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History Museum

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"When I first heard the word 'Doukhobor' I remember being filled with a sentiment of mixed terror, curiosity and admiration that I find hard to admit." -Gabrielle Roy

Where Do Doukhobors Live Now?

Today most Doukhobors live in Russia and Canada, and a few hundred make their home in the United States. Of the estimated 30,000 Doukhobors in Canada, most are in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Like other Canadians, most Doukhobors live in towns and cities, and some live on farms.

What Language Do the Doukhobors Speak?

When they left Russia in 1899, Doukhobors spoke Russian. Today, the older generations speak what has evolved into a slightly anglicized Russian dialect.

Doukhobor children now speak English. Many know basic Russian, and can understand their elders. Some are fluently bilingual, and some have gone to Russia for immersion training. And then there are those who speak Russian as youngsters, but lose the language when they leave home.

Why Do They Take Off Their Clothes and Burn Buildings?

Only a handful of Doukhobors known as the zealots "Sons of Freedom" took part in such activities. Unfortunately, media reports attributed these actions to the entire group. The Sons of Freedom broke away from mainstream Doukhobors in the early 1900s. For them, nudity and arson are forms of protest against what they see as government interference or injustice.

The Sons of Freedom have been known to criticize other Doukhobors for diverging from pure Doukhobor philosophy by, for example, following what the minority group perceives as too lavish a lifestyle.

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Civilization.ca - Doukhobors - Many Hands

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"When I first heard the word 'Doukhobor' I remember being filled with a sentiment of mixed terror, curiosity and admiration that I find hard to admit." -Gabrielle Roy Where Do Doukhobors Live Now? Today most Doukhobors live in Russia and Canada, and a few hundred make their home in the United States.

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Royal BC Museum

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A Brief History of the Doukhobors in B.C.

The origin of the Doukhobors dates back to the 1600s and 1700s in Russia, when a number of Christian religious sects began to form. The name "Doukhobor" means "spirit wrestlers." People outside the sect felt that the Doukhobors "wrestled against the Holy Spirit in the Church", while the Doukhobor elders maintained that they "they wrestled with and for the Spirit of God." Their motto was "Toil and a Peaceful Life", and it was reflected in their simple ways, communal living, and hard work.

Frequently persecuted for their religious, social, and political beliefs, the situation came to a head under Tsar Nicholas II, who demanded an oath of allegiance from all his subjects. The Doukhobors, lead by Peter Vasilievich Verigin, refused. In an act of defiance in 1895, they refused to serve in the military and burned all of their weapons. This lead to even more repression. Starting in 1898 and 1899 they began to leave Russia. Many sought refuge in Canada and initially settled in Saskatchewan.

At first, life was very difficult, requiring long days of back breaking toil, but the community soon prospered. The Doukhobors were not interested in owning their own individual plots of land. Instead the community would own the land collectively. Unfortunately for Doukhobors, the Canadian Government introduced changes to the homesteading regulations requiring individuals to claim title and to pledge an oath of allegiance to the Crown. This forced the Doukhobors to move yet again during the years of 1908 to 1912. This time they moved to the West Kootenays in British Columbia, with all of the land they occupied held under Peter Verigin's name.

During the next 30 years Doukhobors developed large communal enterprises under the umbrella of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood situated at Brilliant. Fruits and vegetables were grown on the land. Members lived in communal villages. Commercial and industrial enterprises such as jams, jellies, and honey factories were established.

As the community prospered, two splinter groups broke away from the general population, one the "edinolichniki" or "Independents" who wanted to live separately and live more materialistic lives, and the "svobodniki" the "Sons of Freedom" who wanted a return to more traditional values, and were willing to use both civil disobedience and violence to achieve their goals. Peter 'Lordly' Verigin, the leader of all of the Doukhobor groups, was killed in a rail car bombing in 1924.

The stock market crash of 1929, and the Great Depression of the 1930s, also affected the Doukhobor community. They had borrowed money to finance land purchases and development, however like many others, the depression lead to bankruptcy for the community. Foreclosures and eviction notices were in the process of being issued, when in 1940 the British Columbia government stepped in and paid off the debts, but acquired the land, improvements, and assets in the process. The Doukhobors were allowed to stay on the land, and pay a small rent, but it signaled the end of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood and its extensive commercial ventures.

The Doukhobor community still remained, but it had become greatly disorganized. The radical Sons of Freedom resorted to escalating levels of violence to achieve their desire to live in their own ways, without interference. One form of protest involved the Sons of Freedom burning several schools in a dispute with the government over education. This prompted the provincial government to take stern measures to restore the peace. From 1953 to 1959, children were removed from the community and forced to attend school. In 1960, a number of arsonists were convicted and jailed.

Since the 1960's violent Doukhobor protests declined. The Community began to purchase back the land they had originally owned. Peace and respect was restored within the Doukhobor community, neighbouring communities and B.C. society in general. Many Doukhobors still live in the West Kootenay area, and continue to work in B.C. to protect and preserve their religion, language, and way of life.

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DOUKHOBOR HISTORY - DOUKHOBORS - COMMUNITIES IN B.C. - BC ARCHIVES TIME MACHINE

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The origin of the Doukhobors dates back to the 1600s and 1700s in Russia, when a number of Christian religious sects began to form. The name "Doukhobor" means "spirit wrestlers." People outside the sect felt that the Doukhobors "wrestled against the Holy Spirit in the Church", while the Doukhobor elders maintained that they "they wrestled with and for the Spirit of God."

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Library and Archives Canada

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A young group of Doukhobors.
Independent Harelowka district in
Blaine Lake, Sask.
Source

Virtual Exhibitions

Genealogy and Family History

Between 1899 and 1914, thousands of Doukhobors left their homeland of Russia to settle in Canada. The members of this pacifist group were opposed to military service and were well known for their extensive farming abilities. The turn of the 20th century was a time of prosperity and Canada's western regions along the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway provided vast land parcels "en block" for the skilled agriculturalists to develop.

In February of 1898, the Russian Tsar granted permission to this group of conscientious objectors to leave Russia. A delegation of ten people arrived in Canada for an exploratory mission for the Doukhobors' settlement. That party included Ivan Ivin and Peter Makhortov, the Prince D.A. Hilkov and Aylmer Maude.

The Doukhobors' request for recognition as conscientious objectors to military service was granted by an order-in-council of 6 December 1898. Renowned Russian novelist and pacifist Leo Tolstoy who referred to the Doukhobors as the "Best Farmers in Russia", as well as Peter Kropotkin and James Mavor, all played a key role in the settlement of the group.

The Society of Friends (Quakers) committee chartered two ships, each of which made two voyages to Canada from December 1898 to June 1899. In total, 7,500 Doukhobors arrived in Canada during the four voyages. There were three other waves of Doukhobor immigration to Canada; they took place between 1902 and 1906, 1910 and 1912 and 1925 and 1928. Upon the arrival of the first group in 1899, a special committee was set up in Winnipeg to administer the funds to assist the settlers in their establishment.

The original settlement of Doukhobor colonies took place in the Northwest Territories which would become the province of Saskatchewan in 1905. Four colonies were established in 1899: the North Colony (Thunder Hill), the South Colony (also known as Yorkton or Whitesand), the Good Spirit Lake Annex and the Saskatchewan Colony (also known as Prince Albert or as Duck Lake). One of their most renowned spiritual leaders, Peter Verigin, who had been exiled in Siberia, arrived in Canada in 1902. In 1907, a land dispute developed and resulted in the breaking up of the collectives. Between 1908 and 1911 a large number of the original settlers left Saskatchewan to follow Peter Verigin and to settle in British Columbia.

Today, the number of Doukhobors in Canada varies between 30,000 and 50,000, the largest number outside their homeland. Some 15,000 reside in British Columbia (Castlegar, Grand Forks and Vancouver), 11,000 in Saskatchewan (Verigin, Kamsack and Saskatoon) and 3,000 in Alberta (Calgary and the original settlements of Cowley and Lundbreck).

Research at Library and Archives Canada

Likacheff-Ragosine-Mathers (LI-RA-MA) collection (MG 30 E406)

Material consists of documents created between 1898 and 1922 by the consular offices of the Russian Empire in Canada. The series on passports and identity papers is comprised of about 11,400 files on Russian, Jewish, Ukrainian, Finnish and Polish immigrants who came to Canada from the Russian Empire. The series includes passport applications and questionnaires containing general information.

Russian Consular Records / Likacheff-Ragosine-Mathers (LI-RA-MA) Collection

Immigration Branch: Central Registry Files

Doukhobors, RG 76, volumes 183 to 184, file 65101, microfilms C-7337 to C-7340. This file contains documentation about Doukhobors in Canada, 1898-1947. It includes some lists of names for the period 1899 to 1902.

Fred N. Davidoff 1944-1970 (MG 31 H26) (MIKAN 102610)

This fonds consists of notes, autobiography, correspondence, mainly with Doukhobor leaders and the R.C.M.P. and also printed material such as periodicals and books on the history of the Doukhobors, 1944-1970.

James Mavor 1898-1899, 1922 (MG 29 C16) (MIKAN 102526)

This fonds consists of correspondence between Professor Mavor and Canadian and Russian authorities regarding Doukhobor immigration to Canada, 1898-1899 and correspondence between Mavor and Colonel J.B. Maclean regarding immigration, 1922.

James Frederick Wright (MG 30 C23) (MIKAN 98271)

This fonds consists of narratives and notes based on interviews with Doukhobors and partly on translations of Russian material relating to Doukhobor life in Russia, their plans for emigration, their arrival in Canada in 1899 and the career of Peter Veregin, 1858-1924.

Other Series of Records

Library and Archives Canada also holds other records regarding Doukhobors. Consult the Archives Search database using keywords such as a surname or an organization name.

Research in Published Sources

1853 Tax Register of Doukhobors in the Caucasus, by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff. (AMICUS 30750485)

1918 Census of Independent Doukhobors: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff. (AMICUS 26229378)

A peculiar people: the Doukhobors, by Aylmer Maude. (AMICUS 2933985)

Doukhobor ship passenger lists, 1898-1928, by Steve Lapshinoff and Jonathan Kalmakoff. (AMICUS 25470913)

Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples, edited by Paul Robert Magocsi. (AMICUS 19650051)

Leo Tolstoy - Peter Verigin correspondence, prepared by Lidia Gromova-Opul´skaya, editor, Andrew Donskov. (AMICUS 14322329)

Russian Language documents from Russian Poland: a Translation Manual for Genealogists, by Johnathan D. Shea. (AMICUS 15205902)

Russian Refuge: Religion, Migration, and Settlement on the North American Pacific Rim by Susan Wiley Hardwick. (AMICUS 12714778)

Russian roots and Canadian wings: Russian archival documents on the Doukhobor emigration to Canada, compiled, translated and annotated by John Woodsworth, with a foreword by Vladimir Tolstoy. (AMICUS 20625755)

Sergej Tolstoy and the Doukhobors: a journey to Canada: diary and correspondence, edited and with an introduction by Andrew Donskov, compiled by Tatªjana Nikiforova, Sergej Tolstoy's diary and letters translated from the Russian by John Woodsworth. (AMICUS 18656467)

Slava Bohu, The story of the Dukhobors, by J.F.C. Wright. (AMICUS 2942566)

Spirit wrestlers: Doukhobor pioneers' strategies for living, by Koozma J. Tarasoff. (AMICUS 27471165)

The Doukhobor centenary in Canada: a multi-disciplinary perspective on their unity and diversity: proceedings of a conference held at the University of Ottawa, 22-24 October 1999, edited by Andrew Donskov, John Woodsworth and Chad Gaffield. (AMICUS 23007533)

The Doukhobors of British Columbia, edited by Harry B. Hawthorn. (AMICUS 2943537)

The Doukhobors, by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic. (AMICUS 20696)

The Russian Consular Records Index and Catalog by Sallyann Amdur Sack and Suzan F. Wynne. (AMICUS 6949620)

Search for other books on Doukhobors in AMICUS, using authors, titles or subject keywords such as:

Doukhobor Canadians

Doukhobor genealogy

Doukhobors

Dukhobor Canadians

Dukhobor genealogy

Dukhobors

Research at Other Institutions and Online

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Doukhobors - Library and Archives Canada

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A young group of Doukhobors. Independent Harelowka district in Blaine Lake, Sask. Source Between 1899 and 1914, thousands of Doukhobors left their homeland of Russia to settle in Canada. The members of this pacifist group were opposed to military service and were well known for their extensive farming abilities.

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Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Doukhobors are a sect of Russian dissenters, many of whom now live in western Canada. They are known for a radical pacifism which brought them notoriety during the 20th century. Today, their descendants in Canada number approximately 20,000, with one third still active in their culture.

Origins and migration

Since they arose as a peasant group in southern Russia with orally transmitted teachings and traditions, their origin is obscure. Their doctrines appear to have been at least partially derived from those of a 17th-century renegade preacher Danilo Filipov, who dissented radically from the Orthodox Church.

The Doukhobors rejected church liturgy, believing that god dwells in each human being and not in a church; they rejected secular governments; and practiced pacifism. They replaced the Bible with orally transmitted psalms and hymns, which they called the Living Book. These are sung to this day at the molenie (religious gatherings). Group decisions are made collectively at sobranie (community meetings). Doukhobors do not use any religious symbols at these meetings except for the display of bread, salt and water, which represent the elements that sustain life. Some Doukhobors revere their chosen leaders, whom they regard as especially inspired by God, but Doukhobors generally believe that all people are equal because all have God within them. Many of them still live by the slogan coined by one of their leaders, "toil and peaceful life." Most Doukhobors no longer live communally, but many are still vegetarians and all practice pacifism.

During the late 18th century, the group was persecuted by the tsars and the Russian Orthodox Church for heresy and pacifism. In 1785, an Orthodox archbishop called them Doukhobors, or "Spirit-Wrestlers." It was intended to mean "Wrestlers against the Holy Spirit," but the group adopted it, interpreting it as "Wrestlers for and with the Spirit."

Under Tsar Alexander I persecution lapsed, and in 1802 the Doukhobors were gathered in settlements in the Crimea, which was then a frontier region. Forty years later, under the less sympathetic Nicholas I, they were resettled among the fierce tribesmen of the recently conquered Caucasus. There they overcame initial difficulties and eventually prospered, particularly under their female leader, Lukeriia Kalmikova.

Kalmikova died in 1886, and the ensuing struggle for leadership split the sect. Her adopted son Peter Verigin, later called Peter Gospodii (the Lordly), emerged as the majority leader, but he was immediately arrested by the authorities and sent into exile in Siberia. From afar, Verigin was able to exhort his followers to reaffirm their ideals and become even more radical, as the Doukhobors added vegetarianism, communal living and abstinence from alcohol to their other practices. In 1895, they publicly burned their weapons in what is now known as The Burning of Arms, which may have been the first pacifist protest in modern times.

Arrival in Canada

Persecuted again, many of the Doukhobors were allowed to emigrate to Canada, assisted by novelist Leo Tolstoy and his followers in addition to British and American Quakers and Russian anarchists. More than 7,500 sailed to Canada in 1899 and settled in what was to become Saskatchewan, where they lived as a community. With 500 more Doukhobors, Verigin was allowed to join them there in 1902, making the migration of the Doukhobors the largest single mass migration in Canadian history.

Initially, Doukhobors were permitted to register for individual homesteads but not to live communally. They received concessions regarding education and military service. Frank Oliver, who succeeded Clifford Sifton as minister of the interior in 1905, interpreted the Dominion Lands Act more strictly. When Doukhobors refused to swear an oath of allegiance - a condition for the final granting of homestead titles - their homestead entries were cancelled.

In 1908, Verigin led most of his followers to southern British Columbia, where he bought land and established a self-contained community of 6,000 members. Some Doukhobors split off to establish their own farms and became independents.

Radical protests and government intervention

A tiny, radical splinter, called Sons of Freedom, rejected any control by Canadian authorities and saw themselves as "ringing bells" destined to remind other Doukhobors to adhere to traditional values. To show their freedom from material possessions, from the 1920s onward they marched, burned their own homes, the homes of other Doukhobors and torched public buildings, rail lines and schools in disputes with the government of British Columbia over education and other issues. Many in this group were later imprisoned for nude protest parades and had their children taken from them. Mainly because of their opposition to military service, the War-time Elections Act disenfranchised several religious groups including Doukhobors and Mennonites. The Doukhobors were disenfranchised in 1917, and again in 1934-55, partly because of their faith and adherence to pacifism which prevented them from bearing arms.

During the 1930s, the effects of the Depression, internal disenchantment and mismanagement, combined with the incendiarism of fanatics and the unsympathetic policies of finance companies and government, ruined their communal living system. It had been one of the largest and most complex undertakings in communal living in North American history. In 1939, foreclosure took place and the land passed to the BC government. Members of the community group of Doukhobors bought it back in the 1960s under the leadership of John J. Verigin, a great-nephew of Peter the Lordly.

New Denver Survivors

After much Sons of Freedom unrest during the 1950s and 1960s, which included nude protests, parades and in some cases bombings of buildings, the children of protestors were captured by the RCMP and schooled in a compound, a former tuberculosis sanatorium, in New Denver, BC. Some were held there for up to six years, but eventually the mothers of these children agreed to send their children to public schools, and the children were released. By the 1980s, fanatical activism had died down.

However, 100 of the nearly 200 children sent to the compound - calling themselves the New Denver Survivors - launched a class action lawsuit in the 1990s over alleged physical, psychological and sexual abuses they endured at the school. They sought an apology and compensation from the government of British Columbia. None of the lawsuits succeeded, but a 1999 BC Ombudsman report called for an unconditional, clear and public apology to the victims. In 2004, the BC government issued a statement of regret instead. Some survivors were angry and appealed to the BC Human Rights Tribunal in 2012. However, in 2013, tribunal member Enid Marion stated that she could not conclude "that the survivors' race, ancestry or religion was a factor in the Ministry's refusal to implement any of the report's recommendations."

Cultural rediscovery

In the 1970s and 1980s, many Doukhobors returned to the Kootenay region and rediscovered their heritage. They formed Doukhobor choirs, Russian language programs, peace groups and other organizations that sought to instill Doukhobor values and practices in the next generation. They and independent Doukhobors started molennie and Doukhobor choirs in other regions of Canada. Others travelled to Russia to meet with and help Russian Doukhobors who had chosen not to migrate in the 19th century. Doukhobor artists, historians, journalists and writers began to create works that expressed their heritage and values while coming to terms with the modern world.

Today, many members of the various Doukhobor groupings still struggle to forestall the effects of encroaching assimilation and declining membership. Descendants of the original Doukhobor settlers number approximately 25,000 across Canada, but about one third of that number remains active in the culture, maintaining their spiritual practices, Russian language and pacifism to varying degrees. Most of these Doukhobors live in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, with smaller groups residing in other areas of BC, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Since 2008, the largest group, known as the Community Doukhobors, or Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC), led by John J. Verigin Jr., has maintained a strong presence in the interior of British Columbia, while Sons of Freedom Doukhobors live in or near Krestova, BC. Other members of Doukhobor groups or independent Doukhobors live throughout western Canada.

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Doukhobors are a sect of Russian dissenters, many of whom now live in western Canada. They are known for a radical pacifism which brought them notoriety during the 20th century. Today, their descendants in Canada number approximately 20,000, with one third still active in their culture.

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Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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After a month-long voyage from Russia, the steamship Lake Huron arrived in Halifax harbour on 20 January 1899. On board were 2100 official passengers plus stowaways, the first large group of Doukhobors to immigrate to Canada. Ten passengers had died en route, and many others were ill. They docked at Lawlor's Island, where the quarantine inspector carried out medical examinations. Then it was on to Saint John, New Brunswick, where the passengers disembarked and boarded trains for Western Canada. In the coming months, three more shiploads of Doukhobors arrived from Russia and made the long journey to the Canadian west. When the last ship arrived on 6 June 1899, roughly 7500 Doukhobors had come to Canada.

Doukhobors on board a ship en route to Canada (courtesy BC Archives C-01434).

The Doukhobors were Russian religious dissenters whose beliefs had brought them into conflict with both the tsarist government and the Orthodox Church. As pacifists, the Doukhobors wanted little to do with secular government, whose power they believed was based on force. They rejected mandatory military service and refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the tsar. They also rejected the Orthodox Church's hierarchy, as well as its rites and dogma, including the sacraments and the worship of icons. An Orthodox cleric condemned them as doukho-borets (spirit wrestlers), a label the dissidents embraced, stressing that they were wrestling with, not against, the spirit of God. Living a simple peasant life, they rejected wealth and privilege in the belief that all people were brothers and sisters. Still they were persecuted for their beliefs. Soldiers raped the women and flogged the men, sometimes to death. Doukhobor families were exiled to the remote areas of the Russian Empire.

In the late 19th century, the Doukhobors sought to flee Russia at the same time that the Canadian government was looking for farmers to settle the Canadian prairies. Canada's enterprising minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton, agreed to provide the Doukhobors with free land in present-day Saskatchewan and gave them an exemption from future military service. The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, himself a pacifist and a critic of the Orthodox Church, helped fund their voyage with proceeds from his novel Resurrection. Further funding came from American and British Quakers, members of a religious group who, like the Doukhobors, were pacifists and rejected oaths and sacraments.

Upon their arrival in the Canadian West, the Doukhobors were housed in immigration halls until spring, when they went to clear their land, build their homes and plant their crops. Some settled north of Yorkton, while others established themselves southwest of Prince Albert. They lived a communal life, jointly owning all land, buildings and farm implements. The first year on the new land was gruelling. Most men worked for wages on farms, on railway construction, or on other building projects. Women, children, and older men tended to the land. Winter came early, food was scarce, and they had to live in overcrowded, poorly ventilated homes. Many suffered from scurvy. Quakers in Philadelphia sent food, clothing, supplies and $30 000. The National Council of Women sent supplies from Montreal. They survived that first winter and, through their hard work, began to thrive on Canadian soil. They built several villages in Saskatchewan, with factories, flourmills, sawmills, brick plants, and grain elevators.

In 1907 a new minister of the interior, Frank Oliver, ordered the Doukhobors to declare an oath of allegiance to the queen and register their land as required by the Homestead Act. The group broke into two factions: the Independent Doukhobors who registered their land and took the oath (crossing out "swear" and replacing it with "affirm") and the Orthodox (or Community) Doukhobors who refused to take the oath and were evicted from their land. The Independents remained in Saskatchewan, sent their children to public schools and often to university. In 1908, under leader Peter V. Verigin, about 5000 Orthodox Doukhobors left Saskatchewan for British Columbia, where they settled in the Kootenay and Boundary Regions. Through hard work, they established themselves again, erecting homes, planting orchards, and building a jam factory. Eventually, they abandoned their system of communal living.

Beginning in the 1920s, a small group of Doukhobor zealots, the Freedomites (or Sons of Freedom), protested against government interference in their lives (including mandatory schooling, vital statistics, land ownership laws) through arson, the bombing of public and private property and public displays of nudity. In the 1960s, the attacks were at their peak, and many Canadians associated Doukhobors with these radicals. Yet the vast majority of the Doukhobors were peaceful and industrious farmers who pursued a simple life. The Doukhobors in Canada today, who number perhaps 30 000, maintain this tradition.

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The arrival of Doukhobors in Canada (1899)

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After a month-long voyage from Russia, the steamship Lake Huron arrived in Halifax harbour on 20 January 1899. On board were 2100 official passengers plus stowaways, the first large group of Doukhobors to immigrate to Canada. Ten passengers had died en route, and many others were ill.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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The SS Komagata Maru was a chartered ship featured in a dramatic challenge to Canada's former practice of excluding immigrants from India. This challenge took place in the spring and summer of 1914, on the eve of the First World War. It proved to be a bitter and tragic experience for the passengers, first in an unsuccessful and eventually physical confrontation with officials, police and the military at the Port of Vancouver, and then in a deadly encounter with police and troops near Kolkata on the passengers' return to India.

The events in Vancouver illustrated the widespread assumption among white Canadians that Canada was "a white man's country." The whole story also exposed the fundamental unfairness of British rule in India, then the most prized colonial possession of the British Empire. It was one more proof for many South Asians of their second-class status within the Empire. From this perspective, the fall-out from the Komagata Maru was a noteworthy chapter in the history of the independence struggle in India. In 1914-15, the immediate impact was to encourage a small band of nationalists in an abortive armed rising against British rule. In the longer term, the Komagata Maru was a factor in turning Indian public opinion against the British. ( See also Immigration Policy; Prejudice and Discrimination.)

South Asians in Canada Before the Komagata Maru

A few thousand South Asians, mostly Punjabi men from India's north, had migrated to British Columbia and the Pacific coast of the United States early in the 20th century. The vanguard found work at wages that were very high by Indian standards and they sent home letters encouraging their countrymen to follow.

Although their initial numbers were small, they attracted an inordinate amount of negative Canadian and American attention, prompted by cultural and racial prejudice and labour fears of economic competition. Anti-Asian lobbies in Canada and the United States were already fiercely opposed to Chinese and Japanese immigration, and they mounted a vigorous campaign against Punjabis and other South Asians. As a consequence, Canada stopped immigration from India in 1908 and the United States followed suit in 1910. To keep South Asians out, American immigration officials simply applied their existing regulations as ruthlessly as they could. Canadian officials, by contrast relied on two regulations first introduced in 1908 ( see Immigration Policy).

By one of these regulations, immigration officers could - if they chose - block the entry of anyone who came to Canada other than by a continuous journey from their home country. This was effective because passenger agents - under instructions from the governments of India and Canada - would not sell natives of India through tickets to Canada. By another regulation, Canadian immigration officers were empowered to turn back any Asians who arrived with less than $200, a very large sum of money in 1914. (This did not apply to Chinese and Japanese, who were kept out by other measures). These two regulations were deliberately deceptive because, while they were designed solely to exclude immigrants from India, they did not state this as their direct purpose. That evasiveness was so that British imperial officials in India could deny the existence of any laws in Canada that barred Indian immigration.

After Canada and the United States stopped South Asian immigration, Punjabi and other South Asian activists concentrated on trying to reopen the door to Canada. They believed they had a more powerful argument in dealing with Canada than with the United States because, like India, Canada was a part of the British Empire. From the beginning, they were very persistent in supporting would-be-immigrants from India (including women and children), in fighting individual immigration cases in court, in lobbying officials in Ottawa, London and Delhi, and in publishing propaganda aimed both at white Canadian and South Asian audiences.

A moment of great encouragement came in November 1913 when a Canadian judge overruled an immigration department order for the deportation of 38 Punjabi Sikhs. These immigrants had come to Canada via Japan on a regularly scheduled Japanese passenger liner, the Panama Maru. Immigration officials had ordered them deported because they had not come by continuous journey from India and because they were not carrying the requisite amount of money. The judge found fault with the continuous journey regulation and also the regulation specifying a $200 requirement. He looked closely at the wording of these regulations and ruled them inconsistent with the wording of the Immigration Act and therefore invalid. He then allowed the passengers to land. It was this victory for the passengers in the Panama Maru case that encouraged the sailing of the Komagata Maru in the following April 1914.

Unfortunately, by April the legal situation had changed. The Canadian government had quickly rewritten its regulations to meet the objections it encountered in court. Although briefly invalidated, the continuous journey and $200 requirement regulations were back in force by January 1914, three months before the Komagata Maru left Hong Kong for Vancouver. The leadership of the Komagata Maru passengers might have been deterred from sailing after the reissue of these regulations. Instead, they convinced themselves that a Canadian court would rule in their favour. If that did not happen, they believed they could stir a great protest among Sikh troops in India, and so threaten the stability of the British Empire that the Canadian government would have to give way. On both counts, it turned out they were wrong.

