The time has come for Canada to take the next step. The Government of Canada must move quickly to ratify the convention. Participants at a recent national round-table meeting on ratification challenged officials by saying that we want to see this happen on December 3, 2009, which is, of course, the UN’s International Day of Disabled Persons. What a celebration we will have!

WHY IT IS URGENT

Continued failure to ratify the CRPD calls into question Canada’s standing as a global leader on the human rights of people with disabilities, and indeed our standing as a leader in human rights overall. Canada was a leader in the negotiations that led to the treaty. With 60 nations, nearly one-third of UN members having ratified the CRPD, claims of Canadian leadership grow more tenuous with each passing day.

For several years, our delegation and our NGOs were deeply involved in the hard work of crafting the concepts and language that give life to the CRPD. Many key concepts that make the CRPD such a substantial contribution to international human rights law have their origin here in Canada; things like reasonable accommodation and supported decision-making are “tailored-in-Canada disability concepts” that are truly innovative at the international level.

Indeed, for many, the CRPD has a Canadian feel to it, something that we can be very proud about. But our ability to maintain that is severely hampered by prolonging the ratification process. In order to influence things now that we have moved to the next stage, we simply need to be a part of the process, but until Canada ratifies we cannot participate. Conferences of States Parties and meetings of CRPD experts to review progress are only open to countries that have ratified the treaty.

With the second Conference of States Parties about to occur in New York from September 2-4, 2009, it becomes increasingly urgent for Canada to ratify the treaty and to be a full participant in these important meetings. Similarly, the committee of experts has already begun to meet. And soon an opportunity for Canada to join in the work of that committee will open up, but again, we can only do this once we ratify the treaty.

Finally, and most important, it is only once we have ratified the CRPD that we are bound by its obligations. Only then can we begin to use it officially as the lens through which we view disability in Canada, and only then will Canada be obliged to commence reporting on how we are meeting those obligations.

So for the treaty to take full effect domestically, and for Canada to fully engage in the ongoing international work on the CRPD, we must ratify. The sooner we do so, the sooner we can move forward. Clearly, the time has come!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

With consultations complete, the next steps in the process are for a Memorandum to Cabinet on ratification to be filed. From there, the cabinet must decide whether to support ratification, and if supportive, it will file a motion in the house to proceed. The key at this point is to ensure that the cabinet proceeds positively and swiftly. The challenge is to be heard at the cabinet table, as there are many issues on the government’s agenda.

Canadians with disabilities must come together and raise our voices in order to be heard. We must speak to our MPs, our ministers and to the prime minister. We must make clear that this is important and urgent. We have waited patiently for 29 months, but now it is time for the government to act!