Security of Tenure in Canada: Summary Report

Greece,16 both heard by the Committee for Civil and Political Rights, deal with the evictions of Roma people from pieces of land.17 In both, the state parties were found to have violated Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by failing to consider the consequences of the eviction, such as the risk of homelessness, and failed to make alternate housing available. [...] In these, it has repeatedly emphasized the need for federal leadership despite the fact that housing is the responsibility of the provinces,18 and this is echoed in the 2019 report of the Special Rapporteur for the Right to Adequate Housing.19 These perspectives are important because they make clear that the right to housing applies to all levels of government and that the division of powers in Ca. [...] In 2021, the CESCR affirmed that Germany had made sufficient progress in recognizing the right to housing.38 To conclude, although Canada has committed to the progressive realization of the right to housing in the NHSA, because laws protecting tenant are a matter of provincial jurisdiction, protections are uneven across the country, resulting in a patchwork of security of tenure and eviction preve. [...] The committee is clear that simply offering shelter is not enough—it must be adequate housing that meets the needs of those involved: “Policies on alternative housing in cases of eviction should be commensurate with the need of those concerned and the urgency of the situation and should respect the dignity of the person.”55 It 47 Ibid at 17. [...] This resulted in the orders being sent back for reconsideration, with the injunction application paused in the meantime.153 Although the outcomes in the two cases are quite different, neither is informed by the progressive realization of the right to housing, as they should be under the NHSA.154 Both cases show the importance of seeing the federal government’s commercial and land transactions as p.