Chartering the Komagata Maru

The individual who hired the Komagata Maru and who acted as chief spokesperson for the passengers was a wealthy Sikh named Gurdit Singh Sirhali who was then in his mid-50s. He had made his money as an importer and contractor in Malaya and Singapore although he had always maintained a home in his ancestral village in Punjab. His search for a ship to carry Punjabi immigrants to Canada had begun in December 1913, shortly after the Panama Maru case had led to a temporary lifting of the continuous journey and $200 regulations. Gurdit Singh had been visiting Hong Kong on his own private business, and while there he had met a large number of Punjabi men who were intent on emigrating to Canada or the United States. Some of these men had been in Hong Kong and other British-controlled ports of East Asia for many months and even years, hopefully waiting for a chance to cross the Pacific. Regular shipping lines would not take them in the knowledge that they would be turned back at the port of arrival and then be ordered back to Asia at the expense of the shipping company that brought them.

Gurdit Singh Sirhali's search for a ship for these people took several months as he made inquiries in Kolkata, Singapore and Hong Kong. The ship he found, the itinerant Komagata Maru, temporarily in Hong Kong, was available precisely because it was not British owned or controlled, although it was a British-built ship. It was a steel-hulled steamship designed for the North Atlantic immigrant trade and it had operated under German ownership for over 20 years. Recently, it had been purchased by a small Japanese company for employment in the Pacific as a tramp cargo ship. Gurdit Singh hired it from this Japanese company through a German shipping agent in Hong Kong after getting nowhere in finding a ship through British shipping agents. One can infer that British shipping agents were dubious about a project that involved a legal challenge to Canadian law. It was fraught with political and legal problems and did not look like good business.

At nearly 3,000 tons, the Komagata Maru was a good size for the times and it was well equipped, possessing electric lighting and running water, although it did not have desalination equipment and could take on fresh water only when in port. (Water did become an issue when the ship was held for a long time in Vancouver. Yet the passengers did subsequently survive a long ordeal on board in remarkably good health.) When it had been a regularly scheduled immigrant ship carrying European immigrants from Baltic, Black Sea and Mediterranean ports, the Komagata Maru had accommodated nearly 550 steerage and 16 cabin passengers, a little more than Gurdit Singh intended to carry judging by the 533 bunks he had installed. He had enough room in the forward area of the main deck to create temple space for daily worship, led by a Sikh priest. The space was also used for political lectures and readings of emotional political poetry. For the passengers, that time in worship and in lectures and readings facilitated extraordinary cohesion, under the very difficult circumstances of a long confinement on board ship.

The Passengers and their Crossing to Vancouver

All of the passengers were Punjabis; and, with the exception of two wives and four children, all were men. Sikhs numbered at least 337, Muslims about 27 and Hindus about 12. (None of the passenger lists gives a precise basis for calculating figures on religious affiliation.) Most of the Muslims were from the Shapur District of western Punjab, now in Pakistan. Otherwise, the passengers were from farming villages and districts in central Punjab. There were three distinct groups: those from Doaba, north of the Sutlej River; those from Malwa, south of the Sutlej; and those from Majha, west of the Beas River. A large contingent came from Gurdit Singh's Majha region and an even larger one from the Malwa region of his two principal lieutenants. Much smaller was the group from Doaba, although Doaba has been the main source of Punjabi immigration to Canada over the years. If men from Doaba had played a larger role in organizing the Komagata Maru, then this region might have been better represented on the ship. Trust between the organizers and potential passengers was an issue, and local loyalties were crucial in determining who went and who did not.

Nearly all of the passengers were from elite landowning village families rather than the low-status groups - notably weavers, leatherworkers and sweepers - that made up half of the village populations of rural Punjab. The sons of these landowning families were a chief source of recruits for the British Indian army. Many of the passengers had served in the army or in the police of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and other British outposts in East Asia. They were independent, self-financed or family-financed economic emigrants for whom emigration was a speculative venture aimed at personal and joint-family advancement. Because many spoke little or no English and all wanted to maximize earnings, they were generally looking for the outdoor jobs available to unskilled labourers - prepared to do menial work that they would not do in India. Judging by the established pattern of Punjabis in North America, most intended to stay overseas for several years in order to earn and save before returning home. Their long-term purpose was suggested by the choice made by nearly all of them to come without wives and children, even though many were married. The great attractions of North America were high wages and immediate investment opportunities in small businesses, farms and city lots. The real reward for their time overseas would be the money they took home for their families when they eventually returned.

At the time, few Canadians had any sympathy for the people on the Komagata Maru or believed that as subjects of the Empire they had a right to enter a self-governing country such as Canada. In fact, very few left-wing Canadians were able to sympathize with the anti-British, anti-imperial message that the passengers heard daily from Gurdit Singh's young, politicized lieutenants. On board, these passengers received intense political education through lectures, readings from revolutionary literature and discussion. As a group, they were also self-selected to trust the leadership on the ship. Many others, who had originally planned to go from Hong Kong, had nervously dropped out after the Hong Kong police arrested Gurdit Singh on suspicion of fraudulently selling passages, only to release him without charges.

The ship sailed from Hong Kong on 4 April 1914 with just 150 passengers. To make up the numbers, Gurdit Singh sent two of his lieutenants to recruit passengers among Punjabis in the Philippines and in China. As the ship proceeded via Shanghai and the Japanese ports of Moji and Yokohama, these late recruits, travelling by regular liners, caught up. Some also came directly from India, making up the number of passengers to 376 by the time the ship left Japan.

The Treatment the Passengers Received in Canada

These passengers arrived in Canadian waters on 21 May 1914 and anchored in Vancouver's harbor on 23 May. Gurdit Singh and his lieutenants knew that Canada had been rejecting South Asian immigrants for the previous six years and that they faced a likely struggle to gain entry for everyone. Nonetheless, Gurdit Singh, his lieutenants and the ordinary passengers were not prepared for the uncompromising measures taken by the Canadian authorities. None of the passengers was allowed ashore, even for preliminary examination, except for 20 returning residents and a very few special cases. The great majority found themselves confined to the ship throughout their time in Canadian waters.

A long confrontation ensued with the passengers resisting immigration department efforts to make them to leave voluntarily. These efforts included limiting their communications with the outside world, blocking their attempts to take their case to a Canadian court, refusing to supply the ship with food and water except when conditions became desperate; and, at one point after a continuing standoff, attempting to take control of the ship by force with a police boarding party.

The passengers had Punjabi and other South Asian friends on shore who hired lawyers on their behalf, who also tried to negotiate with the officials, and who, on several occasions, sent out food and water when conditions on board became desperate. After a month, the two sides finally agreed to take a case to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. This case went ahead very quickly, but ended with a judgment in favour of the Canadian government and against the passengers. The court found no principle in Canadian or British law that gave the passengers a right of entry.

The Tragedy at Budge Budge and the Memory of the Komagata Maru

Gurdit Singh and the passengers accepted the decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal without attempting an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada or beyond that to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council in London. They had neither the resources nor willingness to continue a long legal struggle. Even so, their departure was delayed several more weeks. In an atmosphere of deep mistrust, the passengers and their friends on shore argued with government officials about who should provision the ship for its return. In the end, the Canadian government accepted the responsibility as far as Hong Kong. Finally, on 23 July, 355 disappointed and radicalized passengers left for Asia. After a long delay in Japan, where some passengers disembarked, 321 passengers reached the Indian port of Budge Budge near Kolkata on 29 September 1914. By then the First World War had begun. En route, the passengers made contact with German diplomats and exchanged friendly signals with a German cruiser, the Emden, which was then sinking British shipping in the Bay of Bengal.

Understandably, the revolutionary mood on the Komagata Maru had intensified even though these were dangerous times in India for any suspected opponents of the British. With the First World War underway, Indian troops were being recruited to fight alongside the British in the Middle East and Europe. For British officials in India, the uncertain loyalty of many of their Indian subjects was an immense concern. In this atmosphere, a deep-seated distrust affected the handling by British officials of the arrival of the Komagata Maru in India. Within hours of disembarking at Budge Budge, 20 of the passengers were killed in an encounter with British Indian police and troops who were unwilling to let the passengers disperse into Kolkata, and who tried to force them unwillingly onto a specially commissioned train bound for Punjab.

After the violence at Budge Budge, and the initial escape of most of the passengers, 27 avoided arrest despite an extensive police search in the region of Budge Budge and Kolkata. However, the majority were rounded up and held in a Kolkata prison until the Indian government completed a self-serving inquiry into the affair. By then, the passengers of the Komagata Maru had a reputation as dangerous revolutionaries, even in the minds of moderate Indian politicians whose perceptions were shaped by what they learned from a censored colonial Indian press. Only in the aftermath of the War, when the campaign for Indian independence intensified, did the passengers' side of the story begin to emerge. Today, it is the generally accepted story.

Legacy

The Komagata Maru was quickly forgotten by most Canadians and it remained largely forgotten for several generations, except among Punjabi Canadians. Change came as Canadians became increasingly aware of a growing Punjabi and South Asian community in their midst, particularly after the 1970s. As late as 1961, and as a direct consequence of Canada's anti-Asian immigration policies, the national census counted only 6,774 South Asians in the country. Ten years later, after immigration opened up, there were 67,925 and the numbers have doubled or more than doubled each decade since. By the 1990s, South Asians, particularly Punjabi Sikhs, were numerous enough to possess an unmistakable political presence.

As the centenary of the Komagata Maru grew closer, Canadian Sikhs began to push for an official apology. The idea, however, still ran into opposition from a sector of the voting public. In May 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper did deliver an apology at a fair organized by Sikhs in a park in Surrey, British Columbia. Many of the Sikhs present were unhappy with the place chosen for this apology. They wanted it delivered in the House of Commons in Ottawa, where comparable Canadian government apologies for past injustices against other minorities had been made ( see Government Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools). On 18 May 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the incident before the House of Commons: "Today - while knowing that no words can fully erase the pain and suffering experienced by the passengers - I offer a sincere apology on behalf of the government for the laws in force at the time that allowed Canada to be indifferent to the plight of the passengers of the Komagata Maru."

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The SS Komagata Maru was a chartered ship featured in a dramatic challenge to Canada's former practice of excluding immigrants from India. This challenge took place in the spring and summer of 1914, on the eve of the First World War.

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The Canadian Enclyclopedia (2)

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The dropped anchor in Vancouver's harbour on May 23, 1914. Most of its passengers were Sikhs who wished to immigrate to Canada. But British Columbia was discouraging the arrival of newcomers from Asia. There was a law in place requiring new arrivals from India to take direct passage to Canada. But this was impossible; there was no scheduled steamer travelling non-stop from India. It was on this technicality that immigration authorities refused to allow the passengers aboard the Komagata Maru to land.

Conditions on board the ship got worse as supplies of food and water dwindled. Tensions in the city rose. At one point a boarding party of armed police tried to storm the ship but the passengers drove them off. Finally the federal government called in the naval cruiser Rainbow, bristling with heavy artillery, to escort the Komagata Maru out to sea.

When the ship arrived back in Calcutta British officials attempted to arrest some of the Sikh leaders, shots were fired and 20 people died. In October, in Vancouver, a member of the local Sikh community shot and killed an undercover immigration officer for the role he was believed to have played in the episode.

In 2008 both the federal government and the British Columbia legislature apologized for the Komagata Maru incident.

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Vancouver Feature: Sikh Migrants Stalled in Harbour

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The dropped anchor in Vancouver's harbour on May 23, 1914. Most of its passengers were Sikhs who wished to immigrate to Canada. But British Columbia was discouraging the arrival of newcomers from Asia. There was a law in place requiring new arrivals from India to take direct passage to Canada.

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Pier 21

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When Harbhajan "Harb" Gill arrived in Canada with his father in 1969, they were not the first of the Gill family to have set foot on Canadian shores. The family's first link to this country of promise and hope took place alongside a dark landmark in immigration history when Canada was quite the opposite. To find it Harb goes back to 1906, the year Rattan Singh Gill, his grandfather, landed in Vancouver with many others from the same village. "I think ... we had about 4000 people by 1906," he says of the budding community of Indians in Vancouver "up to 1908 there was about 5200 people."

Rattan was living and working in this close-knit community when, on May 23, 1914, the ship Komagata Maru sailed into the Burrard Inlet just off the coast. What Harb does know is that as this contentious incident in history was unfolding, his grandfather was hard at work delivering wood for heating houses. "So when the Komagata Maru ship did come over, my grandfather was here trying to help with the community" he says "what needed to be done at the time."

Harb can only imagine how his grandfather would have felt about what would eventually be deemed an example of racist and nativist immigration acts and policies. That definition would come decades later. At the time, Rattan would likely have only felt frustration, sadness and outrage as the events unfolded before his eyes.

Komagata Maru was a steamship on which a large group of British Subjects attempted to emigrate from India to Canada, and were denied entry. It is an incident steeped in years of building racist and xenophobic sentiments directed towards people of Asian origin. These resulted in the Continuous Journey Regulation, which prohibited the landing of any immigrant who did not arrive via non-stop voyage from the country of origin. This regulation, along with another that demanded Asian immigrants arrive with $200 each, instead of the usual $25, was intended to exclude "undesirable" Asian immigrants.

These rules prevented the 376 people on board the Maru from even setting foot onto Canadian soil. The passengers mounted an appeal, but after weeks and weeks, the ship and passengers languishing just off the coast, the appeal failed, and "after 2 months fighting, no food on the ship, lots of suffering, they went back," says Harb.

Upon return to India, Komagata Maru once again encountered barriers. As Harb explains, the British government was restricting passengers from spreading the word about what had happened, why they had returned. "There were so many people enlisted with the British military," he says, "if word got out, this is what had happened to Indian people and we're fighting for that British Raj?" With a possible uprising in the minds of politicians, the ship's passengers were deemed potential political agitators and were placed under escort. When they resisted, a riot ensued and 19 were killed.

Back in Vancouver, in the 5200-strong Indian community, outrage had spread. As Harb explains, following the incident, the majority of the Indian community could no longer tolerate living in Canada, "ninety percent of these people went back to India... that included my grandfather."

Fast forwarding to 1976 and 21-year-old Harb, recent graduate of UBC's film program, is taking a leave of absence from his job at Canada Post to go to India. He is hoping to find inspiration for a film in his birthplace. "I ended up staying in India for 5 years" says Harb, describing how he would travel back and forth from Punjab, where he had family, to Bombay, where his career was launching. Harb found success producing Bollywood movies, but has also created more serious films, tackling themes of gambling, the caste system, and family complexities. "As long as they don't lose money, I don't mind making these films," says Harb.

Harb got married, an arranged union, and brought his family to Vancouver. Now a seasoned filmmaker and passionate storyteller, Harb felt a need to continue sharing stories from his community. " Komagata Maru interested me," and his passion to bring the story to light ignited as he began to ask people what they knew about the incident.

With Harb's prompting, a floodgate opened and stories began flowing out of the community. Harb soon found himself involved in a community outcry to parliament for a formal apology. "We went through the parliament fighting to get an apology after the Chinese people got their apology for head tax, and Japanese for the internment... so we thought, you know, these same types of things happened with those other communities I believe we should have had an apology in the parliament from our government as well."

Over the next few years there would be an apology from the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, followed by another from former Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the 13 th annual Ghadri Babiyan Da Mela festival in Surrey, BC, and finally a formal apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons. "It was a very big deal in the community," says Harb of the formal apology, "and not just for our community I think it was for human society that something wrong was done and there was a government willing to say it was wrong."

Harb continues to share stories of the Komagata Maru incident, now as President of the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation, and is also working on a film project he hopes to announce this summer.

May 23, 2018, marks the 104 th anniversary of Komagata Maru 's arrival.
Hear more about the incident from Museum researcher Steven Schwinghamer.

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Those Canada Turned Away: Remembering the Komagata Maru Incident

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When Harbhajan "Harb" Gill arrived in Canada with his father in 1969, they were not the first of the Gill family to have set foot on Canadian shores. The family's first link to this country of promise and hope took place alongside a dark landmark in immigration history when Canada was quite the opposite.

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The Government of Canada

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Backgrounder

On May 23, 1914, the Komagata Maru reached Vancouver's harbour via Hong Kong and Japan carrying 376 prospective South Asian immigrants who hoped to settle in Canada. The passengers, however, did not receive a friendly welcome. Their arrival provoked massive opposition from the public, and prevalent ideas of race and exclusion held by the majority of the local population led to an outpouring of racial rhetoric and considerable effort to force the ship's return to India. In response to this backlash, the local South Asian community came together to fight the deportation of the passengers. While a legal challenge mounted, the community was unsuccessful and the vast majority of the passengers were forced to leave. This collective action was a pivotal event in the community's early struggle for equal treatment in Canada. Today, the Komagata Maru incident has resonance within Canadian history and public discourse, and has significant iconic value within the South Asian-Canadian community.

In the years prior to the Komagata Maru's arrival, the Canadian government placed limitations on South Asian immigration through racially restrictive policies. A 1908 order-in-council required "Asiatic" immigrants to possess at least $200 to enter the country. A second order-in-council required all immigrants to come to Canada via "continuous journey," directly from their country of origin. This policy was aimed at South Asians as nonstop travel from India to Canada was largely unavailable. Sikh businessman Gurdit Singh chartered the Komagata Maru from Hong Kong to confront these restrictions and hoped that he and his passengers, all British citizens, would be able to enter Canada.

This would not be the case. Immigration officials did not allow the ship to dock and the passengers were isolated on board, unable to communicate with the South Asian community on shore. In the weeks that followed, conditions on the ship, including access to food and water, grew desperate. The local South Asian community rose to the defence of the passengers, formed a committee, raised large amounts of money, and hired a lawyer to challenge the restrictive immigration laws. A test case was put before the courts, but lost in its final appeal, and the passengers were issued deportation orders. When they refused to leave until provisions for the return trip were supplied and fought attempts by officials to board their ship, the government sent in the heavily-armed warship HMCS Rainbow. The Komagata Maru passengers stood their ground, singing patriotic songs and reading from Sikh scripture. Finally, thanks in part to efforts by the local South Asian community to negotiate an agreement, the government provided food and water for the ship. On 23 July 1914, the Komagata Maru left Vancouver harbour with the majority of its passengers aboard and returned to India.

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Backgrounder On May 23, 1914, the Komagata Maru reached Vancouver's harbour via Hong Kong and Japan carrying 376 prospective South Asian immigrants who hoped to settle in Canada. The passengers, however, did not receive a friendly welcome.

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Komagata Maru Journey

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More than just an isolated "incident", The Komagata Maru story reflects a deliberate, exclusionary policy of the Canadian government to keep out ethnicities with whom it deemed unfit to enter. These justifications were couched in racist and ethnocentric views of "progress", "civilization", and "suitability" which all buttressed the view that Canada should remain a "White Man's Country".

On May 23, 1914, a crowded ship from Hong Kong carrying 376 passengers, most being immigrants from Punjab, British India, arrived in Vancouver's Burrard Inlet on the west coast of the Dominion of Canada. The passengers, all British subjects, were challenging the Continuous Passage regulation, which stated that immigrants must "come from the country of their birth, or citizenship, by a continuous journey and on through tickets purchased before leaving the country of their birth, or citizenship." The regulation had been brought into force in 1908 in an effort to curb Indian immigration to Canada. As a result, the Komagata Maru was denied docking by the authorities and only twenty returning residents, and the ship's doctor and his family were eventually granted admission to Canada. Following a two month stalemate, the ship was escorted out of the harbour by the Canadian military on July 23, 1914 and forced to sail back to Budge-Budge, India where nineteen of the passengers were killed by gunfire upon disembarking and many others imprisoned.

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More than just an isolated "incident", The Komagata Maru story reflects a deliberate, exclusionary policy of the Canadian government to keep out ethnicities with whom it deemed unfit to enter. These justifications were couched in racist and ethnocentric views of "progress", "civilization", and "suitability" which all buttressed the view that Canada should remain a "White Man's Country".

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YouTube

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South Asian Stories - Ep3 - Komagata Maru

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Human rights are rights that we all have by virtue of our shared humanity. Depending on the nature of the right, both individuals and groups can assert human rights. The realization of human rights is a constant struggle on the part of people who suffer injustices and who seek redress. Human rights are an important part of the social fabric of Canadian society. Canadians have played a special role in the evolution of human rights on the international stage

Human rights are so fundamental that they receive a degree of special protection at three levels: in international law, in national constitutions and in human rights laws.

At the international level, the touchstone is the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Canada has signed the Declaration and has ratified several international human rights treaties. There are ten core United Nations human rights treaties. By 2014, Canada had ratified seven out of ten.

At the constitutional level, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the "Charter") is now part of the Constitution Act, 1982. Before 1982, there was little constitutional protection against government interference with human rights. Today, the Charter guarantees fundamental freedoms (free expression, religion, association and peaceful assembly), democratic rights (such as participation in elections), mobility rights (which protect certain rights of citizens and permanent residents in Canada), legal rights, equality rights (between men and women, for example), and the right to enforce these rights. Language rights receive distinct constitutional protections as well. Beyond the Charter, the rights of Aboriginal peoples merit unique protections because of their particular history ( see Aboriginal Rights). These include individual and collective rights to their cultural and religious traditions, rights to autonomy and self-government, and the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or to the forcible removal of their children to any other group.

The third level of protection is found in anti-discrimination laws. The laws include the federal Canadian Human Rights Act, as well as 10 provincial and three territorial human rights laws. These laws mainly protect equality rights.

Types of Human Rights

People use the language of human rights to support all kinds of claims, but not all claims count as human rights in law. Equality rights give people equal protection and benefit of the law. The equality rights section of the Charter, section 15, came into force in 1985. It applies to all levels of government in Canada.

Civil Liberties are associated with fundamental freedoms and privacy rights. They are usually invoked to oppose state intrusions into those rights, typically on grounds of national security and public order. Civil liberties (equivalent to "civil and political rights" at the international level), can be claimed before the courts on an immediate basis, for example by demanding an immediate end to cruel and unusual treatment in detention. This group of rights is often referred to as "first generation" rights.

Economic, social and cultural rights are also fundamental components of human rights. They are sometimes referred to as "second generation" rights. They include education, health, housing and employment. Canada usually implements these rights through government policies and programs. They require progressive or gradual realization: progressive realization recognizes that it is impossible for most governments to achieve these rights fully and immediately for everyone. Human rights legislation in most of Canada recognizes and enforces many economic and social rights, for example by protecting equality rights in the areas of housing, employment and education.

There is also a third generation of other rights, including the rights to economic and social development, to participate in cultural heritage, and to intergenerational equity and sustainability. Third generation rights are generally not enforceable, but they are an emerging set of norms that are developing quickly.

All human rights are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. None has automatic precedence over any other. This important principle was established at the end of the Cold War at the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993.

Human Rights in Canada

Human rights as we understand them today are a relatively modern concept. Slavery was practised in the British colonies, including Canada, until it was made illegal under the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. After Confederation, discriminatory laws discouraged the immigration of non-whites ( see Immigration Policy). Discrimination and de facto segregation ( see Prejudice and Discrimination) were commonplace in many parts of Canada, especially for Chinese, Japanese and Black Canadians.

During the two world wars, and at different points in time, Canada interned people ( see Internment) who were perceived to be enemy aliens, including Eastern European, Italian, German and Japanese Canadians.

In the early 20th century, the rights of women and children were restricted ( see Women and the Law; Murdoch Case). Women were not considered "persons" eligible for appointment to the Senate until 1929. Women did not gain the federal vote until the First World War, and did not gain the provincial vote in all provinces until 1940 ( see Women's Suffrage). In Québec, restrictions on the legal capacity of married women were not lifted until 1964.

Laws denying the franchise to Aboriginal peoples were in place until after the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960. Aboriginal women continued to experience discrimination. Women who married non-Aboriginal men lost their status under the Indian Act whereas Aboriginal men who married non-Aboriginal women retained their status. This discrimination was challenged under international law, but the Canadian law did not changed until 1985. Aboriginal peoples were also prohibited from filing federal human rights complaints about discrimination in relation to the Indian Act until 2011. Aboriginal issues remain one of Canada's most serious human rights concerns.

Legal measures to combat discrimination, racism and hate speech began to emerge in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1940s that they became more widespread. In 1944, Ontario introduced provincial legislation called the Racial Discrimination Act, followed by Saskatchewan's Bill of Rights in 1947. Both statutes relied on quasi-criminal prosecutions - as opposed to civil human rights claims, which would emerge two decades later - and were rarely used. Fair accommodation and fair employment practices laws were enacted throughout Canada in the 1950s, followed by equal-pay legislation for women.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the provinces and territories started to consolidate these statutes into comprehensive human rights codes, administered and enforced by permanent human rights commissions and tribunals. These laws have "quasi-constitutional status," meaning that they prevail over other types of laws and they apply not only to government actions, but extend to businesses, the media and non-profit organizations, as well as to individuals in certain circumstances.

Bill of Rights in Canada

The 1960 federal Bill of Rights was an important step in the evolution of human rights in Canada. Following two petitions submitted to Parliament by Jehovah's Witnesses, many of whom were arrested in Québec during the 1940s, the Bill was championed by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who had been a strong defender of the Witnesses during the Second World War. The Bill had several weaknesses: it had no constitutional force and could be amended in Parliament like any other law. It was restricted to federal matters, and did not affect the provinces in any way. The Bill of Rights made little legal impact, but its shortcomings demonstrated the importance of a constitutional bill of rights and paved the way for the Charter.

Developments in International Law

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the "common standard of achievement for all peoples... to promote respect for these rights and freedoms, and by progressive measures national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance." The Declaration was accepted by a unanimous vote, with the six members of the Soviet bloc, Saudi Arabia, and the Union of South Africa abstaining.

By 1966, the international scene had evolved in important ways. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was supplemented by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Canada acceded to both in 1976 with the unanimous consent of the provinces. Both covenants are now binding upon Canada in International Law. Canada also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Civil and Political Rights Covenant: anyone in Canada can now file a complaint (called a "communication") to the UN Human Rights Committee that oversees the ICCPR if the Canadian government fails to meet its obligations.

Canada has ratified or signed other core human rights treaties and submitted itself to oversight by their respective treaty bodies. The treaties include the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Each has its own oversight committee at the United Nations.

Impact on Canadian Law

The development of international human rights law generated pressure to strengthen our human rights laws in Canada, leading to the enactment of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom s.

The Charter is a bill of rights but is also a political compromise. Section 33 of the Charter permits any government to enact laws "notwithstanding the Charter," and thus a majority government may infringe the Charter through this "notwithstanding" power. Such actions will, in most cases, constitute a clear violation of international law. Public interest groups frequently oppose such actions in democratic societies through the actions of individuals, political parties, the media and members of the legislature.

By the late 1970s, human rights laws had been enacted at the federal level and in every province. All three territories now have their own human rights systems as well. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Québec and Yukon also have special protections in their human rights laws to protect certain civil and political rights. The Québec Charter of human rights and freedoms (1975) goes further and protects economic, social and cultural rights.

Human Rights in Practice

The scope and meaning of human rights are always evolving. Canadian courts have said that the constitution is a "living tree," meaning that it can grow and evolve with time. There are several important examples of this ongoing evolution.

The right to equality on the ground of sexual orientation has now been "read into" the Charter, meaning that although sexual orientation is not mentioned in section 15 (the equality rights section of the Charter), it is considered as an analogous ground and is therefore protected.

Courts often have to balance different rights and freedoms or decide whether limits on rights are justifiable in free and democratic societies. For example, the Supreme Court of Canada decided in 1992 that the crime of spreading false news was an infringement of free speech and therefore unconstitutional in the Holocaust-denial case of . On the other hand, the Court has held that criminal and human rights laws prohibiting hate speech against minorities such as Jews ( see Anti-Semitism), people of colour, and gays and lesbians ( see Homosexuality), are reasonable limits on free speech in the cases of Taylor (1990), Keegstra (1990), and Whatcott (2013).

Such cases confirm the principle that there is no hierarchy of rights and that no right or category of rights has automatic precedence over any other type of right.

Evolving areas of human rights law include the interaction between Aboriginal rights and human rights laws, and the operation of equality rights in rapidly changing areas such as family status and disability. The right to equality on the grounds of gender expression or gender identity for trans people has been introduced in several Canadian jurisdictions ( see Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights in Canada).

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, there has been a growing tension between human rights and national security, reigniting debates about torture, religious freedoms, immigration and refugee policy, and national surveillance. Racial profiling issues have also come to the fore. Since 2008, Québec has had a particularly divisive debate about the accommodation of religious minorities and the role of secularism in the state ( see Québec Values Charter).

The renaissance of public political protest and the growing number of restrictions on civil society organizations around the world (non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, and international development groups, and environmental groups, for example) have reignited questions about reasonable limits on freedom of association and peaceful assembly in Canada and around the world.

Disability rights are another key area of development for human rights law in Canada. Canada lags behind the standards contained in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in terms of many basic rights, such as access to services, public transit, employment, and education. It has not fully implemented the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Although the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights came into force in 2010, Canada has declined to become a State Party. Thus, individual Canadians currently do not have the right to claim violations of their economic, social and cultural rights unless the violations of those rights are discriminatory and can be addressed under human rights laws.

These are all important and ongoing areas for future development. The fight for human rights and the nature of Canada's role in the development of human rights is an important part of our national heritage and our ongoing and shared national task of respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights. As part of this journey, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which opened in 2014 in Winnipeg, is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to the narrative of Canada's human rights journey, its evolution, celebration and future.

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Human rights are rights that we all have by virtue of our shared humanity. Depending on the nature of the right, both individuals and groups can assert human rights. The realization of human rights is a constant struggle on the part of people who suffer injustices and who seek redress.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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Canadian Human Rights Commission

The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Tribunal Panel were established under the 1977 Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and resolve individual complaints about discriminatory employment practices. It is mandated to promote equal opportunities and access to government services to all, including women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. The tribunal may review the directions given by the commission to an employer on the subject of employment equity and choose to affirm, rescind or amend that body's direction. The commission is responsible for implementing education and discrimination prevention programs, while issues such as accommodation for environmental sensitivities in the workplace and combating hate on the Internet are newer areas of commission inquiry.

From 1988 to 1997 the Canadian Human Rights Commission received 7450 signed complaints, apart from those regarding pay equity, and made final decisions on 6550: two-thirds of the complaints were not proceeded with or were dismissed, and about 6% of the cases were sent on to the Human Rights Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, for inquiry. In July 1998 the tribunal ordered the federal government to recompense some 200 000 past and present public service workers who had been underpaid as the result of discriminatory practices. Both the commission and the tribunal attempt when possible to settle complaints through mediation. In 2005-06 settlements were reached for 23 of the 35 mediations undertaken by the tribunal. Mediation and conciliation have gained in importance with rising demands. Between 2003 and 2005 the tribunal received the highest-ever number of new complaints, representing a 174% increase in cases over the average of 44.7 cases per year during the preceding 7 years.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission consists of up to a maximum of 8 commissioners appointed by governor in council, including a chief commissioner with deputy minister status and a staff of approximately 170 in offices throughout the country. An independent agency reporting to Parliament through the minister of justice, the commission's jurisdiction applies to federal government departments and agencies and Crown corporations, as well as to businesses under federal jurisdiction, such as banks, airlines, broadcasting organizations and interprovincial transportation companies. In February 2003 a new branch - the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Services Branch - was created to provide mediation and conciliation expertise and encourage complainants to consider ADR; the ADR Services Branch works independently from the complaint process, investigations or litigation.

A National Aboriginal Program was established in September 2006 to strengthen the Canadian Human Rights Commission's engagement with the Aboriginal community and in preparation for the repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which was announced in December 2006. The program seeks to build capacity at the grassroots level through the dissemination of information and dialogue with community groups, developing opportunities to redress rights violations including through traditional dispute resolution techniques. Improving access of Aboriginal peoples and communities to commission processes and programs are prime objectives.

A September 1998 Report of the Auditor-General of Canada to the House of Commons claimed that inefficiencies in the complaints process left almost half of the 900 open cases in 1997 unresolved one year after the signing of the complaint. In 2001 a review by the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its 24 years of operation concluded that, with an annual caseload of approximately 600 signed complaints and up to 2 years required to investigate a complaint, there was insufficient capacity to service both increasing demands and a sizeable backlog of complaints. Reform of the complaint process began in the fall of 2002. Although pre-investigation mediation was made a formal step in the complaint process in 2000, the commission envisioned greater use of ADR as an alternative to investigation and litigation where appropriate. In addition, the Treasury Board approved temporary resources of $570 000 per year for 4 years starting in 2002-03 to eliminate part of the commission's backlog. Other priorities for reform have included greater engagement with the public interest and improved management practices.

See also Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Tribunal Panel were established under the 1977 Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and resolve individual complaints about discriminatory employment practices. It is mandated to promote equal opportunities and access to government services to all, including women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.

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BC Human Rights Tribunal

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Everyone in British Columbia has rights and duties under the Human Rights Code.

See videos in American Sign Language about human rights in BC.

The Code's purposes are to make sure that people can participate equally in the economic, social, political and cultural life of British Columbia. The Code does this by forbidding discrimination based on certain personal characteristics in areas of daily life.

Discrimination refers to poor treatment based on a personal characteristic like race. A person can discriminate even if they do not mean to. Sometimes poor treatment can be justified and then there is no discrimination.

See frequently asked questions about human rights.

Learn more about human rights and duties in each area:

Learn about remedies under the BC Human Rights Code.

Everyone also has a right under the Code to make a complaint, or be involved in a complaint, without retaliation. There is a duty not to retaliate against any person because they are involved or might be involved in a complaint.

The Code also sets up a process for making a complaint and seeking a solution.

Legal advice for people who experience discrimination may be available from the BC Human Rights Clinic. The Clinic comes to the Tribunal most Mondays to give advice. See others who can help on our resources page.

The government of BC also has information about human rights protection in other languages.

Learn more about the BC Human Rights Code and Tribunal:

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My Human Rights and Duties Under the BC Human Rights Code

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The Code's purposes are to make sure that people can participate equally in the economic, social, political and cultural life of British Columbia. The Code does this by forbidding discrimination based on certain personal characteristics in areas of daily life.

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BC Human Rights

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BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner

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Human rights in B.C. - BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner

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Know the difference BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner Status: Independent of government, reports to Legislative Assembly. Purpose: To address the root causes of inequality, discrimination and injustice in...

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Canadian Human Rights Tribunal

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Everyone in the world is entitled to the same fundamental human rights. These rights include the right to live free from torture, the right to live free from slavery, the right to own property, the right to equality and dignity, and the right to live free from all forms of discrimination.

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Everyone in the world is entitled to the same fundamental human rights. These rights include the right to live free from torture, the right to live free from slavery, the right to own property, the right to equality and dignity, and the right to live free from all forms of discrimination.

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YouTube

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BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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timeline

The Oka Crisis, also known as the Kanesatake Resistance or the Mohawk Resistance at Kanesatake, was a 78-day standoff (11 July-26 September 1990) between Mohawk protesters, Quebec police, and the Canadian Army. It took place in the community of Kanesatake, which includes a commons area known as "the Pines." It is near the Town of Oka, on the north shore of Montreal. Related protests and violence occurred in the Kahnawake reserve, to the south of Montreal. The crisis was sparked by the proposed expansion of a golf course and the development of townhouses on disputed land in the Pines that included a Mohawk burial ground. Tensions were high, particularly after the death of Corporal Marcel Lemay, a Sûreté du Québec police officer. Eventually, the army was called in and the protest ended. The golf course expansion was cancelled and the land was purchased by the federal government. However, it did not establish the land as a reserve, and there has since been no organized transfer of the land to the Mohawks of Kanesatake. The resistance inspired Indigenous peoples across Canada to take action. It has been linked to the Idle No More movement, as well as demands for an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

Sulpicians Sell Land

The Sulpicians sell most of their land in Oka. The Mohawks of Kanesatake are now confined to about 6 km ², compared to the 687 km ² they once held. By the end of the Second World War, the Sulpicians have sold all their remaining land and have left the area. Ownership of the Pines, however, remains unresolved.

Founding of the Mohawk Warrior Society

The Mohawk Warrior Society is founded as a singing society to carry on traditional Mohawk songs and customs. Inspired by the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the United States, the society advocates armed resistance to defend Indigenous communities and their interests from state interference. Later that year, the society occupies two islands in the St. Lawrence River. In 1971, they help an Onondaga band in New York State halt a construction project. ( See also Indigenous Political Organization and Activism in Canada.)

Warrior Society Occupies Land in New York State

Emboldened by their success in Kahnawake, the Warrior Society occupies an abandoned summer camp at Moss Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. They hold it for three years before reaching a settlement.

Mohawk Land Claim Rejected

The Mohawk people of Kahnawake, Kanesetake and Akwesasne assert Aboriginal title to their ancestral lands. Their land claim is rejected on the grounds that, since they did not hold the land continuously from time immemorial, their Aboriginal title was voided.

The Founding of Ganienkeh

After a three-year armed occupation and almost 200 negotiations with New York state authorities, the Mohawk Warrior Society abandons the Moss Lake camp in exchange for two parcels of land totalling 23 km ² near Altona, New York, about 20 km from the Canada-US border, south of Kahnawake. It becomes a "permanent nonreservation settlement" called Ganienkeh - a rare example of Indigenous people successfully reclaiming land from the government. To commemorate the settlement's founding, writer and artist Louis Karoniakatajeh Hall (a Kanesatake Mohawk) creates the Unity flag, also known as the Mohawk Warrior flag.

Oka Announces Plan to Expand Golf Course

Standoff at Ganienkeh

A Vermont National Guard helicopter is forced to land after allegedly being shot at while flying over Ganienkeh. A standoff ensues with the FBI and New York state police that lasts several days.

Court Grants Oka an Injunction

The Kanesatake community is ordered by the Quebec Superior Court to take down the barricades blocking chemin de Milieu.

Road 344 Remains Barricaded

The Mohawk Warrior Society joins the people in the Pines and helps them strengthen the barricade.

Oka Crisis Begins
5:15 a.m.
About 100 officers from the SQ's tactical intervention unit enter the Pines, where there are around 30 Mohawk warriors. The SQ demands to speak with Warrior representatives; they negotiate a 45-minute pause for a tobacco burning ceremony. Meanwhile, they alert the Mohawks of Kahnawake, who use their cars to block traffic and establish a barricade on the Mercier Bridge. Within two hours, they have pushed traffic back to Châteauguay.

Quebec Calls for the Military

Bourassa invokes the National Defense Act and asks Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to send the military to intervene in the crisis.

Soldiers in Montreal

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces are deployed in the Montreal suburbs of Saint-Benoit, Blainville, Saint-Rémi, Saint-Hubert, Longue-Pointe and Farnham.

Negotiations Break Down

Order is Given to Evacuate Oka

Anticipating an advance by the army, government officials go door to door in Oka ordering the remaining residents to evacuate. A 75-car convoy of Mohawk women, children and elders also leave Kahnawake. An angry mob hurls rocks at the cars, injuring several people inside. (The incident is documented in Alanis Obamsawin's documentary Rocks at Whiskey Trench.)

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

Royal Commission Issues its Report

The five-volume report is released at a special ceremony in Hull, Quebec. The main conclusion of the report is the need for a complete restructuring of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Some of the broader recommendations include a proposal for a new Royal Proclamation. This would require the government to commit to a new set of ethical principles respecting the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. This new relationship would acknowledge and respect Indigenous cultures and values, the historical origins of Indigenous nationhood and the inherent right to Indigenous self-determination. ( See Indigenous Self-Government in Canada.) Implementing many of the recommendations in the Royal Commission would require constitutional change. Most of the recommendations were not implemented.

Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act

During the crisis, the federal government agreed to purchase the Pines to prevent further development. The golf course expansion and condominium construction were cancelled. After the crisis had ended, the government purchased additional plots of land for Kanesatake. On 14 June 2001, the Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act confirmed that the land was to be reserved for the Mohawks of Kanesatake. However, it did not establish the land as a reserve, and there has since been no organized transfer of the land to the Mohawk people.

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timeline The Oka Crisis, also known as the Kanesatake Resistance or the Mohawk Resistance at Kanesatake, was a 78-day standoff (11 July-26 September 1990) between Mohawk protesters, Quebec police, and the Canadian Army. It took place in the community of Kanesatake, which includes a commons area known as "the Pines."

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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More than 100 Indigenous people march on Parliament Hill to protest the elimination of Indigenous rights in the proposed Constitution, on 16 November 1981.

What are Indigenous Rights in Canada?

There is no simple definition of Indigenous rights in Canada because of the diversity among Indigenous peoples. For example, First Nations that have signed treaties with the federal government may enjoy certain privileges (such as annual cash payments) that non-treaty nations do not. Similarly, Indigenous nations that have won court cases regarding land claims may exercise more control over their lands and populations than others. In general, however, all Indigenous peoples have rights that may include access to ancestral lands and resources, and the right to self-government.

In addition to treaties, which are supposed to enshrine certain rights to land, resources and more, federal law also protects Indigenous rights, namely the Constitution Act, 1982 ( see Constitution of Canada). Since 2008, the rights of First Nations people living on reserve have also been covered by the Canadian Human Rights Act. Supreme Court cases have clarified definitions of Indigenous rights, and particularly Indigenous rights (or title) to traditional territories. For example, the Delgamuukw case in 1997 showed that Aboriginal title constituted an ancestral right protected by the Constitution.

The - another federal law - does not enshrine rights (quite the contrary, it has been historically oppressive), but it has impacted Indigenous rights. The Indian Act creates legal categories of Status and Non-Status Indians that have caused division among Indigenous peoples ( see The White Paper, 1969 and Indigenous Women and the Franchise.) For example, Status Indians have certain rights that Non-Status Indians do not, such as the right to not pay federal or provincial taxes on certain goods and services while living or working on reserves. However, many Indigenous peoples (both Status and Non-Status) refuse to be defined by this federal law.

Indigenous rights are upheld and challenged at the provincial and local levels as well. Many First Nations have signed land claim agreements with federal and provincial governments. When rights to territory are challenged, relations between these groups become less amicable. The Oka crisis and Ipperwash crisis are but two instances where provincial and local authorities ignored Indigenous claims to ancestral lands. Since the arrival of Europeans, Indigenous peoples have had to protect their rights, lands, peoples and ways of life.

Sources of Indigenous Rights

Indigenous peoples have traditionally pointed to three principal arguments to establish their rights: international law, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (as well as treaties that have since followed) and common law as defined in Canadian courts.

On the international stage, Indigenous groups have participated in United Nations working groups concerned with Indigenous populations and minority rights. Although most nations adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 - an agreement that recognizes Indigenous rights to self-government, land, equality and language, as well as basic human rights - Canada only signed on in May 2016 after a change in the federal government. Canada initially refused to sign because of issues concerning land disputes and the declaration's clauses about the duty to consult that could impact resource development. It has yet to be seen how Canada will implement this agreement.

On the national stage, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 has historically been viewed as the constitutional basis for Indigenous treaties and a source of legal rights. Affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the legal principles of the Royal Proclamation are still applied in modern-day treaties.

The inclusion of section 35 in the Constitution signaled a new era of judicial and political opinion on the question of Indigenous rights. This section protects a spectrum of different Indigenous and treaty rights, including legal recognition of customary practices such as marriage and adoption, the site-specific exercise of food harvesting and other rights that do not involve claims to the land itself, and assertions of ownership of traditional lands.

The courts, and more specifically, the Supreme Court of Canada, have clarified and guaranteed rights to land and resource activities as well as other issues. Since governments could not come to a consensus during constitutional negotiations about Indigenous rights, the issue was consequently left to the courts. The rulings become part of Canadian law and may alter the way that the government understands Indigenous rights. For example, theCalder case helped set the stage for many First Nations in British Columbia to launch their own land claims and cases relating to Aboriginal title.

Resource Rights

Historically, Indigenous peoples have had to prove their rights in Canadian courts. For resource rights other than Aboriginal title, the Supreme Court has held that Indigenous people must demonstrate that the right was integral to their distinctive societies and was exercised at the time of first contact with Europeans ( see Van der Peet Case and Pamajewon Case.) What this means is that for practices such as fishing and hunting to be enshrined as rights, Indigenous peoples must prove that these activities were practiced before the arrival of Europeans. The courts have seen commercial trade in furs and fish, for example, as the product of European contact rather than integral to Indigenous societies prior to contact. Fishing for food, community, or ceremonial purposes is, however, a protected right and may be exercised in a modern way with modern fishing equipment.

Indigenous peoples have used section 35 of the Constitution Act to support their rights to resource activities, such as fishing. In the Sparrow case (1990) - the first decision by the Supreme Court to interpret section 35 - an Indigenous person fished contrary to the provisions of federal law. In his defense, he alleged that the right to fish was an immemorial right protected by treaty by virtue of section 35. The Supreme Court upheld the right and set out a code of interpretation for section 35. The court did not set limits on the types of rights that can be categorized as Indigenous rights and emphasized that the rights must be interpreted flexibly in a manner "sensitive to the aboriginal perspective." The court stated that section 35 only protects rights that were not extinguished (i.e. surrendered) prior to the date the Constitution Act, 1982, came into effect.

Indigenous peoples have also defended their lands and rights to resources outside the courts. Protests against development companies and the government that seek to infringe on ancestral rights have demonstrated Indigenous resistance and the desire for consultation and open dialogue about matters that affect traditional lands and rights. Some well-known examples of such demonstrations include Idle No More, the War in the Woods (1984 to 1993), a protest led by the Tla-o-qui-aht and their allies against logging and deforestation in ancient forests, and protests against pipeline developments, such as the Mackenzie Valley and Keystone XL pipelines ( see Pipelines in Canada).

Aboriginal Title

There have been a few key court cases that have helped to define Aboriginal title. The case (1973) recognized for the first time that Aboriginal title has a place in Canadian law. In the Delgamuukw case (1997), the Supreme Court ruled that claims to traditional lands had to show exclusive occupation of the territory by a defined Aboriginal society at the time the Crown asserted sovereignty over that territory. In the same case, the court ruled that the oral histories of Aboriginal peoples were to be accepted as evidence proving historic use and occupation. The Tsilhqot'in case (2014) further clarified the requirements for establishing Aboriginal title. The criteria for Aboriginal title are threefold: in short, an Aboriginal group must first prove occupation, and then must prove continuity and exclusivity of said occupation.

However, the court has not fully resolved all legal issues concerning Aboriginal title. Serious disputes have arisen over whether or not Aboriginal title carries with it the exclusive right to use and occupy lands. This is an issue in cases where the current occupation is not exclusively Indigenous people and where resource companies and other interests seek to carry on or expand their own uses of the same lands. Several court cases, including those involving the Nuu-chah-nulth in British Columbia, have already been launched over these issues. In most cases, the rulings ensure that proper administrative requirements are met, while permitting resource exploitation and development to continue in the overall public interest. The duty to consult was affirmed by the Supreme Court in the Delgammuuk case and is also a key part of the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Rights to Self-Government

Although Indigenous rights have yet to be given a comprehensive definition in law, most Indigenous peoples assert that they include the right to self-government. The Supreme Court has not directly addressed that issue. This was, however, a subject extensively studied by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which reported to the federal government in 1996. The Royal Commission proposed solutions for a new and better relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian government, including recognition of the right of self-government, settlement of land claims, measures to eliminate inequities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada and the creation of Indigenous justice systems.

One of the most well-known examples regarding self-government in Canada is the Nisga'a Final Agreement, signed after 25 years of negotiation following the case in 1973 ( see Nisga'a.) The content of the treaty and the ratification process were subjected to intense debate and were challenged in court. Upon Parliament's passage of the Act in 2000, the treaty became the first modern-day treaty in British Columbia and the 14th modern-day treaty in Canada to be negotiated from 1975-2000. The Nisga'a Final Agreement gave the First Nation the right to self-government within the 2,019 km 2 in the Nass Valley to which the Nisga'a hold title. Since 1973, there have been 26 comprehensive land claims and four self-government agreements (as of 2015.)

The Nisga'a Final Agreement was groundbreaking for the British Columbia treaty process because it achieved the aspirations for a negotiated settlement as expressed by the courts in the Delgamuukw case. Other First Nations in British Columbia continue negotiations of their claims. The Tsawwassen First Nation and the Maa-nulth First Nations finalized agreements in 2009 and 2011, respectively. As of July 2017, there were 58 ongoing comprehensive claims negotiations in British Columbia and another seven claims in the implementation process.

Content of Indigenous Rights

No Indigenous right, even though constitutionally protected, is absolute in Canadian law. Fishing rights, for example, are not exclusive in the sense that only Indigenous peoples can exercise them. Also, Indigenous rights are not immune to regulation by other governments. Additionally, Aboriginal title may give rise to an exclusive right to use and occupy lands, but that right may be infringed upon by the government for purposes such as economic development, power generation or the protection of the environment or endangered species. However, non-Indigenous governments must justify infringement of Aboriginal rights or title on the basis of a legitimate government purpose and recognition of the constitutional protection of the rights being affected. There may also be a requirement for prior consultation with the Indigenous peoples concerned and compensation in some circumstances.

Duty to Consult

The duty to consult - and the issue of what levels of government are entitled or required to consult - has been further explored in two 2014 Supreme Court cases, Grassy Narrows and Tsilhqot'in. In Ontario, the Grassy Narrows case pushed forward the notion that provincial governments may also "take up" treaty lands for development, but in doing so, they also take on the federal government's responsibilities to consult with Indigenous peoples.

In the Tsilhqot'in case, the Supreme Court recognized the First Nation's Aboriginal title and authority over 1,750 km 2 of their traditional territory in the British Columbia interior. In taking an expansive view of Aboriginal title, the Supreme Court charted a new course relative to future resource development and the process of consulting with Indigenous groups in areas of Canada that have not been ceded by historic treaties. This suggests that the Crown in future must do more than fulfill a duty to consult. It must also either obtain consent or meet legal requirements to justify infringing on Indigenous rights.

Indigenous Women's Rights

During the 1970s and 1980s, Indigenous women launched a number of cases against the federal government concerning the legal and gender discrimination inherent in the Since 1869, Status Indian women who married Non-Status Indian men lost any treaty and Indigenous rights that they previously enjoyed ( see Indigenous Women and the Franchise). In 1985, Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act to remove the discrimination and bring the act in line with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The 1985 amendment allows women who "married out" to apply for the restoration of their status and rights, and also allows their children to apply for registration as Status Indians. The Act no longer requires or allows women to follow their husbands into or out of status, and it allows women to pass status on to their children just as men always have.

However, while the amendment addressed much of the former discrimination against women, it also created some problems. By placing these women, and often their children, onto First Nations band membership lists, the government stretched already limited lands and funds to serve more people, and this has at times incited resentment and backlash toward these "Bill C-31s" by First Nations members.

Further, the inclusion of a "second-generation cut-off" rule potentially means a great reduction in the number of people entitled to be registered as Status Indians under the Indian Act. According to Bill C-31, there are two categories of Indian registration. The first, known as sub-section 6(1), applies when both parents are or were entitled to registration. The second, known as sub-section 6(2), applies when one parent is entitled to registration under 6(1.) Status cannot be transferred, however, if that one parent is registered under sub-section 6(2.) In short, after two generations of intermarriage with Non-Status partners, children would no longer be eligible for status. Moreover, for a child to be registered, both the mother's and father's names must be included on the birth certificate. If the father's name is not included, he is assumed to be Non-Status. In such situations, children born to women registered under sub-section 6(2) are not eligible for status. The amendment therefore significantly limits the ability to transfer status to one's children.

Bill C-31 also did away with the "double mother rule," which had conferred status on non-married individuals up to 21 years of age whose mother and paternal grandmother were Non-Status. However, eliminating the effects of this rule created a new inequality that made it difficult to transmit status in certain cases.

In response to the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruling in McIvor v. Canada (2009), Bill C-3, passed in 2010, attempted to ensure parity of status for grandchildren of women who "married out" and those affected by the "double mother" rule. Currently before Parliament, Bill S-3 is attempting to address disparity in who is entitled register as a 6(1) and 6(2) Indian. Bill S-3 was a response to the Québec Superior Court ruling in Descheneaux v. Canada in 2015.

Extinguishment of Indigenous Rights

The "extinguishment" of rights means the taking away or surrendering of rights. Historically, treaties or land claims settlements have served to extinguish Indigenous rights. All courts have recognized the power of Parliament to extinguish Aboriginal rights and title up to 1982, but this was never expressly done. Indigenous rights to hunt and fish, however, have been limited by constitutional amendment, federal legislation, and in some instances by provincial laws. In the 1990 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that rights could be regulated if the regulation could be justified in the manner described above. In the Delgamuukw case, the Court did not rule out extinguishment after 1982, but made strong statements about consultation and compensation if rights are extinguished.

In the Bear Island case, a case appealed to the Supreme Court but dismissed in 1991, it was also held that delay in bringing a court action was sufficient to defeat a claim to Aboriginal title. This alone, if correct in law, would be enough to defeat almost every land claim that is brought to court. Moreover, the First Nation had signed a treaty in 1850, thereby extinguishing their rights. In the 1995 Blueberry River case, the Supreme Court applied a statutory limitation period to defeat part of a First Nation's claim in respect to a surrender of reserve lands and mineral rights.

Historically, federal laws have also worked to deny the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Indian Act has taken away basic rights over time, such as the right to hold potlatches, dance and practice Indigenous religions. Willing or forcible enfranchisement (the processes by which Indigenous peoples lost their status under the Indian Act) extinguished Indigenous rights in exchange for others as Canadian citizens ( see Indigenous Suffrage.) Other federal legislation has also worked to assimilate Indigenous peoples and therefore deny them their rights, such as residential school and the pass system (a policy in which Indigenous peoples who wished to leave their reserve, even temporarily, had to acquire a pass from an Indian agent before leaving).

Métis Rights

Métis rights have largely been defined and clarified by the courts. A particularly important case is (2003), which affirmed the Métis ancestral right to hunting for sustenance. Powley was the first case in which the Supreme Court affirmed the existence of Métis rights. The case also established a test to determine Métis rights under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Powley test has 10 criteria that determine Métis identity and if a Métis community has an existing right to an activity, such as hunting.

The identity part of the test consists of three criteria: to be considered Métis, individuals must identify as Métis, be a member of a modern Métis community and have ties to a historic Métis community. This last requirement also asks that individuals prove another set of criteria: that their mixed ancestry group formed a "distinctive" collective social identity, that they lived together in the same geographic area and that they shared a common way of life.

The Powley case therefore confirmed the definition of Métis as one that is specific to a distinct community of peoples rather than anyone who has mixed Indigenous and European heritage. To those who consider themselves Métis but do not fit this description - namely those living outside the territory as defined by the Métis National Council, including Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and parts of Ontario, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories- they feel the Powley decision denies their Indigenous identity. However, to those who can trace their lineage to specific, historic Métis communities, the Powley case validates their long-standing argument that they are a distinct Indigenous community ( see Métis Are A People, Not a Historical Process and The "Other" Métis.)

The court case (2016) is also significant to Métis rights. On 14 April 2016, the Supreme Court ruled in the Daniels decision unanimously that the legal definition of "Indian" - as laid out in the Constitution - now includes the Métis and Non-Status Indians. This ruling will facilitate possible negotiations over traditional land rights, access to education and health programs, and other government services. This ruling did not, however, grant Indian status to any Métis or Non-Status Indian people.

Inuit Rights

The Inuit fall under the category of "Indian" in the Constitution Act, 1982, and are therefore also protected by section 35. However, the Inuit have never been subject to the and were largely ignored by the federal government until 1939, when a court decision ruled that they were a federal responsibility, though still not subject to the Indian Act. Policies of assimilation followed, including forced relocations into sedentary communities and the introduction of disk numbers for administrative purposes ( see Project Surname and Hebron Mission National Historic Site of Canada).

Various treaties and land claims have confirmed Inuit rights to land title in northern Canada, including the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement (1975), the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) Claims Settlement Act (1984), the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act (1993) and the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (2005.) Together, these four regions cover about 40 per cent of Canada's land mass.

An important court case concerning Inuit rights is the Clyde River case (2017.) The Inuit living in and around Clyde River, Nunavut, vehemently opposed the plans of the National Energy Board (NEB) to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas deposits near their community since it was first proposed in 2011. Taking their case to the Supreme Court, the Clyde River Inuit emerged victorious: the judges unanimously decided that the NEB failed to properly consult the Inuit about their plans and did not adequately assess the effect that seismic testing would have on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Quashing the NEB's approval, the Supreme Court put an end to the seismic testing. While the court did not create guidelines for how to consult with an Indigenous community, this case highlights the importance of consultation.

On the international stage, Inuit peoples have had their rights to Arctic lands and waters affirmed by such declarations as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Looking Forward

The content and priority of issues surrounding Indigenous rights and title continue to evolve judicially and through the negotiation and implementation of self-government agreements between Indigenous peoples and the Government of Canada. Over the long term, it is likely that these issues will need to be addressed through negotiated political resolution.

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It is difficult to generalize about definitions of Indigenous rights because of the diversity among First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in Canada. Broadly...

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CBC (1)

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Officials with the B.C. government are investigating alleged logging at a registered archeological site near the Sunshine Coast community of Sechelt, believed to be an ancient shíshálh Nation burial site with about 200 cairns, or stone mounds.

Robert Joe, a former shíshálh Nation band councillor, and his partner discovered felled trees around the site during a visit last week. Joe filed a complaint with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations on Thursday.

He occasionally visits the site on the east side of Sechelt Inlet to show summer camp students the burial mounds, and teach them about the nation's culture and history, but Joe hadn't paid a visit in about a year and a half.

Last Monday he and his partner went to do some reconnaissance, before bringing some Capilano University students to the site.

"Lo and behold when we got up there, everything was logged over and the skidder marks - the skidder machine - skidded over everything, cut down all the trees all the way around," said Joe.

"It's complete devastation, and somebody's got to be responsible for this," he said.

The area in question is private property adjacent to shíshálh Nation land around the Sechelt Indian Band Salmon Hatchery. Joe said he knew there were plans to log there, but he understood there would be a buffer zone around the cairns.

Some of the little mounds of moss-covered stones could be easy to miss, but according to Joe, it's a registered archeological site, DJRW-37, after exploration confirmed the burial site in 2015.

The 200 cairns in a roughly two-hectare area are about 2,000 years old, much older than the big cedar trees that have been cut down around them.

A spokesperson with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations did not confirm the logged area is in fact the registered archeological site, but he said the province is actively investigating the alleged incident.

"Archaeological sites in B.C. are protected by the Heritage Conservation Act (HCA), whether they are known or unknown, or located on private or Crown land," said the spokesperson in a written statement. "Archaeological sites cannot be damaged or altered without a permit issued by the Archaeology Branch."

Chief Henry Warren Paull with shíshálh Nation said he had heard about the alleged logging, but added that the nation wouldn't comment on the situation.

For Joe, the logged area has a profoundly spiritual significance - it gave him a feeling of belonging.

"It's heartbreaking," he said of the logging. "This is our history, and this is our culture."

"It's a complete desecration of a sacred site of our First Nation," said Joe.

A discovery at another shíshálh burial site further up the inlet led to an exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History in 2017.

That site, believed to be about 4,000 years old, contained human remains along with hundreds of thousands of stone and shell disc beads.

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Alleged logging at ancient First Nation burial site in B.C. prompts province to investigate | CBC News

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Officials with the B.C. government are investigating alleged logging at a registered archeological site near the Sunshine Coast community of Sechelt, believed to be an ancient shíshálh Nation burial site with about 200 cairns, or stone mounds. Robert Joe, a former shíshálh Nation band councillor, and his partner discovered felled trees around the site during a visit last week.

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YouTube

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CBC News

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Hunters and Gatherers is a series looking at hunting and fishing in northern Ontario, how Indigenous rights can divide people, how some northerners find ways to share the resources and what sharing the land means for reconciliation.
Indigenous hunting and fishing rights are often described as being "universal" but they are a lot more complicated than that. Here we take a look at some of the things you might know about these rights that are often mentioned, but rarely explained.

Hunters and fishers have to honour the treaties

Indigenous hunting and fishing rights are treaty rights, contained in the treaties signed between the government of Canada and First Nations leaders and then enshrined in the Constitution in 1982.

In northeastern Ontario, the three main treaties are the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties of 1850 and Treaty 9 from 1905.

So, an Indigenous person only has the right to hunt and fish in their treaty area and while they are generally understood geographically, there are no firm boundaries.

"There isn't really a physical or geographic boundary somewhere in the bush that says once you walk past this maple tree or jackpine, you're not in Robinson-Superior," says Sudbury-based Indigenous lawyer Martin Bayer.

While many First Nations people make sure to bring their status card when they go hunting or fishing, it doesn't actually prove they have a right to harvest in that area.

"That actually isn't the official document to prove you have a treaty right. And as of yet, there isn't really an official document. Usually the status card is sufficient evidence for a conservation officer not to interfere with a person's right to fish," says Fred Bellefeuille, the legal counsel for the Anishnabek Nation, also known as the Union of Ontario Indians.

"A lot of it depends on the discretion of the conservation officer."

But Indigenous people can hunt outside of their treaty area if they have something called a Shipman letter.

It's named after a court case from the early 2000s when a family from Walpole Island First Nation in southern Ontario was charged for hunting moose near Wawa and found out after the fact that they would have had the permission of the nearby Michipicoten First Nation.

Now, visiting hunters and fishermen can be issued letters by a first nation that act as a license, even laying out what animals they are allowed to harvest and when.

Traditional rights also work within traditional territory

A second way the Constitution protects Indigenous hunting and fishing rights is by declaring them an "Aboriginal right" which the Ontario government defines as being carried out within a first nation's traditional territory.

This is even less geographcially defined than treaty rights.

David Critchlow, an enforcement specialist with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, sits on an internal committee that evaluates Indigenous hunting requests.

"It's not always black and white. We don't know. Nobody mapped traditional areas. It's based on the best information we have. We talk to the communities to find out what they claim their traditional areas are and we make judgements based on that," says Critchlow.

He says some of these claims start out as "Aboriginal violation reports" filed by conservation officers who encounter Indigenous people claiming traditional rights. Critchlow says they handle between 60 and 80 across the province every year.

Hunting at night not an automatic right

The Morris-Olsen decision from British Columbia in 2006 affirmed the right for Indigenous people to hunt at night, also known as "spotlighting."

Critchlow with the MNRF says a person needs to prove through historical evidence that their community has a tradition of hunting at night.

They also have to ensure the safety of the public, which Critchlow says usually means hunting in a remote area. He remembers a case within city limits of Thunder Bay, where charges stuck against a man who otherwise would have had the right to hunt at night.

While in neighbouring Manitoba, night hunting is such a flashpoint issue that the premier has predicted it could cause a "race war" it hasn't been on the public radar much in Ontario.

Critchlow says the ministry deals with about 50 night hunting cases a year, not all of them involving Indigenous people.

Rights are confirmed by the Constitution and clarified by the courts

While the rights are enshrined a couple different ways in the Constitution, over the past few decades a pattern has been set out where they are clarified by the courts.

Typically, an Indigenous hunter or fishermen is charged, then challenges the charges at a local level and then over years of court battles eventually leads to a judgement that sets a precedent and lays out the new rules.

This is how everything from Metis rights to hunting at night has been decided.

"The courts have said the rights were never meant to be frozen in time," says Sudbury-based Indigenous lawyer Martin Bayer.

He says in recent years it's been "little things" like the tradition of building a temporary structure while hunting that's been infringed on by conservation officers, but says it's very difficult to discuss those conflicts with local government officials and it's up to Indigenous people to decide if they want to spend the time and money to take it before a judge.

"It seems like only when you get to that point that the true negotiations and discussions take place in order to come up with a mutually beneficial resolution," says Bayer.

The government can ban Indigenous people from hunting and fishing

The key court decision on Indigenous rights is the Sparrow decision from 1990, based on a net fishing case from British Columbia.

The court ruled that governments have the power to declare moratoriums on hunting and fishing of specific species in specific areas that would also include banning Indigenous hunters and fishers.

Mark Ryckman, senior wildlife biologist at the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, says the court requires this to be done in the name of conservation and only after certain harvesting thresholds have been met.

But it is very rare to see it used.

"I think it should be used a lot more often," says Ryckman.

"Because those conservation thresholds are not well defined, there's quite a bit of hesitation on the government's part to impose something like that and then lose a lengthy and costly court battle."

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5 things you might not know about Indigenous hunting and fishing rights | CBC News

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Hunters and Gatherers is a series looking at hunting and fishing in northern Ontario, how Indigenous rights can divide people, how some northerners find ways to share the resources and what sharing the land means for reconciliation. Indigenous hunting and fishing rights are often described as being "universal" but they are a lot more complicated than that.

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CBC (2)

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The chief of shíshálh Nation says B.C.'s heritage conservation system is broken and is calling for immediate action to address the reported desecration of a burial site along Sechelt Inlet on the Sunshine Coast.

Chief Warren Paull said in a written statement that as long as the existing Heritage Conservation Act remains in place, shíshálh's basic right to its own cultural heritage is violated, along with that of Indigenous peoples across the province.

On Tuesday, CBC News reported that an ancient burial site had been recently logged - something that was discovered and detailed by former shíshálh band councillor Robert Joe.

The site was described by Joe as about 200 cairns, or stone mounds, marking graves dating back as much as 2,000 years.

On Wednesday, Paull expressed his outrage.

"This is heartbreaking. This is infuriating. This is culture-destroying. This must stop now," said Paull. "What other population in this country could have the grave sites of its people destroyed in this way?"

According to the statement from Paull and the shíshálh Nation, parts of the site are 1,500 years old and it includes the graves of at least 80 shíshálh people, as well as irreplaceable artifacts.

The site was registered in the provincial heritage conservation system in 2015.

"In spite of provincial regulations protecting the site, logging activities have occurred and it appears that irreconcilable damage has been done to this significant cultural landscape," said the statement.

"For decades Indigenous peoples across British Columbia have demanded fundamental changes to how Indigenous cultural heritage sites are protected. Change has not come," the statement said.

The province has launched an investigation into the alleged damage to the burial site - shíshálh Nation said it would cooperate fully with that investigation to ensure the facts of the situation are uncovered and that the First Nation's cultural protocols ares respected.
Do you have more to add to the story? Email rafferty.baker@cbc.ca Follow Rafferty Baker on Twitter: @raffertybaker

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Shíshálh Nation demands action after burial site reportedly desecrated by logging | CBC News

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The chief of shíshálh Nation says B.C.'s heritage conservation system is broken and is calling for immediate action to address the reported desecration of a burial site along Sechelt Inlet on the Sunshine Coast.

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Library of Congress

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Back to Index of Protection of Indigenous Heritage

Canada does not have federal legislation similar to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in the US. There is little legislation at the federal level for the protection and preservation of heritage sites and objects including burial sites. Rather, most heritage protection and preservation legislation has been enacted by provincial and territorial governments. Each province and territory has developed heritage legislation and policies that address issues of protecting and preserving cultural heritage. In British Columbia, for example, heritage and archaeological conservation and protection is regulated mainly by the Heritage Conservation Act (HCA).

I. Introduction

Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides constitutional protection to treaty and aboriginal rights:

35. (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.

Definition of "aboriginal peoples of Canada"

(2) In this Act, "aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.
Land claims agreements
(3) For greater certainty, in subsection (1) "treaty rights" includes rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.
Aboriginal and treaty rights are guaranteed equally to both sexes
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the aboriginal and treaty rights referred to in subsection (1) are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.[7]

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,[8] the Canadian version of the US Bill of Rights, states as follows:

25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada including

( a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and

( b) any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.[9]

Finally, section 27 of the Constitution Act, 1982 stipulates that "[t]his Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians."[10]

While comprehensive legislation is lacking at the federal level, the federal government has been active in a federal/provincial/territorial collaboration to establish standards and guidelines for heritage preservation, as the discussion below illustrates.

II. Standards and Guidelines for Conservation of Historic Places

According to the Standards and Guidelines,

[c]ulturally sensitive places are defined here as officially recognized places that have been given special meaning by a group or a community. Those places can include burial grounds, above-ground burials, abandoned cemeteries and other sites that may have cultural or spiritual value to a community. Each province or territory has its own heritage/archaeology/cemetery statutes that relate to burial sites and human remains. In addition, some settled land claims agreements set out obligations related to burial sites and human remains. It is best practice to inform, and in some cases mandatory to consult, the local and/or culturally affiliated Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities before visiting or intervening on a culturally sensitive place, or before removing human remains and funerary objects considered archaeological.[17]

Section 4.2.8 ("Culturally-Sensitive Places") of the Guidelines "provide direction when an archaeological site is considered to be, or is located in, a culturally-sensitive place."[18] The Guidelines define "culturally-sensitive places" as "formally recognized places that have been given special meaning by a group or a community. These places include burial grounds, above-ground burials, and abandoned cemeteries, Aboriginal spiritual places, such as medicine wheels and effigies, and other sites that may have spiritual value for a community."[19] According to the Guidelines

[c]ulturally-sensitive places deserve a separate section in these guidelines because their heritage value most often resides in their cultural, social and spiritual significance. The heritage value of culturally sensitive places is not always proportional to the extent or state of their physical remains. Therefore, great sensitivity is required so that conservation strategies preserve the associated values of these places, even when there is little tangible evidence on or in the ground. These types of archaeological sites can be found in many contexts, in urban as well as natural environments. If human remains are discovered, all activities must stop, and the proper authorities must be contacted. Any action on human remains should only be performed according to provincial and territorial legislation and be supported by the affiliated community.[20]

The following are the general guidelines for preservation and rehabilitation in culturally sensitive places as set forth in section 4.2.8 of the Guidelines:
General Guidelines for Preservation and Rehabilitation
Source: Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada § 4.2.8 at 123 (2d ed. 2010).

The Standards define a heritage or historic place as "a structure, building, group of buildings, district, landscape, archaeological site or other place in Canada that has been formally recognized for its heritage value."[21] According to a 2017 report this designation has been granted to about 13,000 sites across the country by various levels of government.[22]

III. Federal Laws

A variety of federal laws may come into play with regard to the protection of indigenous heritage protection:

The Historic Sites and Monuments Act[23] grants the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, a federal agency, with the power to "receive and consider recommendations respecting the marking or commemoration of historic places, the establishment of historic museums and the administration, preservation and maintenance of historic places and historic museums, and shall advise the Minister in carrying out his powers under this Act."[24] The Board has the "mandate to advise the Minister of Environment on the designation of national historic sites, heritage railway stations and heritage lighthouses."[25] The Board "evaluates applications for designating national historic places, heritage railway stations and heritage lighthouses. Archaeological sites of potential national significance will be referred to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada for consideration."[26]

The Parks Canada Agency Act[27]stipulates that the Parks Canada Agency (or Parks Canada) is the federal agency responsible for the implementation "of policies of the Government of Canada that relate to national parks, national historic sites, national marine conservation areas, other protected heritage areas and heritage protection programs."[28] Parks Canada has the

largest share of federal responsibilities related to heritage site conservation. It has direct stewardship of 171 national historic sites, 505 national heritage buildings, 10 heritage lighthouses, 6 Canadian heritage rivers and 12 world heritage sites. Around 20 other federal departments and agencies administer a total of 767 federal heritage buildings.[29]

Parks Canada manages cultural resources using its Cultural Resource Management Policy.[30] The purpose of this policy is "to ensure that its requirements are effectively applied at our protected heritage places so that cultural resources are conserved and their heritage value is shared for the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of present and future generations."[31]

The Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act[32] provides that the Governor in Council "may make regulations 'for the protection of cultural, historical and archaeological resources' in marine conservation areas."[33]

The Department of Canadian Heritage "plays an important role in identifying, recognizing, protecting and presenting Canadian historic and natural sites, notably national parks, national historic sites, historic canals, heritage railway stations and federal heritage buildings."[34] The Department also "administers other heritage resource instruments, such as a policy framework for the protection of archaeological resources," called the Archaeological Heritage Policy Framework.[35]

Canada's federal Criminal Code also plays a role in cultural heritage protection. Improper interference with human remains is an indictable offense under section 182 of the Code.[36]

IV. Provincial Laws

A. Overview

As noted above, most Canadian heritage protection and preservation legislation has been enacted by provincial and territorial governments. Each province and territory has "developed legislative and policy frameworks to address issues of cultural heritage and Indigenous relations amongst other responsibilities."[37] In Ontario, for example, heritage protection is regulated by the Ontario Heritage Act,[38] while British Columbia it is protected under the Heritage Conservation Act. According to one article on cultural heritage in Canada,

[a]ll provinces have enacted heritage conservation laws that control excavations affecting historical resources through a permit system, provide for the reporting, designation and protection of historical resources, and vest ownership of archaeological and other historical resources and sites discovered in or on provincial public (and in some instances private) lands in the provincial Crown.[39]

Another article provides the following summary of the provincial legal frameworks for heritage management in Canada:

Each province and territory in Canada has cultural heritage protection legislation, and an administrative unit to implement and manage activities resulting from it. The administrative units charged with regulating work under these acts are situated in a variety of ministries or departments that often have a broader scope beyond cultural heritage. The basic principle of most of this legislation is to provide blanket protection for all cultural heritage remains and sites, on private or public property, recorded or not, and the use of permits or licenses to control any alterations to those sites. Although these laws vary, they share many common elements regarding the nature and kind of heritage resources protected, special protection provisions, control over the conduct of work, ownership and stewardship, management of impacts, and civil remedies for contravention. Penalties, which may include fines and/or incarceration, vary across the country with differentiation between individual and corporate violators.[40]

In Canada, municipalities fall under the jurisdiction of provincial governments, and "[h]eritage management has increasingly fallen under the responsibility of municipalities in recent years as provinces transfer responsibilities due to budgetary constraints and lack of political interest."[44] Municipalities have the power to pass "bylaws that pertain to the heritage management of heritage buildings, districts, and even cultural landscapes."[45]

B. The British Columbia Example

Archaeological or heritage sites or objects are protected through designation as "Provincial heritage sites" or "Provincial heritage objects (section 9), or "through automatic protection by virtue of being of particular historic or archaeological value (section 13)."[49]

"Heritage object" under the Act means "whether designated or not, personal property that has heritage value to British Columbia, a community or an aboriginal people."

"Heritage site" means "whether designated or not, land, including land covered by water, that has heritage value to British Columbia, a community or an aboriginal people."

"Heritage value" means "the historical, cultural, aesthetic, scientific or educational worth or usefulness of a site or object."[50]

One exception to this designation regime is Ontario's Cemeteries Act, which "governs the management of land containing human remains, including those that have not been approved or consented to as a cemetery."[51]

Staff of the Archeology Branch "authorize archaeological work throughout the province by means of a permit system."[52] According to BC's Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development website,

[p]rotected archaeological sites may not be altered, i.e. changed in any manner, without a permit issued by the Minister or designate. The HCA affords considerable discretionary authority in determining if, and under what conditions, such permits are to be granted (sections 12 and 14).[53]

The Archeology Branch also "maintains a provincial heritage registry of all known archaeological sites, heritage sites and objects, heritage wrecks and other types of sites."[54]

Section 4 of the Act allows the Province to "enter into a formal agreement with a first nation with respect to the conservation and protection of heritage sites and heritage objects that represent the cultural heritage of the aboriginal people who are represented by that first nation."[55] The Archaeology Branch has entered into various agreements[56] with First Nations and other provincial agencies. According to BC's Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development website:

[t]hese agreements are used to clarify responsibilities of each group and, in the case of First Nations, to provide a more formal role in archaeological resource management. The Heritage Conservation MOU highlights the importance of heritage protection and conservation during development projects and resource extraction. It establishes processes to effectively share information between the Province and Treaty 8 First Nations and enables the participation of Treaty 8 First Nations in heritage conservation.[57]

In 1994, the Heritage Conservation Statute Amendment Act "enabled municipal powers to protect local heritage from alteration or destruction. The Vancouver Charter was amended to improve regulations for heritage structures and sites."[58]

1. Heritage Designation

Heritage designation of sites and objects by the Lieutenant Governor are done under section 9 of the Act according to the procedure stipulated under section 10. Before a designation can be made, the minister must serve a notice of proposed designation to the following persons:

(a) in the case of land,

(i) all persons who, according to the records of the land title office, have a registered interest in the land to be designated,

(ii) the local government or local governments having jurisdiction over the land to be designated, and

(iii) the first nation or first nations within whose traditional territory the land to be designated lies;

(b) in the case of objects,

(i) the person who has possession of the object,

(ii) all parties who, according to the records of the personal property registry established under the Personal Property Security Act, have a registered interest in the object, and

(iii) any other person or party who, in the opinion of the minister, is or may be the owner of the object or has or may have a proprietary interest in the object;

(c) any other prescribed person.[59]

A person or party served with notice may "serve the minister with a notice of objection to the proposed designation within 30 days after receiving the notice of the proposed designation."[60]

On receiving a notice of objection, "the minister must review the objection and may then amend or cancel the proposed designation as the minister considers appropriate.[61] " Before a designation is made, the minister must

advise the Lieutenant Governor in Council if any notice of objection to the proposed designation has been received and, if so received, provide the Lieutenant Governor in Council with a copy of each notice of objection received, the results of the review of the notice or notices of objection and the terms and conditions of any amendment to the proposed designation.[62]

Subsequently the Act stipulates that,

(5) Within 30 days after

(a) the minister cancels a proposed designation,

(b) the Lieutenant Governor in Council makes a designation, or

(c) the Lieutenant Governor in Council decides not to make a designation,

the minister must serve notice on the persons entitled to notice under subsection (1) that a designation has or has not been made.[63]

If a designation made under section 9 "causes, or will cause at the time of designation, a reduction in the market value of the designated property," the government must compensate an owner of the designated property who makes an application, and "the compensation must be in an amount or in a form the minister and the owner agree on or, failing an agreement, in an amount or in a form determined by binding arbitration."[64]

Section 23(1) of the Act grants the Lieutenant Governor in Council to pursuant to an order "designate a heritage site on Crown land as a Provincial heritage property and the Provincial heritage property includes the collection of accessioned artifacts associated with that heritage site."[65]

2. Permits

The Director of the Archaeology Branch and the Manager, Permitting and Assessment Section, "have been authorized to exercise the powers of the Minister to issue permits under sections 12(2) and 14(2), as well as ministerial orders under section 14(4) where necessary for emergency conservation purposes."[66]
a. Heritage Inspection and Heritage Investigation Permits
Heritage Inspection and Heritage Investigation Permits are issued pursuant to section 14 of the HCA "subsequent to Branch review." Section 14(1) of the Act stipulates that "[a] person must not excavate or otherwise alter land for the purpose of archaeological research or searching for artifacts of aboriginal origin except under a permit or order issued under this section."[67] The objective of a heritage inspection is to "assess the archaeological significance of land or other property. In this regard, the inspection determines the presence of archaeological sites which warrant protection, or are already protected, under the HCA."[68]

Archaeological impact assessment studies are required where potential conflicts have been identified between archaeological resources and a proposed development.

Sites are located and recorded, and site significance is evaluated to assess the nature and extent of expected impacts. The assessment includes recommendations to manage the expected impact of property development on the site.

These recommendations may include:

· Avoiding the site.

· Recovering archaeological site information prior to land altering activities.

· Monitoring for additional archaeological site information during land altering activities.

Assessments require a heritage inspection permit issued by the branch. Permitted archaeological impact assessments are used to identify site locations, evaluate site significance and determine the magnitude of development related impact when sites cannot be avoided.[69]

A heritage investigation is "undertaken in order to recover information which might otherwise be lost as a result of site alteration or destruction."[70]
b. Alteration Permits
Alteration permits are issued under section 12 of the Act. The site alteration permit "authorizes the removal of residual archaeological deposits once the inspection and/or investigation are completed."[71] If a permit is issued, it

(3) . . . may include requirements, specifications and conditions that the minister considers appropriate and, without limiting the generality of this, the permit may

(a) be limited to a specified period of time or to a specified location,

(b) require the holder of the permit to consult with or obtain the consent of one or more parties whose heritage the property represents or may represent,

(c) require the holder of the permit to provide the minister with reports satisfactory to the minister, and

(d) specify a repository for heritage objects that are removed from the heritage property. [72]

The branch requires fifteen days to review permit applications where no further information or clarification is needed.[73] In addition, between fifteen and thirty days is also required in order to provide an "opportunity for those who may be affected by a permitting decision (e.g., First Nations) to have their comments considered."[74]
c. Consultation and Balancing Interests
Catherine Bell, professor of Aboriginal law at the University of Alberta, notes that "absent from the HCA and other provincial statutes," but contained in some agreements with First Nations, "is an express and mandatory duty for the provinces to consult and accommodate [the] interest of First Nations before issuing heritage inspection, investigation or site alteration permits for protected sites."[75] However, "some consultation before issuing permits occurs as a matter of provincial policy":[76]

An important decision in B.C. was the Nanoose case in which the Nanoose First National opposed development of a condominium complex and a sewage facility on land where a burial ground and village site were located. Applying principles of procedural fairness, the court held the Minister was required to give notice of impending issuance of permits and that affected First Nations had a right to be heard. Following this litigation, in the late 1990s the B.C. Archaeological Branch adopted a policy to notify and consider comments from First Nations 'known to assert a traditional interest in the area of the proposed activities.'[77]
. . .
If a permit under the HCA authorizes damage or alteration and is the only permit that can do this, the duty to consult is clearly triggered. The example given by the BCCA in Lax Kw'alaams is a First Nation claiming Aboriginal title to a burial site on privately owned land, an owner wishing to build a house on that land, and no other statute or ministry is involved. At the very least in these circumstances consultation and accommodation are required. However, this obligation is not mandated or clear under B.C. and other provincial heritage legislation for heritage sites located on private land, nor is the process mandated or clear when other permits may be required for private or public land and specific agreements with First Nations have not been entered.[78]

It should be noted that the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has issued several decisions that Canadian governments have a constitutional duty to consult and, "if appropriate depending on the depth of consultation required, accommodate if actions taken adversely impact or have the potential to adversely impact heritage sites where Aboriginal rights or title are established or can be credibly asserted."[79] However, the constitutional duty to consult developed by SCC decisions are "concerned with treaty rights or Aboriginal title claims against Crown land, not private lands held by individuals or corporations."[80]

Authorities balance interests in their decision-making process concerning permits:

Balancing interests is also inherent in the process for issuing permits under provincial heritage conservation legislation that enables a provincial Minister or delegate to permit otherwise prohibited actions of alteration or destruction of a protected heritage site, such as those listed under B.C.'s description of heritage sites under the HCA, if the balance of interests weighs in favour of development. . . . However the challenge of reconciling Aboriginal land rights with private property interests has often resulted in balancing process weighing against preservation and the assumption in implementation of government heritage policy that site alteration permits will rarely be denied or development stopped.[81]

3. Heritage Protection

The Act prohibits the destruction, excavation or alteration of archaeological sites without a permit. Pursuant to section 13(2)(b) of the HCA, a permit is required under section 12 or 14 before a person can undertake any actions affecting a burial place of historical or archaeological value, human remains or associated heritage objects:

13 (1) Except as authorized by a permit issued under section 12 or 14, a person must not remove, or attempt to remove, from British Columbia a heritage object that is protected under subsection (2) or which has been removed from a site protected under subsection (2).

(2) Except as authorized by a permit issued under section 12 or 14, or an order issued under section 14, a person must not do any of the following:

(a) damage, desecrate or alter a Provincial heritage site or a Provincial heritage object or remove from a Provincial heritage site or Provincial heritage object any heritage object or material that constitutes part of the site or object;
(b) damage, desecrate or alter a burial place that has historical or archaeological value or remove human remains or any heritage object from a burial place that has historical or archaeological value;
(c) damage, alter, cover or move an aboriginal rock painting or aboriginal rock carving that has historical or archaeological value;
(d) damage, excavate, dig in or alter, or remove any heritage object from, a site that contains artifacts, features, materials or other physical evidence of human habitation or use before 1846;
(e) damage or alter a heritage wreck or remove any heritage object from a heritage wreck;
(f) damage, excavate, dig in or alter, or remove any heritage object from, an archaeological site not otherwise protected under this section for which identification standards have been established by regulation;
(g) damage, excavate, dig in or alter, or remove any heritage object from, a site that contains artifacts, features, materials or other physical evidence of unknown origin if the site may be protected under paragraphs (b) to (f);
(h) damage, desecrate or alter a site or object that is identified in a schedule under section 4 (4) (a);
(i) damage, excavate or alter, or remove any heritage object from, a property that is subject to an order under section 14 (4) or 16.[82]

4. Other Measures

Section 16 of the Act provides for temporary protection orders "[i]f the minister considers that property has or may have heritage value and is likely to be altered for any reason, the minister may issue, to a person or class of persons, a stop work order that prohibits any alteration of the property for a period of up to 120 days, subject to any requirements and conditions the minister considers appropriate."[83]

The minister also has other powers, including the power to purchase or acquire property:

20(1) To further the objects of this Act, the minister may do one or more of the following:

(a) acquire, manage and conserve property or acquire an interest in property;
(b) enter into agreements with a person, organization, local government, first nation or the government of Canada or of a province;
(c) conduct and arrange exhibits or activities to inform and stimulate the interest of the public in any matter related to the purposes of this Act;
(d) subject to a trust or agreement under which a property was obtained, dispose of the property and execute instruments required to effect the disposal;
(e) receive, by donation, public subscription, devise, bequest or otherwise, money or property;
(f) assist in or undertake research, study or publication respecting heritage conservation;
(g) provide grants, advice and services to other parties having aims and objectives consistent with the purposes of this Act;
(h) establish and maintain one or more inventories of heritage sites and heritage objects, including a list of heritage buildings for which the Alternate Compliance Methods of the British Columbia Building Code may apply.

(2) Property acquired by the minister under this Act is the property of the government and title to the property may vest in the name of the government.

(3) Despite the , property acquired by the minister under this Act may be dealt with by the minister under this Act.[84]

The minister can also intervene for purposes of preservation under section 21 of the Act:

21(1) If the minister considers that property protected under section 13 (2) is subject to damage or deterioration, the minister may order the owner, on terms and conditions that the minister considers appropriate, to preserve the property at the expenses of the government.

(2) If the minister considers that property protected under section 13 (2) is subject to damage or deterioration and is being unreasonable neglected by the owner, the minister may order the owner, on terms and conditions and to specifications that the minister considers appropriate, to preserve the property at the expense of the owner or at the expense of the owner and the government on a cost sharing basis.[85]

Civil remedies, including injunctions to restrain persons from committing contraventions of the Act; government applications for restoration; or compliance orders are provided for under section 34 of the Act, while offenses and penalties for persons and corporations are provided by section 36 of the Act:

36 (1) A person who does any of the following commits an offence:

(a) contravenes section 13 (6), 14 (1) or (8) or a provision of the referred to in section 23 (2) as it applies to a Provincial heritage property;
(b) fails to comply with or contravenes a requirement or condition of an order or permit under section 12 (2) (a), 14 (2) or (4), 16, 19 (2), 23 (2) or 34 (3);
(c) contravenes a regulation made under section 23 (2) or 37 (2) (e);
(d) contravenes section 13 (1) or (2).

(2) A person convicted of an offence under subsection (1) (a) to (c) is liable to a fine of not more than $2 000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months or to both.

(3) A person convicted of an offence under subsection (1) (d) is liable,

(a) if the person is an individual, to a fine of not more than $50 000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 2 years or to both, or
(b) if the person is a corporation, to a fine of not more than $1 000 000.

(4) If a corporation commits an offence under this Act, an employee, officer, director or agent of the corporation who authorized, permitted or acquiesced in the offence also commits the offence and is liable,

(a) if it is an offence under subsection (1) (a) to (c), to the penalty set out in subsection (2), or
(b) if it is an offence under subsection (1) (d), to the penalty set out in subsection (3) (a).[86]

5. Procedures Regarding Human Remains

The following procedures will normally apply in cases where human remains are discovered "fortuitously through various land altering activities such as house renovations, road construction or natural erosion," or "during archaeological studies conducted under an HCA permit":

1. Fortuitous Discoveries

In cases where the branch has been notified that human remains have been discovered by chance, the following procedures should normally apply:

the Coroner's Office and local policing authority should be notified as soon as possible.

the Coroner's Office should determine whether the matter is of contemporary forensic concern. The branch may provide information and advice that may assist in this determination.

if the Coroner's Office determines the reported remains are not of forensic concern, the branch will attempt to facilitate disposition of the remains.

if a cultural affiliation for the remains can be reasonably determined, the branch will attempt to contact an organization representing that cultural group.

if remains are determined to be of aboriginal ancestry, the branch will attempt to contact the relevant First Nation(s).

generally, if remains are still interred and are under no immediate threat of further disturbance, they will not be excavated or removed.

if the remains have been partially or completely removed, the branch will facilitate disposition.

if removal of the remains is determined to be appropriate, they will be removed under authority of a permit issued pursuant to section 12 or 14, or an order under section 14 of the HCA, respecting the expressed wishes of the cultural group(s) represented to the extent this may be known or feasible.

if circumstances warrant, the branch may arrange for a qualified physical anthropologist or an archaeologist with training in human osteology to provide an assessment of the reported remains in order to implement appropriate conservation measures.

analysis should be limited to basic recording and in-field observations until consultation between the branch and appropriate cultural group(s) has been concluded.

2. Permitted Archaeological Projects

In cases where human remains are encountered in the course of a permitted project, the Archaeology Branch should be contacted as soon as possible.

the remains are to be handled in accordance with the methods specified in the permit, respecting the expressed wishes of the cultural group(s) represented, to the extent that these may be known or feasible.

if the permit does not specify how remains are to be handled and if the cultural affiliation of the remains can be reasonably determined, the field director or permit-holder should attempt to contact an organization representing that group. The permit-holder or field director should advise the branch of the organization contacted, and any wishes expressed by that organization.

the branch, in consultation with the appropriate cultural group(s), will determine disposition of the remains.

analysis should be limited to basic recording and in-field observations, until consultation between the branch and appropriate cultural group(s) has been concluded.[87]

6. Development Projects

As noted earlier, the law requires a person to obtain a site alteration permit in order to develop within a protected archaeological site. To receive a site alteration permit, the Archaeology Branch "will need to know exactly where the archaeological site is located, the site significance, and how development will affect the site." The Ministry provides an FAQ for property owners and developers that explains the archaeological impact assessment:

This task, called an archaeological impact assessment, includes field work and is completed by a professional consulting archaeologist under Provincial authority. The archaeologist will work with you to develop options on how to manage impacts to the archaeological site.

If development related damage to significant archaeological deposits cannot be avoided, it may be necessary to complete an archaeological excavation to recover the information that will be destroyed as a result of development. This work is completed under a separate permit by a professional consulting archaeologist.

If the impact assessment results show that you are able to develop without affecting the archaeological site, you will not require a site alteration permit to proceed with development.[88]

The Provincial government has published a handbook, the British Columbia Archaeological Resource Management Handbook, which provides a summary of the Archaeological Impact Assessment and review process in British Columbia.[89] This process applies "principally to development projects which, by virtue of their scale, location, extent of impact, administrative or jurisdictional complexity, or other factors, are subject to British Columbia's environmental impact assessment and review processes."[90] The Ministry's Archaeology website provides an overview of the investigative process:

Archaeological impact assessment and review in British Columbia applies mainly to development projects that are subject to British Columbia's environmental impact assessment and review processes. However, the same principles can also apply, with minor modification, to other developments.

A particularly important characteristic of the process used in British Columbia is its flexibility. It is not intended as a "cookbook" approach to all development projects. Although certain categories of information are needed for decision making, each archaeological study must be tailored to meet specific project characteristics and needs.

Representatives of the Archaeology Branch are available to meet with project proponents to provide project-specific clarification and interpretation of the process. Depending on the project, flexibility can be expected in the staging of impact assessment and management studies, the level of detail at which these studies are undertaken, and the reporting requirements.

The role of the branch is not to prohibit or impede land use and development, but rather to assist the development industry, the province, regional authorities, and municipalities in making decisions leading to rational land use and development.

When the benefits of a project outweigh the benefits of archaeological preservation, the branch will work with the proponent to determine how the project can go ahead with minimal archaeological resource loss. Where the loss of significant archaeological values cannot be avoided, the branch ensures that appropriate compensatory measures are implemented.[91]

V. Implementation and Effectiveness

Some commentators have criticized the lack of strong federal legislation in this area and differential treatment of modern cemeteries and aboriginal burial sites. According to Professor Bell,

Canadian heritage property law and practice seeks to balance constitutional obligations to Aboriginal peoples and various dimensions of heritage value with benefits derived from land and resource development; but heritage, scientific and Aboriginal rights and interests are frequently outweighed by economic and private property rationale. This situation can be contrasted to the treatment of burials situated in lands set aside and recognized as modern cemeteries and governed by legislation which appreciates their centrality to the culture and religious traditions of living people and anticipates ongoing access, care and preservation of burial places. Cemeteries may also be negatively impacted by development, but the legal and political process required to expropriate the land for a public benefit and disturb cemeteries is often more difficult and complex. In Canada this has resulted in Aboriginal people asserting rights of ownership and control to protect burial places and other significant heritage sites, engage in associated ceremonies and legal traditions, attract public support and draw particular attention to the ongoing connection of ancestral burial grounds to the human rights, culture and wellbeing of descendant communities. Heritage policy, practice and law reform more reflective of Indigenous laws and values are also at the forefront in modern treaty, land claim and self-government negotiations.[92]

As noted, Canada lacks specific federal legislative framework recognizing and affirming broad-based indigenous cultural and intellectual property protection. Furthermore, provincial legislation in this area has proven to be deficient in recognizing and affirming indigenous culture and heritage, according to one commentator.[93]

Prepared by Tariq Ahmad
Foreign Law Specialist
March 2019

[10] Constitution Act, 1982, § 27.

[40] Pokotylo & Mason, supra note 2, at 1104.

[50] Heritage Conservation Act, § 1.

[55] Heritage Conservation Act, § 4(1).

[59] Heritage Conservation Act, § 10(1).

[67] Heritage Conservation Act, § 14(1).

[72] Heritage Conservation Act, § 12(3).

[82] Heritage Conservation Act, § 13.

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Back to Index of Protection of Indigenous Heritage Canada does not have federal legislation similar to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in the US. There is little legislation at the federal level for the protection and preservation of heritage sites and objects including burial sites.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Hunting is the purposeful pursuit to the death of wild animals. People hunt for different purposes: subsistence, trade, wildlife, conservation and management, protection of property, training, recreation and prestige. Subsistence hunters are dependent on hunting for food and shelter, fuel (marine mammal oil), clothing or for cultural survival. Evidence suggests that the earliest humans and their ancestors hunted animals and that some of their earliest tools were weapons. Subsistence hunters or their traces have been found on all continents except Antarctica, and from tropical to polar climatic zones. The varieties of technique and organization seem almost endless. Weapons have included the trap, gorge, noose, net, pitfall, deadfall, bolo, throwing-stick or boomerang, club, knife, spear, javelin, blowpipe, bow and arrow, and harpoon as well as the firearm. Dogs or horses, or both, have often been employed in tracking and pursuit. There can be little doubt that Pleistocene (Ice Age) hunters exterminated some, perhaps many, species.

In Canada, hunting at will for food is possible for Indigenous peoples belonging to groups that obtained that right when they ceded lands under treaty, and for Indigenous peoples belonging to other groups by virtue of acknowledged aboriginal title. Some spokesmen for Indigenous associations have claimed rights over the disposition of all game in Canada ( see Indian Act; land claims). Others must hunt under conditions or restrictions.

Commercial Hunting

Presumably, commercial hunting began as trade developed, first, for surplus commodities between communities of subsistence hunters; later for commodities to be traded on a wider scale. Besides ivory from walrus and elephant commercial products of the hunt include feathers, skins, furs and meat. Additionally, parts such as bones, antlers and gall bladders are used in medicinal pharmacology throughout Asia. Such products have been traded for millennia. Excessive harvesting has been a recurrent problem and has become chronic in the last 200 years, with widespread affluence creating demands which are filled by efficient means of hunting, transport and trade. Species bearing the most valuable products (eg, sea otter) have suffered severe depletion. Several species are now threatened by poaching and commercial hunting, particularly certain whales, sea turtles, rhinoceroses and elephants, and the black bear in Canada. Commercial hunting for feathers and plumes declined early in the 20th century with the imposition of strict import controls in Europe and North America. Fur animals have generally proved well able to sustain harvesting with some notable exceptions, particularly the sea otter.

Fur Trade

The fur trade, although subject to the swings of fashion, remains viable; its future depends perhaps on philosophical rather than resource issues. For example, Canadian hunters face the prospect of a European ban of Canadian furs over the use of the leg-hold trap. In many countries, the meat of hunted animals enters the market, where it competes with domestic meats and returns money to landowners, collectives or hunting associations to set against management costs. The culling of herds and the reduction of vertebrate pest populations are examples of hunting directed to husbandry or the protection of economically important resources.

Trophy Hunting

Trophy hunting is a kind of recreational hunting and demands time, money and effort. It is essentially competitive in nature, the object of the trophy hunter being to get a large specimen. The measurements used for North American trophies taken by firearms are formally detailed by the Boone & Crockett Club, which appoints qualified judges, adjudicates conflicts, provides standards and, in particular, rules on questions of whether or not specimens were taken in "fair chase." A similar system administered by the Pore & Young Club exists for ranking trophies taken by archery.

Today, most hunting in Canada is recreational and motivated by the tangible as well as intangible rewards of success. Under the common law, game is public property until killed or crippled or "brought to bag," although in the case of game on private land the owners control access. Under administrative laws and regulations, competent jurisdictions set out rules governing hunters. These rules may include strictures on age and qualifications of applicants for hunting licences, as well as defining hunting zones, seasons and bag limits. The rules, designed to perpetuate hunted animal populations, divide hunting opportunities among participants and reduce the risk of accidents, are enforced by provincial game officers and federal migratory bird convention enforcement officers, including members of the RCMP. They are under continuing review by local clubs making up provincial fish and game associations, which are loosely affiliated to the Canadian Wildlife Federation. With the spread of human habitation and the growth of population, these rules tend to be increasingly restrictive over time.

Declining Numbers

Hunters and the general public are expected to participate in ensuring the rules are followed by exercising vigilance. In several provinces there are reward incentives for reporting infractions, including Alberta with its Report-a-Poacher program. The numbers of hunters, and the amounts of money spent on wildlife recreation generally, are declining in Canada. The data are somewhat sporadic, but a survey indicated that there were about 1.5 million hunters in Canada in 1991. In the mid-1980s close to half a million migratory game bird-hunting permits were sold annually: for 1991 the Canadian Wildlife Service reported just under 400 000 and for 1994 less than 260 000. In 1991, less than 16% of Canadians surveyed participated in hunting, compared to more than ¾ who enjoyed wildlife in other ways, such as bird watching. Personal expenditures on recreational hunting in 1991 totalled about $1.2 billion, or $767 per hunter.

Recreational hunting opportunities are found in all parts of Canada, except in preserves such as national parks and provincial wildlife reserves. All game resources are under provincial administration except migratory birds, which are managed by the Canadian Wildlife Service with the co-operation of the provinces. Populations of waterfowl, which breed in agricultural parts of Canada, have declined in recent years, and the conservation of wetlands, although greatly assisted by governments and by the private agency Ducks Unlimited(Canada), needs continuous effort. Arctic-nesting geese, particularly Canada geese and snow geese, although subject to the vagaries of weather on their breeding grounds, have prospered in contrast to southern-nesting species. As human populations and demand on limited hunting opportunities increase, there must be international co-operation to ensure equitable sharing of these migratory resources.

Superb Landscapes

Canada also attracts hunters from all over the world to enjoy its unique hunting opportunities. There is little to compare with the sight and sound of flocks of geese called to the guns by skilled Cree guides at the goose camps of James Bay. An encounter with an excited, antlered bull makes a late September moose-calling hunt the experience of a lifetime. Superb landscapes await the hunter on a packhorse trip through mountain valleys searching the heights for bighorn or Dall rams. For the hardy and daring, a spring hunt for grizzly or polar bear is sure to prove memorable. However, not all Canadians approve of recreational hunting. Some are opposed to it on ethical grounds, and some Indigenous peoples are opposed to non-Indigenous peoples hunting because of violations to native treaty rights.

Canada possesses many upland game birds, from the rock and willow ptarmigan of the arctic tundra to the sage and sharp-tailed grouse of the short-grass prairies. They and the introduced gray partridge and ring-necked pheasant vary in numbers from year to year. There is a tendency for some species, particularly the ruffed grouse of the mixed forest and scrublands, to exhibit a cycle in numbers. These cycles may be related to similar rhythms shown by snowshoe-hare populations, and by their predators.

The most widely distributed big-game species of settled Canada is the white-tailed deer, formerly confined to the eastern provinces but now found as far west as the Okanagan Valley. The western mule deer is common in river valleys and rough terrain; in coastal BC, it is replaced by its relation, the black-tailed deer. The wapiti or elk formerly inhabited much of the western provinces and parts of Ontario and Québec, but healthy populations still persist in central Manitoba, the western Cordillera and the Cypress Hills. The moose, adapted to deep snow with its long legs and typical of boreal and subalpine forests, is well distributed from coast to coast, and now prospers in Newfoundland, to which it was successfully introduced in 1904.

Woodland caribou also frequent the boreal forest, but they need the old growth variety and their western range is shrinking with the extension of the logging industry, as it did many years ago in the eastern provinces. Barren-ground caribou migrate seasonally between the barrens, where they calve early in June, and the northern coniferous forest, where they pass the snowiest parts of winter. They are hunted only by Indigenous peoples and residents of the northern territories. The George River herd of Ungava caribou is hunted both by residents and nonresidents. Of more localized interest are the pronghorn of the southern prairies, the mountain goat, bighorn, stone and Dall sheep of the western Cordillera, and the muskox of the High Arctic. Other game species include black, grizzly and polar bears, grey wolf and cougar.

In 1987 roughly 2.5 million ducks and 625 000 geese were harvested in Canada, and about 363 000 beaver, which are used for food as well as pelts. Of the hoofed mammals taken, 248 688 were white-tailed deer, 63 141 moose, 53 266 woodland caribou, 25 559 mule deer, 7535 elk and about 1000 each of mountain sheep and mountain goat. Some 21 359 bears were taken, of which 20 343 were black bear and the rest polar and grizzly. More than any other animal, the grouse and snowshoe hare populations vary greatly from year to year and the hunter harvest is not reported in all provinces.

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Hunting is the purposeful pursuit to the death of wild animals. People hunt for different purposes: subsistence, trade, wildlife, conservation and management, protection of property, training, recreation and prestige. Subsistence hunters are dependent on hunting for food and shelter, fuel (marine mammal oil), clothing or for cultural survival.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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Wildlife Conservation and Management

Wildlife comprises those forms of animal life that are not domesticated. Individual members of wild species held tame in captivity are still considered &QUOT;wildlife&QUOT; as they are not genetically different from those remaining in a wild state. Wildlife conservation and management is the conservation, use and management of wild-animal populations and of the land necessary to support them to ensure that productivity and ecological balance are maintained in perpetuity, while social benefits are realized. Human activity has become one of the most significant influences on the abundance and well-being of wildlife.

History of Wildlife Conservation and Management

The first European explorers and settlers in North America found wildlife in abundance. This wealth was recognized as having immediate commercial value, with FISHERIES and the FUR TRADE being the first widespread exploitive activities. As further exploration revealed the vast, sparsely populated expanse of land, it was believed that natural resources were unlimited; hence, there was no apparent need to practise CONSERVATION.

Wildlife, fish and timber were free for the taking for personal use, or could be converted into a monetary return. The practical result of this attitude became apparent in the latter half of the 19th century. WAPITI once roamed to their eastern limit in Ontario. Land development and uncontrolled harvest had extirpated them in that area by 1850. The GREAT AUK disappeared in the early 1800s and the wild turkey by 1902 ( see GAME BIRDS), but only with the extinction of the once abundant PASSENGER PIGEON was there sufficient concern to cause the passage of wildlife conservation laws. While concern and consequently protective legislation developed in eastern Canada, western and northern Canada were still held to be boundless frontiers. Wapiti rapidly diminished on the prairie; by 1890 only scattered, remnant populations remained throughout their former western range. In the 1820s BISON teemed in millions, defying counting, across the North American plains. Their numbers remained significant into the late 1870s but, by 1885, they were almost gone.

The people of Canada, however, still believed in the myth of unlimited land and wildlife. Government and citizens were preoccupied with economic prosperity, transcontinental railways and Confederation.

Wildlife enthusiasts of the 1880s solemnly predicted the extinction of most large North American MAMMALS, but the next 2 decades marked a significant turning point in wildlife history in Canada. Following Confederation and the CONSTITUTION ACT, 1867, a move was made to develop wildlife conservation and protection areas. The first national park in Canada, BANFF NATIONAL PARK (established in 1885), was not created to protect wildlife, although this became one of its significant functions. The concept led to the creation of Bison Recovery Park at Wainwright, Alta, and WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK, Alta and NWT.

The first BIRD SANCTUARY in North America (and perhaps the Western Hemisphere) was created at Last Mountain Lake (Sask) in 1887; however, the declaration establishing it remained essentially unrecognized until after passage of the Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act in 1917.

Land and population protection through park and sanctuary creation became a common solution, although not always without heated argument and dispute. Sanctuaries have been created by federal and provincial governments in key locations throughout the country. Some notable coastal island sanctuaries for seabirds have been declared on Bird Rocks (part of the ÎLES DE LA MADELEINE), PERCÉ ROCK and ÎLE BONAVENTURE in the Gulf of St Lawrence, while many inland sanctuaries have also been recognized. These areas were to protect against overharvesting but they have come to reflect protection of original habitats as well.

Between 1900 and 1960 considerable success was achieved in wildlife conservation. The banning of commercial killing of wildlife over vast areas, combined with favourable climatic trends, has allowed for dramatic recovery. Bison were returned from the brink of extinction. The WHOOPING CRANE population was protected from hunting, and its nesting and wintering areas have been safeguarded. Whitetailed DEER now flourish in regrowth forests and in fringe agricultural areas. Wapiti, aided by transplanted populations, have regained strength in the mountain regions and in the localized areas of the prairie that are associated with parks. SEA OTTERS have responded to protection from commercial overharvest. BEAVER have returned from dangerously low levels to become a problem species, causing damage where populations are not controlled. Through protection, northern tundra MUSKOXEN have shown a dramatic recovery, as have prairie grassland PRONGHORN.

Legislative Jurisdiction over Wildlife

Canada's Constitution assigns legislative responsibilities to the provinces and the federal government. The provincial list is considered to be exhaustive and so if a matter is not on that list, it will fall to the federal government. The federal "residual" power is the right to govern for "peace, order, and good government." Although the Constitution Act (1867) did not specifically mention wildlife, wildlife generally is considered to be part of the land, and accordingly falls within legislative authority over "property." Subject to the exceptions mentioned below, the Constitution gives provinces the right to manage wildlife on provincial land. By the federal government's residual power, and other areas falling under federal jurisdiction, the federal government has the right to manage wildlife on federal land, and to manage wildlife in other respects, such as interjurisdictional wildlife (ie, wildlife whose habitat extends between provinces and territories or internationally, such as some WOLVES or GRIZZLY BEARS). The exceptions concern fisheries, migratory birds and wildlife management laws that negatively impact Aboriginal rights and interests.

The Constitution expressly gives the federal government the right to legislate to manage fisheries, wherever they occur in Canada. Case law, however, has preserved the right of provinces to make game laws, such as setting fishing limits. Federal legislative authority over migratory birds is grounded in the 1916 Migratory Birds Convention between Canada and the United States. The Migratory Birds Convention and the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act (amended in 1994) primarily protect species by imposing closed seasons and prohibiting harming or taking nests or eggs without lawful authority.

The CONSTITUTION ACT (1982) "recognizes and affirms" existing Aboriginal and treaty rights in Canada. Existing Aboriginal and treaty rights may concern rights to hunt or fish and to otherwise use wildlife resources. Several cases confirm that neither the provinces nor the federal government may adversely impact such rights through wildlife management legislation unless specific and acceptable consultation and, where appropriate, accommodation has occurred. In many cases Aboriginal and treaty rights have been found to prevail over wildlife legislative provisions that interfere with them.

Wildlife Conservation and Management through Wildlife Laws

Wildlife conservation and management in Canada is a reflection of legislation that can be divided into 2 groups: one concerning fisheries and marine mammals and one dealing with other forms of wildlife. The Fisheries Act of Canada provides that all fisheries and marine mammals in Canadian waters are the responsibility of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). The DFO actively protects and manages marine mammals (seals, whales, walrus, etc) and offshore fisheries. Marine fish and mammal populations are viewed primarily as a commercial resource. Legal harvesting seasons and quotas on lobster, salmon and other species reflect the continued monitoring of populations and harvest. Harvest management, together with pollution-control laws, is designed to maintain healthy, viable populations. The industry depends on the sustained yield of a quality product.

Provincial and territorial governments have active responsibility for inland freshwater fishes, subject to federal laws. Fishes are largely managed as a recreation resource for SPORTFISHING but also have significant commercial value. The Great Lakes and the larger lakes of the northern and prairie regions support sizable industries, including the export trade. Fishes and fisheries research is conducted by both levels of government, often in concert with various universities.

Birds, land mammals, AMPHIBIANS, REPTILES, etc, make up the second major group. Migratory bird conservation is managed in an unusual manner, being conducted co-operatively by federal and provincial governments under the authority of the Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act. This law also ensures international co-ordination. Other land-related wildlife is conserved and managed primarily by provincial laws when wildlife is on provincial land, and by the federal Wildlife Act when wildlife is on federal land.

Wildlife Protection through Species at Risk Legislation

Scientists estimate that Earth's plants and animals go extinct at a rate of about 100 species a day. To help address this troubling reality, a significant legislative development since the late 1970s is protecting, in contrast to conserving and managing, wildlife in Canada, through species at risk legislation. The purposes of species at risk legislation are to secure and promote the protection and survival of threatened and endangered species in Canada. Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador have stand-alone species at risk legislation. The balance of the provinces and territories have wildlife conservation and management legislation or policies that contain provisions relating to species at risk. The federal Species at Risk Act (2002) applies to species at risk under federal jurisdiction and may be extended to those under provincial jurisdiction in limited circumstances. Assessment of species typically involves the COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF ENDANGERED WILDLIFE IN CANADA (COSEWIC), which encourages and commissions studies on rare and ENDANGERED ANIMALS or on species of unknown status.

International Wildlife Protection, Conservation and Management

International conventions (such as treaties) and international institutions also work to protect, conserve or manage wildlife domestically in Canada. In addition to the Migratory Birds Convention, already discussed, the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears (1973), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES (1973), the Ramsar Convention (to protect wetlands and associated habitat; Canada signed on in 1981), the Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd (1987) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) are among the conventions that impose obligations on Canada relating to wildlife protection and management. International institutions - such as the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a US, Canada and Mexico framework aimed at protecting and increasing waterfowl habitat; and Yellowstone to Yukon, a US and Canada initiative that seeks to ensure that wildlife and habitat continue to function in a biologically-integrated web in this region - also significantly contribute to wildlife protection, conservation and management in Canada.

Nongovernmental Conservation Organizations and Private Stewardship

Nongovernmental conservation organizations and individuals play an increasingly active role in wildlife management and general wildlife education. Public and nonprofit organizations such as the CANADIAN WILDLIFE FEDERATION, NATURE CANADA, DUCKS UNLIMITED (Canada), WORLD WILDLIFE FUND CANADA and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, at the national level, and their provincially-based affiliates, have played a significant role in concert with government conservation agencies (eg, the CANADIAN WILDLIFE SERVICE of Environment Canada).

Population surveys are conducted regularly on a wide variety of wildlife to allow management agencies to monitor population trends and distribution. Surveys may be conducted on the ground or from aircraft, often with the aid of photographic techniques. The harvest of wildlife is monitored and recorded for comparison with other population information, in an effort to ensure the maintenance of optimal populations. Less visible wildlife forms have defied accurate monitoring techniques. Sample counts, conducted mainly by volunteer conservation organizations, provide some insight into the well-being of these species. Stewardship tools, such as conservation easements, enable private landowners to protect wildlife and other BIODIVERSITY values on privately-owned land.

Conclusion

Recovery of wildlife, primarily from 1920 to 1970, reflected societal concern that demanded active management programs. However, populations have returned only to those areas that remain suitable for their production. Habitats suitable for population production have been the key ingredients of conservation programs. Populations will not return where land has been modified from its natural state through agriculture or through industrial and urban development.

While many forms of wildlife are more abundant now than they were in 1870, a number of species have continued to decline to threatened levels or are in danger of extinction. Wetland drainage permanently removes the habitat required by many species. POLLUTION of rivers and estuaries renders them unfit for wildlife survival. ACID RAIN from industrial effluent stacks, automobiles and urban areas continues to sterilize vast tracts of the land and waterways of eastern Canada. Marine birds and mammals increasingly face the threat of offshore oil spills and general pollution of the oceans. The direct threat of uncontrolled harvest, so devastating in the 19th century, has been replaced by the indirect, insidious but permanent threats of environmental degradation that were characteristic of the 20th century. If society wishes to maintain wildlife in its variety and abundance in the 21st century, a place for wildlife must be maintained in land-use planning, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT and legal obligation.

The uses and value of wildlife to society are varied. Wildlife is one part of the equation which, together with vegetation and the nonliving ENVIRONMENT, constitutes the "balance of nature," ie, the set of complex natural processes on which human survival depends. A country fit for wildlife is a country fit for people. Wildlife is a direct source of food and other products for many Canadians. While this value is most apparent in northern regions, it is also significant in southern Canada. Coastal and inland commercial fishing, based on naturally-reproducing populations, is a significant industry. The wild FUR INDUSTRY provides a direct source of income for thousands, representing the highest continuing economic return of any resource in mid-northern regions. These harvest uses not only give direct economic return but, provided their management is biologically sound, also keep populations in balance with their food supply, preventing overpopulation and dramatic losses from starvation and disease.

Wildlife is a basic component of outdoor recreation and part of the national heritage of all Canadians. Wildlife reflects the condition of the environment and constitutes a "barometer" for measuring environmental change. Throughout Canada, wildlife is the legal property of all Canadians. Its ownership is entrusted in law to the stewardship of the various governments. Sound protection, conservation and management of all wildlife are thus the rightful concern and responsibility of all Canadians.

See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; ENVIRONMENTAL AND CONSERVATION MOVEMENTS; INDIAN TREATIES.

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Wildlife comprises those forms of animal life that are not domesticated. Individual members of wild species held tame in captivity are still considered "wildlife" as they are not genetically different from those remaining in a wild state.

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Governement of British Columbia

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The first priority of the Ministry of Environment is to ensure the long-term conservation of wildlife populations and their habitats. The Ministry also recognizes that Indian people have aboriginal rights to harvest wildlife for sustenance (food, social and ceremonial purposes) in their traditional areas. Such uses of wildlife must be sustainable, and harvesting methods must not jeopardize safety or the use and enjoyment of property. Any hunting of wildlife species for sale or barter, in whole or in part, is not legal, except as authorized by regulation or where there is a demonstrated aboriginal or treaty right to do so.

Under the Wildlife Act 'Indian' means a person who is defined as a status Indian under the Indian Act (Canada).

Indians who are residents of British Columbia are not required to obtain any type of hunting licence under the Wildlife Act. Indians who are residents of B.C. and are exercising an aboriginal right to hunt for sustenance purposes within a traditionally-used area are required to comply with hunting regulations related to public health and public safety. In situations where conservation of a particular species is of concern and compliance with hunting regulations is required by Indians belonging to a First Nation group, there will be prior consultation with the affected First Nation in accordance with Ministry policy and procedures. These restrictions may include the requirement for Limited Entry Hunting (LEH) authorizations. Prior to undertaking any hunting activity, individuals should inquire with their appropriate First Nation officials or with the MoE regional office with respect to any specific requirements that may apply to them.

Indians who are residents of B.C. and wish to hunt outside their traditionally-used areas must do so in accordance with the Hunting Regulations. This includes making application for a LEH authorization via the LEH draw. If an individual is in doubt regarding a traditional hunting area or practice, they should be in contact with the appropriate First Nations officials and the regional Wildlife Program staff to discuss specific situations.

Métis Hunters

A reminder that all Métis individuals intending to hunt in the upcoming season are required, under the Wildlife Act, to hold a valid hunting license and comply with all appropriate hunting regulations. This includes obtaining appropriate species licenses and complying with Limited Entry Hunting Regulations.

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The first priority of the Ministry of Environment is to ensure the long-term conservation of wildlife populations and their habitats. The Ministry also recognizes that Indian people have aboriginal rights to harvest wildlife for sustenance (food, social and ceremonial purposes) in their traditional areas.

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Courthouse Library

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YouTube

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Background

The first major wave of Chinese immigration began with the Fraser River gold rush of 1858. From 1881 to 1885, more than 15,000 Chinese labourers came to work on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Prime Minister John A. Macdonald acknowledged the necessity of Chinese labour. When the government of British Columbia tried to ban Chinese immigration in 1882, Macdonald said in the House of Commons, "either you must have this labour or you can't have the railway." ( See The "Other" Last Spike.) But as construction of the railway neared completion, Macdonald willingly yielded to prejudiced and discriminatory politicians, trade unionists and public opinion. In 1884, he appointed the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration to investigate the restriction of Chinese immigrants. ( See also Royal Commissions.)

Commissioners Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau and John Hamilton Gray heard testimonies from 51 witnesses. Most of them gave negative reports. The only testimonials from Chinese people were provided by two consular officials from San Francisco, California. Other nations' immigration policies were looked at by the commission, including the American Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Chinese immigration laws in New Zealand (1881) and Victoria, Australia (1855), both levied a £10 poll tax on Chinese immigrants.

In 1885, the commissioners concluded that there was little evidence to support the negative claims against the Chinese. They also found that Chinese immigration was in fact beneficial to the development of British Columbia. Still, their findings were aligned with most of the witnesses. Instead of exclusion, Chapleau and Gray called for legislation to restrict Chinese immigration - specifically, a $10 entry fee for Chinese immigrants. Money raised by such taxation was to be spent on a health inspector to examine all Chinese passengers for diseases. The tax would also pay for a joint tribunal; it would closely monitor and control the lives of Chinese people in Canada.

The Canadian government passed the Chinese Immigration Act on 20 July 1885. It included a $50 head tax. This amount was intended to be an obstacle for entry to Canada. The Royal Commission found that the average Chinese labourer earned $300 a year and saved a modest $43 after living expenses.

By 1902, it was clear that the head tax had not slowed Chinese immigration - even after it doubled from $50 to $100. A second inquiry, the Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration, suggested the head tax be increased to $500. This fee was equal to about two years' salary or the purchase of two homes. It was instituted by Parliament in 1903.

Chinese Immigration Act

Under the Chinese Immigration Act, Chinese migrants had to pay a head tax of $50 to come to Canada. ( Diplomats, government representatives, tourists, merchants, scientists and students were exempt.) The Chinese were the only group that had to pay the head tax. ( See Immigration Policy.)

The Act contained other restrictions. Ships were permitted only one Chinese passenger for every 50 tons of the ship's total weight - compared with one person per 2 tons for ships carrying European immigrants. Entrance was denied to Chinese immigrants with leprosy or infectious diseases and to any known sex workers. All Chinese residents, whether naturalized or Canadian-born, had to pay a fee of $0.50 to register with local authorities.

There were many amendments to the Act. In 1887, Chinese women married to non-Chinese men were exempted from the head tax, as were any Chinese people travelling through Canada by railway en route to another country. Under an 1892 amendment, any Chinese person who temporarily left the country had to register with immigration authorities. In 1908, students were no longer exempted from the head tax. In 1917, immigration officials gained the right to arrest any Chinese person believed to be in Canada illegally. In 1921, Chinese people who left Canada for more than two years or left without registering, had to pay the head tax upon his or her return.

The head tax was in effect for 38 years (1885-1923). Over that time, around 82,000 Chinese immigrants paid nearly $23 million in tax. In 1906, Newfoundland, still a British colony, passed the Act Respecting the Immigration of Chinese Persons. Commonly known as the Newfoundland Chinese Immigration Act, it introduced a $300 head tax. Newfoundland's head tax remained in effect until Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation in 1949.

Despite these anti-Chinese immigration laws, the Chinese population in Canada increased from 4,383 to 39,587 between 1881 and 1921. In response, the federal government resorted to a drastic solution. On 1 July 1923, the head tax was abolished and the Chinese Immigration Act, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, was passed. It banned all Chinese immigrants, save for a handful of merchants, diplomats and students. While Canadians celebrated Dominion Day (now Canada Day) on 1 July, the Chinese communities in Canada saw it as "Humiliation Day" and boycotted festivities. The Act was in effect for 24 years, from 1923 until its repeal in 1947.

Head Tax Certificates

From 1885 until 1949, the year Newfoundland ended its head tax, Chinese immigrants were issued certificates as proof of head-tax payment. These documents were officially classified as C.I.5 certificates - C.I. meaning "Chinese Immigration." They listed names, ports and dates of arrival, as well as amounts paid. Anyone travelling to China needed an official stamp on the certificate to re-enter Canada. Otherwise, returning travellers had to pay the head tax. The format of the certificate was changed at least four times. A photograph was added in 1912 to curb illegal immigration.

Other C.I. certificates were also used. For instance, the C.I.6 certificate was issued to Chinese immigrants who had arrived before the head tax. Chinese people, born overseas or in Canada, needed the C.I.9 certificate for temporary travel outside of Canada.

General Registers of Chinese Immigration

Details of all Chinese people arriving from 1885 until 1949 were handwritten in large ledger books. There were 19 columns of information, including name; port or place where registered; date of registration; amount of head tax; sex; age; place of birth; profession or occupation; name of vessel or train upon arrival; and physical marks. No other immigrant group was documented to this degree.

The Newfoundland Register of Arrivals and Outward Registrations had two lists: one for records of entry; the other for departures. Chinese immigrants were issued NF 63 certificates from 1910 to 1949. Anyone leaving Newfoundland temporarily or permanently was issued a C.I.9 certificate and was recorded on the list for departures.

The Port of New Westminster Register of Chinese Immigration, 1887-1908, is the only port register known to have survived. It lists Chinese immigrants who paid the head tax at the port of New Westminster, British Columbia.

Impact on Chinese Community Life

Institutional racism was perpetuated by the Chinese Immigration Act and more than 100 other policies. They denied Chinese people the right to vote; to practice law or medicine; to hold public office; to seek employment on public works; or to own crown land, among other restrictions. This prejudice and discrimination was echoed by politicians, the public and the press. As a result, the Chinese community suffered low social standing. But the most devastating consequence of the Act was its impact on family life.

The majority of Chinese people in Canada were men whose wives and children remained in China. Europeans were encouraged to come to Canada with offers of free land. ( See also Dominion Lands Act; History of Settlement in the Canadian Prairies.) But the head tax made it financially impossible (save for a few instances) to bring families from China. Other significant roadblocks were the cost of passage and the loss of cultural traditions. Women were expected to stay behind to look after children, parents and extended family members, as well as ancestral burial sites. In 1911, the ratio of Chinese men to women in Canada was 28 to 1. This was the highest gender imbalance among any ethnic group in Canada until the end of the Second World War.

These men lived in what became known as a bachelor society. Their meager savings were sent regularly to their families in China, who endured decades of poverty, starvation, banditry and civil wars. The head tax did not deter Chinese immigration, but it did stunt the growth of the Chinese population in Canada.

Apology and Redress

After the repeal of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1947, the Chinese Canadian community began calling on the federal government for redress (correction and compensation) for its anti- immigration policies. In 1983, a simple act by two elderly head-tax payers sparked a decades-long campaign for action. Dak Leon Mark and Shack Yee asked their local member of Parliament (MP) for a refund of their $500 head tax payments. Their request was denied.

Two national organizations - the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and later the National Congress of Chinese Canadians (NCCC) - pressured the government to acknowledge and address its history of anti-Chinese immigration policy. Both organizations' objectives were the same, but their demands were different. The NCCC wanted an apology and funds for an educational foundation. The CCNC sought an acknowledgement in Parliament, an apology and symbolic financial compensation. It lobbied on behalf of 4,000 head-tax payers, their spouses and descendants.

Other organizations, protests and events rallied Chinese Canadians across the country. In 1988, the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The Agreement acknowledged and redressed the injustices suffered by Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. ( See Internment of Japanese Canadians.) Years later, the Prime Minister attempted to settle other redress claims. However, these symbolic offers were rejected by the Chinese, Italian and Ukrainian Canadian communities. ( See also: Internment in Canada; Ukrainian Internment in Canada.)

A class-action lawsuit, filed in 2000 by Shack Jang Mak (a head-tax payer) and the widow and son of head-tax payer Guang Foo Lee, was struck down in the Ontario Superior Court. In 2004, in response to a submission filed by Chinese Canadian organizations, Doudou Diène, the United Nations special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, recommended that Canada redress the head tax.

That same year, MP Inky Mark introduced private member's Bill C-333. It expressed sorrow for the head tax and other immigration restrictions from 1885 to 1947. The bill opened negotiations with the NCCC for the development of public education initiatives. However, the CCNC, head-tax payers and their families were excluded from the discussions.

The Liberal government under Prime Minister Paul Martin dissolved in late 2005. As a result, Bill C-333 did not become law. In the months leading up to the 2006 federal election, the head tax was a significant campaign issue. Martin made a personal apology on Fairchild Radio (which airs Chinese-language programming). However, it was not an official apology, as expected by the Chinese community. The Conservative Party pledged to redress the head tax if elected.

On 22 June 2006, newly elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in the House of Commons to head-tax payers, their families and the Chinese Canadian community. He pledged "symbolic payments to living head-tax payers and living spouses of deceased payers." A commitment was made to establish "funds to help finance community projects aimed at acknowledging the impact of past wartime measures and immigration restrictions on the Chinese Canadian community and other ethnocultural communities."

Six days later, Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams apologized for the $300 head tax imposed by the former Dominion of Newfoundland. The City of New Westminster apologized in 2010 for its past exclusionary policies. In 2014, BC premier Christy Clark apologized for the province's more than 100 anti-Chinese laws and policies of the past.

Fewer than 50 head-tax payers were among the 785 people who received payments of $20,000 from the federal government in 2009. Many descendants of head-tax payers continue the redress campaign for family members excluded from the 2006 settlement.

Significance

The head tax was enacted to restrict immigration after Chinese labour was no longer needed to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. British Columbia not only benefited by receiving 40 per cent of the country's $23 million in head-tax revenues, but it also placated its anti-Chinese politicians and citizens in the process. The paradox was that the discriminatory legislation to keep out the Chinese in fact increased their levels of immigration. Ultimately, the head tax was the final step towards outright exclusion.

Legacy

In 2008, the Government of Canada's Community Historical Recognition Program was established through consultation with Chinese, Italian, Ukrainian, Jewish and Indo-Canadian communities. Its goal was to educate Canadians about the hardships resulting from immigration restrictions and wartime measures. A $5 million fund was allocated for projects about Chinese immigration restrictions. This led to the creation of 33 art, music, film, literature, theatre, oral history and photography projects. They include Lost Years: A People's Struggle for Justice; The Ties That Bind; and Newfoundland Head Tax and the Chinese Community.

See also: Racial Segregation of Asian Canadians; Asian Heritage in Canada; Celebrating Asian Heritage in Canada.

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The Chinese head tax was enacted to restrict immigration after Chinese labour was no longer needed to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Between 1885 and 192...

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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Immigration Patterns

The first Chinese people to settle in Canada were 50 artisans who accompanied Captain John Meares in 1788 to help build a trading post and encourage trade in sea otter pelts between Guangzhou, China, and Nootka Sound, British Columbia. The Spanish, who were seeking a trade monopoly on the West Coast, drove out Captain Meares, leaving many of the Chinese crew members to settle in the area. Some married Indigenous persons.

In 1858, Chinese immigrants began arriving in the Fraser River valley from San Francisco, as gold prospectors. Barkerville, British Columbia, became the first Chinese community in Canada. By 1860, the Chinese population of Vancouver Island and British Columbia was estimated to be 7,000. Many of the first Chinese immigrants arrived from rural areas in southern China. They laboured under appalling conditions to build the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Between 1880 and 1885, 15,000 Chinese labourers completed the British Columbia section of the CPR, with more than 600 perishing under adverse working conditions. Largely because of the Trans-Canada railway, Chinese communities developed across the nation.

At the turn of the 20th century, there were 17,312 Chinese settlers in Canada. From 1988 to 1993, 166,487 Hong Kong immigrants settled in Canada, with Ontario (50.57 per cent) and British Columbia (26.7 per cent) receiving the bulk of these new citizens. By 2001, 82 per cent of people of Chinese origin lived in one of these two provinces. According to the 2011 census, there were 1,324,700 people of Chinese ancestry living in Canada.

Origins and Emigration

During the 19th century, war and rebellion in China forced many peasants and workers to seek their livelihoods elsewhere. Rural poverty and political upheavals stemming from the First Opium War (1839-1842) and the Hakka led T'ai P'ing Rebellion (1850-1864) caused widespread Chinese emigration. Historically, the majority of migrants came from the four districts or counties (Tai Shan, Xin Hui, Kai Ping, En Ping) in the Pearl River delta of Guangdong province, between Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In these areas, a tradition existed of seeking opportunities overseas, sending money back to support relatives in China, and eventually returning, if possible.

The major periods of Chinese immigration (from 1858 to 1923 and since 1947) reflected changes in the Canadian government's Immigration Policy. From 1885, Chinese migrants had to pay a $50 "entry" or "head" tax before being admitted into Canada. The Chinese were the only ethnic group to pay a tax to enter Canada. By 1900, in response to agitation in British Columbia, the Liberal government further restricted Asian immigration by raising the head tax to $100. Politicians greeted this decision with anger in British Columbia and demanded it be increased to $500. The federal government appointed a Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration (1902). It concluded that the Asians were "unfit for full citizenship ... obnoxious to a free community and dangerous to the state." After the 1903 session of Parliament passed legislation raising the head tax to $500, the number of Chinese who paid the fee in the first fiscal year dropped from 4,719 to eight. Soon afterwards, Chinese immigration increased, and on 1 July 1923 (known to many Chinese Canadians as "Humiliation Day"), the Chinese Immigration Act was replaced by legislation of the same name that virtually suspended Chinese immigration. The new Act banned most Chinese immigrants from entering Canada. The only exceptions were to be merchants, diplomats, and foreign students. Ethnic Chinese people with British nationality were also restricted from entering Canada.

Largely because of the head tax, the cost of bringing a wife or aged parents to Canada became prohibitive. Therefore, Chinese men typically came alone and lived as bachelors in Canada. In 1931, out of a total Chinese population of 46,519, only 3,648 were women. In the late 1920s, it was estimated that there were only five married Chinese women in Calgary and six in Edmonton.

In 1947, the discriminatory legislation was finally repealed. Since then, immigration of families has been the rule, with the majority of individuals emigrating from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China. Other Chinese immigrants have come from South Asia, Southeast Asia, South Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. These different communities speak English and Mandarin, Fukien, or Cantonese, are well educated, and frequently possess financial resources and professional skills.

Settlement Patterns

Since 1900, Chinese Canadians have chosen to settle in urban areas, and are now concentrated in the largest cities. Contrary to stereotypes of Chinatowns as "overcrowded ghettos," the communities that developed in the 19th and 20th centuries were significant places for businesses and families. They became the heart and soul of Chinese Canada and were a safe bastion from the hostile and racist environment that surrounded them (see also Montreal's Chinatown). In particular, Vancouver's Chinatown during the exclusion era (1923-1947) became a thriving economic and social destination that was home to many Chinese Canadians on the West Coast.

In Vancouver, restrictive covenants prevented the Chinese from buying property outside the Chinatown area until the 1930s. During the 1880s, the vast majority of Chinese Canadians lived in British Columbia. By the 1940s, almost 50 per cent of the Chinese Canadian population lived on the West Coast. Although Chinese communities have developed rapidly in other urban centres, approximately 70 per cent of Chinese Canadians still lived in Toronto and Vancouver in 2006.

Economic and Financial Life

Upon arrival in British Columbia, Chinese emigrants were involved in various kinds of work. Some worked in the gold fields, often on abandoned claims. Others became cooks, laundrymen, teamsters, domestic servants, and merchants, providing auxiliary services to mining communities. Between 1880 and 1885 the primary work for Chinese Canadian labourers was on the railway. During the next 40 years, Chinese persons became involved in the toilsome labour behind an industrializing economy. Skilled or semi-skilled, Chinese Canadians laboured in British Columbia sawmills and canneries; others became market gardeners or grocers, pedlars, shopkeepers, and restaurateurs.

A "credit-ticket" system evolved whereby Chinese lenders in North America or China would agree to pay the travel expenses of a migrant who was then bound to the lender until the debt was repaid, even though these contracts were not legally enforceable in Canada. The work of Chinese industrial labourers was often organized under contract and sometimes involved Chinese work gangs. At the turn of the 20th century, Chinese cannery bosses were frequently hired on contract. They, in turn, recruited workers and assumed the financial risk of low production yields. From the 1880s, this practice was also employed in railway construction.

Chinese immigrants were considered a source of cheap labour to be exploited because of their economic desperation and acceptance of low pay from Canadian employers. Chinese Canadian labour was characterized by low wages (workers usually received less than 50 per cent of what Caucasian workers were paid for the same work) and high levels of transience. ( See also Immigrant Labour.)

Chinese work gang on CPR tracks near Summit, BC, 1889 (courtesy Glenbow Archives).

The earliest Chinese professionals tended to serve primarily the Chinese community. In British Columbia, Chinese professionals were barred for years from practicing such professions as law, pharmacy and accountancy. The first Chinese-Canadian lawyers were called to the Bar only in the 1940s. Since then, discriminatory laws have been repealed. Nevertheless, even in the 1980s, Chinese Canadians were still heavily involved in the service industry. At the turn of the 21st century, Chinese Canadians could be found in many occupations, such as television reporter, jazz musician, classical dancer, novelist, police officer, and politician, as well as in the traditional careers of educator, scientist, and entrepreneur.

Social Life and Community

Although some tension between new and old immigrants exists, the network of kinship is still strong. During the 19th century, and most of the 20th, Chinese Canada reflected such cultural traditions as the kinship system (based on ancestral descent), the joss house (or temple), and Chinese theatre. Communities have also incorporated North American characteristics. Chinese communities in Canada have generated "voluntary" associations that are adapted from models in China that provide personal and community welfare services, social contact, and political activity. Rural Chinese immigrants have typically had to adapt to urban conditions, and these associations have helped migrants adjust to a new culture and to manage prejudice and discrimination and racism.

During the early decades of the 20th century, fraternal-political associations such as the Guomindang and the Freemasons were involved in Chinatown politics and community issues. Larger Chinese communities established Chinese Benevolent Associations as the apex of their organizational structures; these organizations adjudicated disputes within the community and spoke for the community to the outside world. None of these organizations, however, has been an effective national voice. Typically Canadian organizations such as the Elks, Lions, Masons and veterans' associations have appeared within Chinese communities.

Because of the influx of Chinese emigrants from the global diaspora, community organizations reflecting Chinese persons from Cuba, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Peru, etc. have created a dynamic presence in Canada. Immigrants from the People's Republic of China have organized into many associations. The CPAC (formerly the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada) reports having a membership of more than 30,000 in 2019. Professional organizations are gradually replacing the old Guomindang, Freemasons, and Chinese Benevolent Associations.

The original Chinese communities were isolated from white culture for several reasons. The Chinese have often been stereotyped as "sojourners;" that is, in Canada temporarily to obtain financial security for relatives in China. During the 19th century especially, the Caucasian society of British Columbia perceived Chinese persons as people who could not be assimilated; certain aspects of Chinese life and culture in Canada reinforced the xenophobic notion that Chinese communities posed a threat to Caucasian society.

Victoria, British Columbia, 1886

The poverty-stricken living conditions in which Chinese Canadian workers lived were denounced as conduits for disease that might spread to Caucasian neighbourhoods. For example, Dr. Roderick Fraser, medical health officer of Victoria, BC, stated in the 1902 Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration report that, "I think the Chinese are more unhealthy as a class than the same class of white people."

Countering this negative statement, the San Francisco-based Qing Dynasty Consul General Huang Cunxian in 1885 told a Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration:

[...] it is charged that the Chinese do not emigrate to foreign countries to remain, but only to earn a sum of money and return to their homes in China. It is only about thirty years since our people commenced emigrating to other lands. A large number have gone to the Straits' Settlements, Manila, Cochin China and the West India Islands, and are permanently settled there with their families. In Cuba, fully seventy five per cent have married native women and adopted those Islands as their future homes. Many of those living in the Sandwich Islands have done the same .[...]

There is quite a large number of foreigners in China, but few of whom have brought their families, and the number is very small indeed who have adopted that country as their future home.

You must recollect that the Chinese immigrant coming to this country is denied all the rights and privileges extended to others in the way of citizenship; the laws compel them to remain aliens.I know a great many Chinese will be glad to remain here permanently with their families, if they are allowed to be naturalized and can enjoy privileges and rights.

Fears of disease (e.g., cholera and leprosy), white reactions to overcrowded living conditions in Chinatown, the introduction of the drug trade, and an obsessive concern with Chinese gambling habits all maintained the prejudice that the Chinese, as one senator speaking for white residents of British Columbia explained, "are not of our race and cannot become part of ourselves." In addition, the discriminatory laws and attitudes at the time prevented many Chinese from considering Canada as their permanent home. Thus, the transitional mentality, reinforced by Canadian legislation that excluded Chinese immigration to Canada between 1923 and 1947, prevented easy immigration of Chinese families and precluded their participation professionally, socially or politically in the dominant society. It was not until 1947 that Chinese Canadians were granted citizenship.

Religious and Philosophical Life

Religion for Chinese Canadians has commonly been expressed in private. Generally, it has declined in practise. In the 2001 census, Chinese communities were significantly different from the rest of the Canadian population, reporting that 58 per cent had no religious affiliation, compared to 15 per cent of the Canadian population as a whole. The proportion of Christians in the Chinese Canadian population rose from 10 per cent in 1921 to 60 per cent in 1961, but declined to 26 per cent by 2001. Other Chinese Canadians follow Buddhist, Islamic and other faiths. Among Canadians of Chinese origin who maintain religious affiliation, 34 per cent were Buddhist, 28 per cent Catholic and 22 per cent belonged to a Protestant denomination. Although membership in many Christian churches has declined, Chinese membership in the Baptist Church has continued to grow. Many Chinese Canadians are also followers of philosophical Taoism, Zen Buddism, and qigong.

The major Chinese festival is the Lunar New Year (February or late January), which is celebrated in many Chinese communities with firecrackers and lion and dragon dancers. Other important festive days are Clear and Bright, a springtime sweeping of the graves of ancestors, and Mid-Autumn, also known as the Moon Festival, symbolizes harvests and family reunions.

Cultural Life

Since the mid-1980s, Chinese Canadian culture has blossomed. This robust culture has begun to develop not just as a reflection of China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, but with reference to the varied experiences of Chinese communities in Canada. Major writers influencing the evolution of a new and dynamic literary tradition include Evelyn Lau, Wayson Choy, Larissa Lai, Denise Chong, Paul Yee, Jim Wong-Chu, and Vincent Lam. Filmmakers such as Laiwan, Christina Wong, Colleen Leung, Dora Nipp, Tony Chan, Yung Chang, William Dere, Richard Fung, Julia Kwan, Karin Lee, Mina Shum, Michelle Wong, Paul Wong, and Keith Lock have been at the forefront of a new cinematic tradition conditioned by and infused with the experiences of Chinese Canadian communities. The doyen of Chinese Canadian filmmakers, Keith Lock, directed The Ache (2009), a critically acclaimed feature that explored the dynamics of fantasy, perception and spirits. Irene Chu was the executive producer of a 20-part series for OMNI Television that explored the lives of Chinese immigrants in Canada. Entitled Once Upon a Time in Toronto (2009), it was the first major joint Chinese/Canadian production of a television drama series.

Canadian film and theatrical actors of Chinese heritage include Tommy Chong ( Up in Smoke), Kristin Kreuk ( Smallville), Byron Lawson ( Snakes on a Plane), Linlyn Lue ( Degrassi: The Next Generation), Jennifer Tilly (Jennifer E. Chan, Bullets over Broadway); Meg Tilly ( Agnes of God), Valerie Sing Turner ( Da Vinci's City Hall, La Femme Nikita), Norman Lup-Man Yeung ( Pu-Erh), and Françoise Fong-Wa Yip ( Rumble in the Bronx).

One of the first influential literary and political magazines to create a dynamic venue for many Chinese and Asian Canadian writers, activists and filmmakers was Asianadian: An Asian Canadian Magazine (1978-1985). Such well-known authors as Sky Lee and Paul Yee published their first writings in that magazine, which was co-founded by Tony Chan in Toronto. A online version of Asianadian is the Toronto-based Ginger Post (2009) founded by Wei Djao and Lian Chan.

Musicians Sean Gunn (Running Dog Lackey) and Trevor and Matt Chan (no luck club), and composer Darren Fung (Stinky Rice Studios), are some of the heirs to the Chinese Canadian jazz tradition, which began with the swing band, Celestial Gents (1937-1941). Hope Lee and Ka Nin Chan are two of Canada's most distinguished contemporary composers.

Education

Chinese schools in Canada date from the 1890s. At their peak in the 1930s, there were 26 across the country. In British Columbia, they gained particular importance when attempts were made to segregate Chinese Canadian children. Even when professional fields were closed to them after graduation, Chinese Canadians were never legally prohibited from attending universities. With a rise in affluence and professional character among certain Chinese communities in the 1960s, much larger numbers of Chinese Canadians sought higher education. In 2001, more than one quarter had earned a university degree.

English language education plays a major role in Chinese Canadian families, particularly for recent immigrants. The result has been an influx of Chinese Canadians in many professions, including engineering, the sciences, research, medicine, pharmacy, law, and higher education. Emphasis on education is a long-standing feature of Chinese life and the result of the Confucian tradition of learning and scholarship. The Chinese language is still considered a significant part of education, especially with the growing economic prominence of China.

To educate the general public about the Chinese in Canada, the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia was created in 2004. The Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library at the University of Toronto is a dedicated resource centre for Chinese Canadian studies. The Chinese Culture and Education Society of Canada (based in Toronto) teaches Chinese and seeks to develop education and cultural exchanges between Canada and China.

Politics and Civil Rights

Chinese communities in Canada have always been politically active. During the 19th century, they fought discrimination and exclusion. One of the first civil rights organizations to support Chinese Canadians was the Victoria Workingmen's Protection Association, established in 1876. Its major aim was to rally against abysmal working conditions and economic restrictions. In 1878, Victoria's Chinese merchants protested against the $60 provincial head tax by petitioning Ottawa to eliminate the fee. Just before the enactment of the 1923 Exclusion Act, the Chinese Association of Canada went to Ottawa to lobby against the bill.

Chinese Canadians gained the vote federally and provincially in 1947. Until the 1950s, community members depended on their association leaders and other intermediaries who had relationships with Canadian politicians to speak on their behalf in Canadian affairs. They later became more active in Canadian politics, particularly for the Liberal Party, partly because of its identification with relaxed immigration regulations. In various places, mayors and councillors of Chinese origin have been elected. Chinese Canadian political firsts include Douglas Jung (Member of Parliament, 1957-1962), Raymond Chan (federal cabinet minister, elected 1993), Ida Chong (provincial cabinet minister in British Columbia, elected 2001), and Alan Lowe (mayor of Victoria, 1999-2008). Philip Lee became Manitoba's first Asian lieutenant-governor and Norman Kwong, Canada's first professional Chinese Canadian football player, also became Alberta's first Chinese lieutenant-governor.

The watershed event that politicized the Chinese community in Canada and, in turn, established the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC), was the infamous W5 controversy in which CTV aired a segment called "Campus Giveaway" on 30 September 1979. At the heart of "Campus Giveaway" was the allegation that foreign students were taking the place of white Canadians in such career-related university programs as pharmacy, engineering and medicine. Since the "foreign faces" in the report were Chinese, W5's implication was that all students of Chinese origin were foreigners, and that Canadian taxpayers were subsidizing Chinese students - who could never be truly Canadian in spite of the fact that almost all of the identified students were Canadian citizens. Sixteen anti-W5 committees from Victoria to Halifax mobilized the Chinese population and secured a vague apology from CTV. Since then, chapters of CCNCs were created to protect the civil and human rights of Chinese Canadians.

The head tax has always been a source of grievance in Chinese Canadian communities. Protests and demonstrations calling for an official apology and redress were staged across the nation. Under much community pressure, on 22 June 2006 Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology in Cantonese. An official directive made in Parliament ordered compensation for the head tax of approximately $20,000 to be paid to survivors or their spouses.

Cultural Conservation

The Hong Kong version of modern Chinese culture is very strongly reflected in Chinese Canadian society, yet some traditional values continue. For example, many young Chinese Canadians continue to commit resources to support their parents, and many grandparents live with their children. Institutional care facilities such as the Yee Hong and Mon Sheong nursing care facilities in Toronto have been established in cities across Canada. In large Chinese Canadian communities, professionals tend to sponsor cultural exchanges with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to encourage the preservation of Chinese culture and to promote the fair representation of Chinese Canadians in the media, among other reasons. Canada-based Beijing and Cantonese opera groups exist and martial arts organizations have flourished.

Language preservation was essential before 1947, when only jobs in Chinatown requiring knowledge of Chinese were open to young Chinese Canadians. Although the use of written Chinese has declined, newspapers continue to be an important form of community expression. Chinese-language papers have long been published in Vancouver and Toronto, and North American editions of Chinese-owned newspapers such as World Journal Daily, Sing Tao and Ming Pao continue to be popular, despite an industry-wide downturn in printed newspapers due to the loss of print advertising. Since Chinese language newspapers solicit advertisement dedicated to Chinese readers only, this lucrative source of revenue can be tapped solely by Chinese-owned newspapers. Other notable newspapers are CC Times, Global Chinese Press and Today Daily News. Chinese language television stations like Fairchild, LS Times and OMNI have also developed in major cities, broadcasting widely-watched Cantonese and Mandarin situation comedies, news, documentaries, and movies. In the 2016 census, 610,835 people reported having Mandarin as a mother tongue language, and 594,030 people reported having Cantonese as a mother tongue language.

Later Trends in the Chinese Diaspora

According to statistics from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, between 1999 and 2009 the largest number of immigrants to Canada came from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The highest influx was in 2005 with 42,295. By 2010, 36,580 immigrants from the Philippines surpassed the 30,195 from the PRC. Filipinos retained their status as the number one immigrant group to Canada in 2011 with 34,991. The PRC lagged behind with 28,696.

This significant demographic change relegating Chinese immigration to Canada to second spot was the result of the economic boom in China. This caused potential immigrants to stay in their country for work, family and cultural reasons. Likewise, many Chinese Canadians with ties to the PRC and Hong Kong leave Canada for many reasons. With more job opportunities in the PRC and Hong Kong, even those Canadians of Chinese origin have emigrated from Canada to these places.

Those Chinese with Chinese degree credentials who remain in Canada are subjected to the same credential evaluation as any other immigrant. Some Chinese immigrants' lack of credential recognition can be attributed to their inadequate English or French language proficiency and insufficient work experience as well as to the credibility of the Chinese universities from which they graduated.

Changing demographic dynamics in Canada and economic developments in China will have a concerted impact on how Chinese Canadians perceive themselves as Canadians in a global world. Moreover, they will need to discover how they fit in with the growing economic evolution in the People's Republic of China.

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The first Chinese people to settle in Canada were 50 artisans who accompanied Captain John Meares in 1788 to help build a trading post and encourage trade in sea otter pelts between Guangzhou, China, and Nootka Sound, British Columbia.

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Governement of BC

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Head tax certificate issued to Lee Don, age 22, arrived Victoria, B.C. on July 23, 1918 (VPL 30625)
Almost immediately upon completion of the CPR, pressure from the B.C. provincial legislature to pass exclusionary legislation against the Chinese led to the enactment by the federal government of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885. This legislation imposed a $50 fee, called the "head tax," on each Chinese person entering Canada. Only six classes of people were exempt: diplomats, clergymen, merchants, students, tourists and men of science. Modelled on the 1881 poll tax passed in New Zealand, the intention of the head tax was to discourage Chinese labourers from coming to Canada.

In 1901, the tax was increased to $100 and in 1903 it was increased again, to $500 - the equivalent of two years wages for a labourer. Despite the heavy tax, Chinese migrants continued to come, as they could earn 10 to 20 times more in Canada. Many Chinese Canadians borrowed money to pay the tax. Then they laboured for years to pay off their debts.

No other ethnic group in British Columbian history has suffered such formally sanctioned mistreatment of its members on entering Canada over such an extended period. During the period of the head tax between 1885 and 1923, over 97,000 Chinese immigrants still came to Canada seeking a better life, with many helping to build B.C. and Canadian society.

They lived and worked in every town and city across British Columbia. In many small towns, Chinese Canadian cafés served as community gathering places. Chinese Canadian farmers grew fresh produce and Chinese Canadian grocers supplied local neighbourhoods. The B.C. government received approximately 40 per cent of the $23 million total (nominal value) tax revenue collected through the head tax.

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Head tax certificate issued to Lee Don, age 22, arrived Victoria, B.C. on July 23, 1918 (VPL 30625) Almost immediately upon completion of the CPR, pressure from the B.C. provincial legislature to pass exclusionary legislation against the Chinese led to the enactment by the federal government of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885.

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Library and Archives Canada

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Critical Thinking Consortium

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YouTube

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Urbanization is a complex process in which a country's population centres tend to become larger, more specialized and more interdependent over time. It arises from interacting economic, social, technological, demographic, political and environmental changes. Over 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban centres. The three largest cities are Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal.

Background and International Context

In 2011, 81 per cent of Canadians lived in an urban centre, compared to 45 per cent in 1911. Statistics Canada defines an urban area as community with 1,000 residents or more.

According to the 2014 United Nations report on global urbanization, Canada ranks 40th in the world. It is more urbanized than the United States, Norway, France and Germany, but less so than countries such as Japan, Belgium, Australia, Israel, the United Kingdom and Argentina.

Regional Variations

An important characteristic of Canadian urbanization is distinct regional variations reflecting the different economic bases of provinces and territories. Ontario, Québec and British Columbia have long maintained proportions of urban population at or higher than the national average. More recently, they have been joined by Alberta.

On the other side of the coin, some long-established centres have been losing population for substantial periods. This trend has accelerated recently as immigration has become the determining factor in comparative population growth. The 2011 Census revealed that about 34 per cent of municipalities with 1,000 inhabitants or more (321 out of 951) have declining or static populations. These were located disproportionately in Eastern Canada and among centres of 5,000 or fewer inhabitants.

Population decline promises to become more of an urbanization issue in the future. Vital choices need to be made about investment in health care facilities, infrastructure and amenities to serve an aging population. Six major urban agglomerations concentrated around Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa- Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton receive the bulk of immigrants and investment. They also contain most of the faster-growing municipalities.

Because of the initial role played by the royal courts of France and England, Canada became an urban nation relatively early in its history. The urbanization process has passed through five major phases and, in the 2000s, entered a sixth stage. These phases overlap: each one has not entirely taken the place of previously established patterns.

Phase One: Colonization

The earliest European urbandevelopment was characterized by imperial (French and British) control over location, function and growth. Québec City, Montréal, Halifax and St John's tended to be administrative or military centres. Economically, they were collection points for colonial resources and distribution centres for manufactured goods from the mother country. There were few significant connections with other towns in the colonial Canada: their primary relationship was with Paris or London.

Phase Two: Early 19th Century

A second phase began in the early 1800s, marked by increasing control by locally based commercial interests over development. Exclusive reliance on resource exports such as lumber and fur was reduced, giving way to a new emphasis on artisanal production for local or regional markets. Some cities began to assume metropolitan functions, dominating their immediate region. New transportation technologies came into use, notably steam-powered shipping, railways and production equipment in factories and workshops. Banking, postal, stage coach and other connections among settlements increased.

The form of cities also changed as imperial direction became less important. Land surveys and related town plans promoted more orderly development. Transportation routes and the provision of water and sewer services began to determine the long-term direction of development. Functions of cities began to be sorted into residential, commercial and industrial categories, and also along class and ethnic lines.

Phase Three: Turn of the 20th Century

The third phase began in the late 1870s, with industrial expansion prompted by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald's National Policy and settlement of the West. This lasted until the late 1920s and saw the development of a Canada-wide urban system linked by rail, telegraph, canal, post office and telephone systems. New Western cities began to arise. However, economic power was concentrated in central Canadian cities, notably Montréal and Toronto. More fully developed industrial capitalism and its counterpart, the industrial working class, emerged. National politics began to be shaped by conflicts between these two groups, as demonstrated by the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.

Urban development depended more than ever on major improvements in technological capacities. Science and engineering were systematically applied to transportation, telecommunications, building methods and production. Rapid expansion of suburbs along streetcar lines was combined with tall office towers in the central core. All aspects of urbanization became larger: size of suburbs; heights of downtown buildings; and organization of business enterprises accompanied by enormous factories. Land use was increasingly specialized. Zoning systems were adapted from those applied in the United States and Great Britain, beginning most actively in the late 1920s.

Phase Four: Second World War

A fourth era of development began during the Second World War with industrial mobilization for defence production during the 1940s. This extended into the 1970s. The new "corporate" urban era was characterized by expanded use of automobiles and trucks, displacing streetcar and railway transportation respectively. Urban economies shifted from a base dominated by manufacturing to one increasingly reliant on providing services. Decentralization of both population and economic activities began in earnest.

Canada's population grew rapidly owing to a flood of immigrants and a domestic " baby boom " after the war. Comprehensively planned suburbs were developed by the private sector; modestly appointed high-rise apartments were built in the core and along transit lines; suburban industrial parks were established; even higher downtown office towers became the norm; and regional shopping centres supported and encouraged suburban expansion.

Phase Five: 1970s and 1980s

By the late 1970s, a fifth era in urbanization was identifiable. Populations of the old urban core areas levelled off or even declined. Suburbs and areas around the periphery of cities expanded considerably. Long-established cities, previously attractive to rural migrants, began losing population to "ex-urban" areas. In contrast to the United States, however, the Canadian shift to the suburbs was not as much motivated by ethnic or racial factors. Medium-sized cities and their suburbs grew as well as larger urban centres. Changes to national policies on unemployment insurance helped population centres in previously declining areas of the country to carry on. Nevertheless, the proportion of employment in farming continued to decline.

Also in the 1980s, larger municipalities annexed adjoining lands and municipalities to increase their tax base. For example, Edmonton's land area was effectively doubled through annexation, a process which added approximately 100,000 new residents to the city's population by 1986.

Phase Six: Turn of the 21st Century

After the 1980s, a sixth era began to take shape. The percentage of Canada's population living in urban areas stabilized at around 80 per cent. The population as a whole aged. Natural increase slowed effectively to zero net growth. High immigration levels to Toronto and Vancouver in particular fuelled these cities' expansion, increasing their cultural and ethnic diversity. Retirement and leisure communities began to boom across the country. Larger metropolitan communities continued to grow. Populations of many smaller urban places declined, except in metropolitan commuter-sheds and attractive leisure areas.

Decentralization continues as outer suburbs attract new industry and grow more rapidly than central areas. At the same time, however, new downtowns are being developed or expanded in larger urbanized regions. Examples of this trend include: Burnaby in Metro Vancouver; Mississauga town centre and Markham town centre in Greater Toronto; and Laval in Metropolitan Montréal. These trends all contribute to multi-centred urban regions becoming the norm.

There continue to be very densely populated cores, dominated by some of the tallest structures in the world. These are inhabited by large numbers of financial and other service workers in cities globally connected via the Internet and cellphone systems.

Canada's cities have always had international links, initially focused on Europe. Many are now connected not only with their rural neighbours, but also with urban counterparts around the world. For example: the London and Shanghai financial markets; Hollywood and Mumbai entertainment complexes; Russian and Kazakh oil businesses; Latin American and Australian mining ventures.

Successes and Challenges

Canada's urbanization has demonstrated both successes and ongoing challenges. Chief among to manage expansion and promote sustainable development. For example, to accommodate growth, cities must invest in infrastructure while at the same time preserving green space and preventing air, water and land pollution. A solution is to concentrate development near existing neighbourhoods, which increases density and limits sprawl. However, land prices rise as a result, making property ownership difficult for many middle- to lower-income individuals and families.

Urbanization also poses a challenge for rural areas as their population and economic opportunities decrease.

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Urbanization is a complex process in which a country's population centres tend to become larger, more specialized and more interdependent over time. It arises from interacting economic, social, technological, demographic, political and environmental changes. Over 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban centres. The three largest cities are Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal.

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The Canadian Encylopedia (2)

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Groundwater

Groundwater is WATER which occupies the spaces between particles of soil and blocks of rock beneath our feet. Groundwater is ubiquitous; it can be found beneath the Great Plains, the Canadian Shield and mountainous terrain on both sides of the North American continent. Groundwater constitutes almost 70% of the world's freshwater supply. In comparison, LAKES and RIVERS make up only 0.2%, with the rest frozen in SNOW and ICE. Groundwater can dissolve soluble rocks and its circulation is responsible for the formation of CAVES in limestone terrain. Groundwater, heated at depth, often rises to the surface to form hot SPRINGS like those at Banff and Jasper, Alta, and Radium and Fairmont, BC.

Hydrologic Cycle

Groundwater interacts with lakes and rivers as part of the hydrologic cycle. The cycle begins with the formation of clouds through evaporation from the ocean, lakes, rivers, plants and soil. Precipitation from the clouds either infiltrates as groundwater recharge or is diverted to lakes and streams as surface runoff. The proportion of infiltration versus runoff is dependent on the permeability of the soil, soil moisture, the amount of vegetation, topography and climate.

Infiltrating precipitation shares the interstices of the soil with air in the zone immediately beneath ground surface. At some depth the infiltrating water will encounter the water table. Below this surface the interstices are entirely occupied by water (no air present as a separate phase), and this is known as the groundwater zone. The region above the water table is known as the vadose zone.

Water in the groundwater zone is not stagnant and flows from regions of high water table to lower water table. In many cases, the direction of groundwater flow follows the topographic surface. Eventually, most groundwater will return to the surface of the Earth in areas of groundwater discharge such as wetlands, lakes and rivers.

The residence time of the percolating water in the vadose zone may be quite short (ie, hours to days), depending on the depth to the water table. Conversely, the residence time of water in the groundwater zone varies greatly and transit times as short as a few days to greater than 10 000 years have been measured. In some geological materials such as sands and gravels, or highly fractured rock, groundwater is plentiful and migrates at a rapid rate. These geological formations are known as aquifers and occur in various forms across Canada.

Groundwater as a Resource

In areas where groundwater is plentiful and easily pumped, such as the aquifers in the sand plains of south-central Ontario, the large sandstone aquifers in Alberta or the valley-bottom aquifers in New Brunswick, consumption for drinking water purposes is common. Groundwater is used as a source of drinking water by approximately 25-30% of Canadians. In some provinces, such as those in the Maritimes, the domestic use of groundwater is much higher. For example, the provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are 64% and 100% reliant, respectively, on groundwater as a source of water for domestic use. Use in the prairie provinces ranges from 24% in Manitoba to 54% in Saskatchewan. In addition, 82% of Canada's rural population depend on groundwater for domestic use.

In addition to domestic use, groundwater is widely used in industrial and manufacturing processes and for agricultural purposes. For example, more than half of the groundwater consumed in British Columbia is done so for industrial purposes. In Manitoba and Alberta, the majority of groundwater usage is by the agricultural industry.

Because groundwater is an integral component of the hydrologic cycle, excessive consumption can adversely affect the sustainable use of surface water. Groundwater is a renewable but limited resource. For example, overconsumption of local groundwater combined with the effects of GLOBAL WARMING and of urbanization all negatively influence the groundwater component of wetlands ecosystems. In some areas of the country, development in rural areas is now limited by the sustainability (both quantity and quality) of groundwater supplies.

Groundwater Contamination

Since groundwater is an unseen resource and travels more slowly than the circulation of most surface water bodies (ie, centimetres to metres per year), groundwater contamination often goes undetected for extended periods of time. For example, some types of groundwater contamination, such as road salt, have yet to significantly impact surface water quality despite being present as groundwater contaminants for many decades. Unfortunately, groundwater contamination is often detected through the adverse smell or taste observed in water wells adjacent to the source of contamination.

The contamination of groundwater occurs through both point and non-point sources. Examples of non-point sources include road salt, agricultural chemicals, atmospheric deposition, land farming of industrial wastes and contamination from urbanization. The most common contaminants from these types of sources are chloride, nitrate and coliform bacteria. A survey conducted in 1992 of farm wells in Ontario found that 31% of the wells surveyed had levels of coliform bacteria above the maximum acceptable concentration (MAC), 13% had nitrate above the MAC and 8% had detectable levels of pesticides.

Point sources of contamination often result in elevated concentrations of contaminants that are more localized, and are more readily identified. Typical examples of point sources include leaking underground storage tanks, sites contaminated through industrial activity, landfills, subsurface waste injection, mining activities, large-scale chemical spills which occur through road or rail accident and a myriad of lesser sources. An example of a lesser source is the careless disposal of old gasoline used for lawn mowers, etc. As small an amount as a single litre of gasoline can render 1 million L of water undrinkable.

In recent years, contaminated industrial sites and landfills have received much public attention. At many of these sites, groundwater becomes contaminated by way of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). These are often mixtures of organic (and sometimes inorganic) compounds that do not mix well with water and have a density greater than water. Dry-cleaning solvents are a good example of a commonly found DNAPL. Clean-up of sites contaminated with DNAPLs has proven to be costly and ineffective. In Canada, sites contaminated by DNAPLs are only now being discovered and the cost to remediate these sites has yet to be estimated.

Management of Groundwater

Management of groundwater as a resource was ceded to the provinces in the CONSTITUTION ACT OF 1867. Thus, authority to manage groundwater resources resides in provincial ministries. In practice, however, regional levels of governments often play a large role in regulating the use of groundwater through restrictions on consumptive use and industrial development. The federal government maintains a role in conducting research and providing advice to the provinces on matters related to groundwater contamination and consumption.

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Groundwater is WATER which occupies the spaces between particles of soil and blocks of rock beneath our feet. Groundwater is ubiquitous; it can be found beneath the Great Plains, the Canadian Shield and mountainous terrain on both sides of the North American continent. Groundwater constitutes almost 70% of the world's freshwater supply.

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United Nations Water

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Urban areas are expected to absorb all of the world's population growth over the next four decades, as well as accommodating significant rural-to-urban migration. The vast majority of these people will be living in overcrowded slums with inadequate, often non-existent, water and sanitation services.

Safe drinking water systems and adequate sanitation that effectively disposes of human waste will be essential to ensure cities and towns grow sustainably. Extending these services to the millions of urbanites currently unserved will play a key role in underpinning the health and security of cities, protecting economies and ecosystems and minimising the risk of pandemics.

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Urban areas are expected to absorb all of the world's population growth over the next four decades, as well as accommodating significant rural-to-urban migration. The vast majority of these people will be living in overcrowded slums with inadequate, often non-existent, water and sanitation services.

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United Nations

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USGS

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Urbanization and Water Quality

To some degree, "urbanization" (people living together in groups), has been taking place since ancient times. As populations rose and people mastered techniques to grow food in fixed locations, groups of people became settlements and then towns and cities. In the United States, the speed of this urbanization picked up after World War II, and now many urban areas are growing at a record pace. What are the effects on the local hydrologic system when a rural area is turned into an area full of housing developments, shopping centers, industrial buildings, and roads?

In the table below, the left side shows changes in land and water use when urbanization occurs, and the right side shows the possible effect on the local water system.

Beginning of urbanization

Change in Land Use:
Remove trees and vegetation. Begin building houses, some with sewers and some with septic tanks. Begin drilling .

Effect on Water System:
More storm runoff and erosion because there is less vegetation to slow water as it runs down hills. More sediment is washed into streams. Flooding can occur because water-drainage patterns are changed.

Continuing urbanization

Change in Land Use:
Urbanization is finished by the addition of more roads, houses, and commercial and industrial buildings. More wastewater is discharged into local streams. New water-supply and distribution systems are built to supply the growing population. Reservoirs may be built to supply water. Some stream channels are changed to accommodate building construction. Industries might drill some deep, large-capacity wells.

Effect on Water System:
More means less water will soak into the ground, meaning that the underground water table will have less water to recharge it. This will lower the water table. Some existing wells will not be deep enough to get water and might run dry.

The runoff from the increased pavement goes into storm sewers, which then goes into streams. This runoff, which used to soak into the ground, now goes into streams, causing flooding. Changing a stream channel can cause flooding and erosion along the stream banks. More sewage is discharged into streams that weren't "designed by nature" to handle that much water.

The use of too many large wells can lower the underground water table. This can cause other wells to run dry, can cause saltwater to be drawn into drinking-water wells, and can cause land that was formerly "held up" by underground water to subside, resulting in and land subsidence.

Local community takes steps to fix some problems

Change in Land Use:
Improvements in the storm drainage system are made. Wells are drilled to recharge underground aquifers. Projects to reuse wastewater might be started.
Ecological-designed recharge ponds disperse some storm drainage to artificially recharge shallow aquifers.

Effect on Water System:
New storm-drainage systems reduce flooding during storms. Less damage is done to basements, yards, and streets. Water is actually injected into recharge wells to put water back into underground aquifers. Reusing wastewater means less pollution, more water conservation, and additional water for recharging aquifers.

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To some degree, "urbanization" (people living together in groups), has been taking place since ancient times. As populations rose and people mastered techniques to grow food in fixed locations, groups of people became settlements and then towns and cities.

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YouTube

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Effects of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Anti-Semitism in Canada

Prejudice towards people of the Jewish faith, or anti-Semitism, was a socially acceptable part of mainstream Canadian society for many years. It was a form of open and blatant racism that predated Confederation; before the community had a significant presence in what became Canada.

In the years before the Second World War, Jews faced limits on enrollment in educational institutions. Their participation in various fields, such as medicine and law, was also restricted. They were not allowed access to some property and vacation sites. Signs that read "Gentiles Only" and "No Jews or Dogs Allowed" were posted well into the 1930s and 1940s. During this time, discriminatory immigration policies denied sponsorship requests to nearly all Jewish applicants. Canadians overwhelmingly supported government policy that classified Jews as foreigners who could not assimilate. They were seen as posing potential threats to the health of the nation.

Jews were especially vulnerable in Quebec. Roman Catholic priest Lionel Groulx, the "father of French Canadian nationalism," espoused racist and anti- refugee rhetoric. He did so from the pulpit, on the radio, and in such journals as L'Action Nationale and Le Goglu. Journalist and Nazi sympathizer Adrien Arcand founded the anti-communist and anti-Jewish Parti National Social Chrétien (Christian National Socialist Party). Arcand later led the National Unity Party of Canada. It was an offshoot of anti-Semitic fascist groups that were organized in many towns and cities across the country. These included "swastika clubs" organized in Ontario.

During the Great Depression in Alberta, the governing Social Credit Party spread anti-Semitic beliefs through radio broadcasts and racist literature. Chief among these was The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It was a fabricated text first published in Russia in 1905. It claimed to outline a plan for Jewish world domination.

On 16 August 1933, a rare incident of Nazi-inspired anti-Semitic violence occurred during a baseball game at Toronto 's Christie Pits Park. Fighting began after members of a local pro-Nazi youth group unveiled a flag bearing a swastika. This provoked an angry response from the opposing Jewish club and fans. Although no fatalities occurred, the "Christie Pits Riot" was a warning for most Jewish Canadians. They felt that they were only one step removed from the tyranny many had escaped, and to which a growing number of their friends and family were once again being exposed to overseas.

Refuge Denied

Threatened by the rise of Nazism, hundreds of thousands of European Jews sought refuge abroad, including in Canada. However, anti-Semitism was common among senior members of William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal government; it informed political decisions regarding the growing refugee crisis. For example, Frederick Blair, director of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources, was blatantly anti-Semitic. Yet Mackenzie King heeded his advice on matters of immigration and refugees.

At the time, Canadian immigration regulations listed Jews among the "least desirable" groups, regardless of nationality. Canada's longstanding immigration quota system was based on race and was discriminatory. It targeting not only Jews but also Chinese, Sikhs and Blacks. Extra qualifications, such as agricultural skills or proof of $15,000 in investment capital, further limited eligibility for Jewish applicants.

Two events prefigured Canada's shameful record during the Holocaust: the country's approach to the Evian Conference; and its role in the MS St. Louis affair.

Evian Conference

The Evian Conference (6 to 15 July 1938) was convened by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was a gathering of world leaders to discuss the growing crisis of German and Austrian Jewish refugees from Nazism. Mackenzie King did not want Canada to attend. He feared that Canadian participation might be seen as a willingness to accept Jewish refugees. He believed that letting in more Jews might "creat[e] a new problem here" and lead to an "intermixture of foreign strains of blood" that would tarnish Canadian society.

Mackenzie King gave in to US and British pressure. He reluctantly agreed to send Canadian delegates to the Evian Conference. But they only went with the reassurance that no country would be forced into action. In the end, the Dominican Republic was the only Evian country to offer Jews asylum.

The St. Louis Affair

In 1939, 907 Jewish refugees fled Nazi Germany aboard the MS St. Louis. On 7 June 1939, they were denied entry to Canada. They had also been refused entry to Cuba, numerous Latin American countries and the United States.

Prominent Canadian citizens asked the federal government to provide sanctuary for the refugees. But the matter was disposed of quickly. Frederick Blair refused to consider the request on the basis of policy. "No country," he publicly declared, could "open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to leave Europe: the line must be drawn somewhere." The St. Louis was forced to return to Europe; 254 of its passengers were murdered in the Holocaust.

Only 5,000 Jewish refugees were permitted to enter Canada from 1933 to 1947. This was the poorest admission record among Western countries.

Outbreak of the Second World War

Throughout the 1930s, there were roughly 170,000 Jews in Canada. They responded to the rise of Nazi Germany with collective vigour. Jewish newspapers published scathing editorials; they condemned the devastating impact of Nazi race laws on German, Austrian and Czechoslovakian Jews. The Canadian government's lack of action in challenging those oppressive laws was also targeted. Winnipeg Jews spearheaded boycotts against Germany. Jews across the country joined anti-Nazi rallies. They also lobbied Parliament to allow sponsorship of relatives living under fascist regimes. Women's groups and landsmanshaftn (mutual aid societies) mounted campaigns to deliver money, food and resources to family and friends in Europe. The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society, charged with immigrant resettlement, helped with sponsorship applications.

Canada joined Great Britain's fight against Nazi Germany on 10 September 1939. Many Canadian Jews were children of European immigrant parents with ties to family and friends overseas; they quickly signed up for military service. Approximately 17,000 Jews - roughly one-fifth of the country's Jewish male population - enlisted in the Canadian armed forces. This figure was disproportionately higher than any other minority ethnic group. Of those who served, 421 Canadian Jewish personnel died in service; 1,971 received military awards.

"Enemy Aliens"

After Adolf Hitler's election in 1933, Great Britain had admitted tens of thousands of mostly German and Austrian Jewish refugees. However, following the start of the Second World War, Great Britain declared them and all persons from Axis countries "enemy aliens." Britain asked Canada and Australia to accept this group of foreign nationals for the duration of the war. The Mackenzie King government reluctantly agreed.

In the summer of 1940, more than 3,000 refugees were sent to Canada. Among them were 2,300 German and Austrian Jews aged 16 to 60. They were interned in guarded camps in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. The Jews in the group came to be known as "accidental immigrants." They were initially interned in prisoner of war (POW) camps with actual POWs. This situation was protested loudly by the internees, the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canadian National Committee on Refugees and Victims of Persecution, an agency comprised of prominent non-Jewish Canadians. The Jewish internees did not pose a threat to national security. They were not safe living among Nazi POWs. Senior Canadian officials realized this and separate camps were established. Nevertheless, the Jewish internees' legal status remained uncertain. Their POW status was lifted. It was replaced with that of "refugees of Nazi oppression." Despite this, their legal status in Canada remained ill-defined for many years.

Many of the internees continued their secular or religious studies in the camps. With support from rabbis in Toronto and Montreal, interned rabbis organized camp-wide services for holy days. They also observed the Sabbath and laws of kashrut (Jewish dietary law and custom).

The camps were closed in 1943. The Jewish internees were given the option of staying in Canada or returning to England. Walter Kohn ( Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Fred Kaufman (judge in the Quebec Court of Appeal), and Emil Fackenheim (philosopher) were among the 972 who remained in Canada.

Reporting Atrocity

Press reports from the 1936 Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, Germany, provided many non-Jewish Canadians with their first glimpse of Nazism. Reports of Adolf Hitler and his totalitarian regime continued throughout the Second World War. The Canadian government and major media outlets sent journalists, photographers and filmmakers to document military advances. ( See Documenting the Second World War.) Major newspapers reported on wartime atrocities in Europe. But mention of Jewish victims was minimal.

In 1943, the Canadian government launched its official war art program to document and report on wartime atrocities. ( See War Artists.) Thirty-one artists, including Alex Colville and Aba Bayefsky, were chosen for the program. They created visual depictions of the war (photographs, sketches, paintings) for military records and for viewing by the Canadian public.

Reporters and artists struggled to describe what they witnessed, including human remains at concentration and death camps. Such unprecedented accounts of mass, state-sponsored, anti-Jewish violence challenged comprehension. Few Canadians could begin to fathom the extent to which Nazi Germany had decimated European Jewry.

First Encounters with the Holocaust

In the final months of the Second World War, First Canadian Army forces played key roles in the liberation of Nazi camps in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. These had been used to transport Jews to death camps in occupied Poland. Military personnel chanced upon Jews who emerged from their hiding spaces. In December 1944, Toronto-born Jewish chaplain Samuel Cass and his soldiers threw a bittersweet Chanukah party for the few Jewish orphans remaining in Antwerp, Belgium.

For Canadian military personnel, the starkest encounter with the Holocaust and its survivors took place at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It was liberated by the British Army on 15 April 1945. Canadian military units were at the camp within 48 hours. They helped to feed and provide medical attention and translation services for the skeletal survivors, the majority of whom were Jews. Canadian Jewish airmen and soldiers, many of whom spoke Yiddish, gave informal aid to the survivors. Soldiers collected and gave out food, clothing and surgical supplies from military stock with their superiors' silent approval. In total, more than 1,000 Canadians were at Bergen-Belsen, either through formal service or informal visits.

Evidence of the gross inhumanity that had earned Bergen-Belsen the title "Horror Camp" was everywhere: rampant starvation; typhus and tuberculosis; the crematoria; and piles of unburied corpses. According to historian Mark Celinscak, the suffering that Canadian military personnel and volunteers saw at Bergen-Belsen "became their defining moment of the Second World War... for some it was an awful recurring memory, while for others it altered the course of their lives."

Legacy: Holocaust Survivors in Canada

Despite awareness of the horrors faced by Jews in the Holocaust, anti-Semitism persisted in Canada well after the war. In 1945, when discussing how many Jewish refugees should be allowed to enter Canada, a Canadian government bureaucrat gave the now-infamous reply, "none is too many." In a 1946 Canadian public opinion poll, 49 per cent opposed Jewish immigration. Jews were the least desirable immigrant group. Only German nationals ranked higher, albeit not former members of the Nazi Party.

The shift in public opinion, and government policy, towards Jewish immigration was a response to the largest refugee crisis in modern history. It also met a practical demand for skilled cheap labour to support Canada's postwar economy. The gradual liberalization of policy began with Order-in-Council P.C. 2071 on 28 May 1946; it culminated with the amended immigration policy announced on 1 May 1947. These measures marked a sea change in Canada's law and popular opinion toward immigrants and refugees. These changes were especially meaningful for Canadian Jews. They were now allowed to sponsor European Jewish refugees through "close relatives" and "labour" schemes. Between 1947 and 1955, the Canadian Jews sponsored and resettled approximately 35,000 Holocaust survivors and their dependents.

Holocaust survivors and their descendants have contributed to all aspects of Canadian society. In spite of this, Canada was the last country in the Western world to erect a national Holocaust memorial monument. On 20 January 2011, the Canadian Jewish Congress and Citizenship and Immigration Canada jointly unveiled The Wheel of Conscience. The monument commemorates the MS St. Louis refugees. It features the passengers' names and the words hatred, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. It is currently housed at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax. The National Holocaust Monument was unveiled in Ottawa on 27 September 2017. Entitled Landscape of Loss, Memory and Survival, it recognizes the Holocaust and its Jewish survivors' contributions to Canada.

See also: Judaism; Jewish Music and Musicians; Jewish Writing; Passover in Canada.

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Prejudice towards people of the Jewish faith, or anti-Semitism, was a socially acceptable part of mainstream Canadian society for many years. It was a form of open and blatant racism that predated Confederation; before the community had a significant presence in what became Canada.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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Seeking Refuge

Months after the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich in 1933, the lives and livelihood of Jews in Germany were put in peril. Hundreds of discriminatory laws were issued in Germany that directly targeted Jewish citizens. Jews were, for instance, forced from the civil service, disbarred as lawyers, and dismissed as teachers, while quotas restricted the number of Jewish children allowed in schools. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws revoked Jewish Germans' citizenship and voting rights, leaving them no protection under the law as state-condoned violence against Jews escalated.

The world was aware that the situation in Germany was getting worse for the Jews, especially following reports of Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). The "night of broken glass," as it was called, was a night of violent riots in Nazi Germany and Austria in which Jewish establishments were targeted and destroyed. Hundreds of synagogues were burned to the ground, 91 Jews were killed, and roughly 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to prison camps in Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen - which would later become death camps. This and many similar events, forced hundreds of thousands of German Jews to seek refuge before the Second World War ( see Refugees).

Voyage of MS St. Louis

MS St. Louis departed Hamburg, Germany, on 13 May 1939. The 937 refugees on board the luxury liner were desperate to leave a dangerous situation in Europe. Nearly all of the passengers were Jewish, mostly German citizens, with some eastern Europeans aboard, as well as Spanish and Cuban passengers. Some were officially "stateless" and many had lost their businesses and homes. Others had been freed from Dachau and Buchenwald on the condition they promptly leave Germany.

MS St. Louis was bound for Cuba, a country for which many of its passengers held landing visas. They had also completed the necessary paperwork to enter the United States and anticipated a stopover in Cuba before gaining entry to the United States.

The ship was held in port when it arrived at Havana on 27 May. Only 29 passengers were allowed to disembark; 28 purchased new documents in port, and one was hospitalized in Havana (another passenger had died during the voyage). Increased anti-Semitism, the corrupt sale of landing certificates, and recent changes to immigration regulations in Cuba kept the ship and its passengers in port for days.

But Captain Gustav Schröder refused to return the remaining 907 passengers to Nazi Germany. He appealed to the Cuban authorities to no avail. After his pleas were rejected, the ship was ordered out of Cuban waters, which it left on 2 June. The captain sailed to the Florida coastline, in hopes that America would offer to take the refugees. Instead, St. Louis was met and trailed by the Coast Guard. A committee representing the passengers wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as did many other groups and prominent Americans who were sympathetic to the passengers' plight. American officials argued that the refugees aboard the ship had to wait their turn in a long line of asylum seekers. The president refused to accept the refugees, and St. Louis sailed north, bound for Europe.

Word of the plight of those aboard the ship had reached Canada. In Toronto, 41 prominent citizens, including clergyman and historian George Wrong, petitioned Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King on 7 June to provide sanctuary for the refugees. While away on official business, King asked undersecretary of state for external affairs Oscar Skelton to consult on the matter with Minister of Justice Ernest Lapointe, and Frederick Blair, director of the Government of Canada's Immigration Branch. Lapointe was "emphatically opposed" to admitting the refugees, and Blair argued that they did not qualify under current immigration laws - laws he had created. "No country," according to Blair, "could open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to leave Europe: the line must be drawn somewhere."

Though the ship was just two days from Halifax Harbour, it continued on its course for Europe. There are no records that suggest Captain Schröder lobbied the Canadian government during this time.

On 17 June, St. Louis docked in Antwerp, Belgium, and from there, the passengers dispersed: 214 went to Belgium, 224 to France, 181 to Netherlands, and 288 to the United Kingdom. Over the course of the Second World War, many of these states fell under Nazi control, putting the refugees back in harm's way. Though many survived the atrocities of the war, a staggering number were sent to concentration camps where 254 of those passengers perished ( see Canada and the Holocaust).

"None is too many"

From 1919, the federal Cabinet could prohibit immigrants to Canada based on their race, nationality, occupation and class. For many years, prospective immigrants were listed in order of descending preference, with British and Americans at the top and Jews, Asians, Roma people, and Black persons at the bottom. According to the 1931 census, 155,766 Canadians identified as Jewish - representing 1.5 per cent of the population

By 1931, Canada was reeling from the Great Depression. In response to growing levels of unemployment, the federal government tightened its already severe restrictions on immigration ( see Immigration Policy). An average 16,280 immigrants were admitted to Canada each year between 1931 and 1938. Although certain kinds of immigrants were admitted by Cabinet - farmers and the wealthy predominantly - very small numbers of Jews were permitted. At the time, religious intolerance and anti-Semitism were common in Canadian society and even in its cultural and political leaders - right up to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King:

We must nevertheless seek to keep this part of the Continent free from unrest and from too great an intermixture of foreign strains of blood, as much the same thing as lies at the basis of the Oriental problem. I fear we would have riots if we agreed to a policy that admitted numbers of Jews.

[Excerpt from King's private diary, 29 March 1938.]

Between 1933 and 1945, Canada admitted fewer than 5,000 Jewish refugees. During that same period, countries hit harder by the Depression admitted far more. According to Irving Abella in None Is Too Many, the United States admitted more than 200,000, Palestine 125,000 and Britain 70,000. All told, Canada admitted the lowest number of refugees among developed nations. The government's stance on Jewish refugees has often been conflated with the words of a senior Canadian official when asked how many Jews would be admitted to Canada at the end of the Second World War. His reply was, "None is too many." ( See also Prejudice and Discrimination; Racism).

Significance

The Canadian government's refusal to admit Jewish refugees in need of sanctuary in the years leading to and during the Second World War is one example of Canada's history of selective and often discriminatory immigration practices ( see also Komagata Maru, Chinese Head Tax, Restrictions to Japanese Immigration). Though it was known that Jews faced persecution, false imprisonment, and outright violence in Nazi-controlled regions of Europe before the Second World War, their fate was unknown. And while the government's reaction to the crisis was demonstrably linked to its anti-Semitic sentiments, it could not have foreseen the carnage ahead.

Legacy

On 5 November 2000, members of the Canadian clergy gathered to apologize to 25 surviving St. Louis passengers. Baptist minister Doug Blair was among the clergymen who apologized. He is the great nephew of Frederick Blair, who was in charge of Canadian immigration in 1939.

On 20 January 2011, a memorial sculpture commemorating the St. Louis refugees was unveiled at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, where the ship would probably have landed. Called The Wheel of Conscience, the statue is the work of American architect Daniel Libeskind and graphic designer David Berman. The kinetic steel sculpture is comprised of four gears. The first, labelled hatred, turns increasingly larger gears labelled racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. The names of all the passengers who were on the ship are etched on the back of the sculpture.

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Months after the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich in 1933, the lives and livelihood of Jews in Germany were put in peril. Hundreds of discriminatory laws were issued in Germany that directly targeted Jewish citizens.

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The Holocaust (1933-1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum defines the years of the Holocaust as 1933-1945. The Holocaust era began in January 1933 when 1 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. It ended in May 1945, when the Allied Powers defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. The Holocaust is also sometimes referred to as "the Shoah," the Hebrew word for "catastrophe."

When they came to power in Germany, the Nazis did not immediately start to carry out mass murder. However, they quickly began using the government to target and exclude Jews from German society. Among other antisemitic measures, the Nazi German regime enacted discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany's Jews. The Nazi persecution of Jews became increasingly radical between 1933 and 1945. This radicalization culminated in a plan that Nazi leaders referred to as the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." The "Final Solution" was the organized and systematic mass murder of European Jews. The Nazi German regime implemented this genocide between 1941 and 1945.

Why did the Nazis target Jews?

The Nazis targeted Jews because the Nazis were radically antisemitic. This means that they were prejudiced against and hated Jews. In fact, antisemitism was a basic tenet of their ideology and at the foundation of their worldview.

The Nazis falsely accused Jews of causing Germany's social, economic, political, and cultural problems. In particular, they blamed them for Germany's defeat in World War I (1914-1918). Some Germans were receptive to these Nazi claims. Anger over the loss of the war and the economic and political crises that followed contributed to increasing antisemitism in German society. The instability of Germany under the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), the fear of communism, and the economic shocks of the Great Depression also made many Germans more open to Nazi ideas, including antisemitism.

However, the Nazis did not invent antisemitism. Antisemitism is an old and widespread prejudice that has taken many forms throughout history. In Europe, it dates back to ancient times. In the the myth that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. Suspicion and discrimination rooted in religious prejudices continued in legal restrictions on Jews. This, however, did not mean the end of antisemitism. In addition to religious antisemitism, Middle Ages (500-1400), prejudices against Jews were primarily based in early Christian belief and thought, particularly early modern Europe (1400-1800). At that time, leaders in much of Christian Europe isolated Jews from most aspects of economic, social, and political life. This exclusion contributed to stereotypes of Jews as outsiders. As Europe became more secular, many places lifted most other types of antisemitism

The Nazi Party promoted a particularly virulent form of racial antisemitism. It was central to the party's race-based worldview. The Nazis believed that the world was divided into distinct races and that some of these races were superior to others. They considered Germans to be members of the supposedly superior "Aryan" race. They asserted that "Aryans" were locked in a struggle for existence with other, inferior races. Further, the Nazis believed that the so-called "Jewish race" was the most inferior and dangerous of all. According to the Nazis, Jews were a threat that needed to be removed from German society. Otherwise, the Nazis insisted, the "Jewish race" would permanently corrupt and destroy the German people. The Nazis' race-based definition of Jews included many persons who identified as Christians or did not practice Judaism.

Where did the Holocaust take place?

The Holocaust was a Nazi German initiative that took place throughout German- and Axis-controlled Europe. It affected nearly all of Europe's Jewish population, which in 1933 numbered 9 million people.

The Holocaust began in Germany after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933. Almost immediately, the Nazi German regime (which called itself the Third Reich) excluded Jews from German economic, political, social, and cultural life. Throughout the 1930s, the regime increasingly pressured Jews to emigrate.

But the Nazi persecution of Jews spread beyond Germany. Throughout the 1930s, Nazi Germany pursued an aggressive foreign policy. This culminated in World War II, which began in Europe in 1939. Prewar and wartime territorial expansion eventually brought millions more Jewish people under German control.

Nazi Germany's territorial expansion began in 1938-1939. During this time, Germany annexed neighboring Austria and the Sudetenland and occupied the Czech lands. On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany began World War II (1939-1945) by attacking Poland. Over the next two years, Germany invaded and occupied much of Europe, including western parts of the Soviet Union. Nazi Germany further extended its control by forming alliances with the governments of Italy, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. It also created puppet states in Slovakia and Croatia. Together these countries made up the European members of the Axis alliance, which also included Japan.

By 1942-as a result of annexations, invasions, occupations, and alliances-Nazi Germany controlled most of Europe and parts of North Africa. Nazi control brought harsh policies and ultimately mass murder to Jewish civilians across Europe.

The Nazis and their allies and collaborators murdered six million Jews.

Geography of the Holocaust

How did Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators persecute Jewish people?

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators implemented a wide range of anti-Jewish policies and measures. These policies varied from place to place. Thus, not all Jews experienced the Holocaust in the same way. But in all instances, millions of people were persecuted simply because they were identified as Jewish.

Throughout German-controlled and aligned territories, the persecution of Jews took a variety of forms:

Legal discrimination in the form of antisemitic laws. These included the Nuremberg Race Laws and numerous other discriminatory laws.

These included Various forms of public identification and exclusion. antisemitic propaganda, boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses, public humiliation, and obligatory markings (such as the Jewish star badge worn as an armband or on clothing).

The most notable example is There were also isolated incidents and other Organized violence. Kristallnacht.pogroms (violent riots).

Physical Displacement. Perpetrators used forced emigration, resettlement, expulsion, deportation, and ghettoization to physically displace Jewish individuals and communities.

in overcrowded Internment. Perpetrators interned Jews ghettos, concentration camps, and forced-labor camps, where many died from starvation, disease, and other inhumane conditions.

Widespread theft and plunder. The confiscation of Jews' property, personal belongings, and valuables was a key part of the Holocaust.

Jews had to perform Forced labor. forced labor in service of the Axis war effort or for the enrichment of Nazi organizations, the military, and/or private businesses.

Many Jews died as a result of these policies. But before 1941, the systematic mass murder of all Jews was not Nazi policy. Beginning in 1941, however, Nazi leaders decided to implement the mass murder of Europe's Jews. They referred to this plan as the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."

What was the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question"?

The Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" (" Endlösung der Judenfrage ") was the deliberate and systematic mass murder of European Jews. It was the last stage of the Holocaust and took place from 1941 to 1945. Though many Jews were killed before the "Final Solution" began, the vast majority of Jewish victims were murdered during this period.

Nazi Germany committed mass murder on an unprecedented scale. There were two main methods of killing. One method was As part of the "Final Solution," mass shooting. German units carried out mass shootings on the outskirts of villages, towns, and cities throughout eastern Europe. The other method was asphyxiation with poison gas. Gassing operations were conducted at killing centers and with mobile gas vans.

Mass Shootings

The Nazi German regime perpetrated mass shootings of civilians on a scale never seen before. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, German units began to carry out mass shootings of local Jews. At first, these units targeted Jewish men of military age. But by August 1941, they had started massacring entire Jewish communities. These massacres were often conducted in broad daylight and in full view and earshot of local residents.

Mass shooting operations took place in more than 1,500 cities, towns, and villages across eastern Europe. German units tasked with murdering the local Jewish population moved throughout the region committing horrific massacres. Typically, these units would enter a town and round up the Jewish civilians. They would then take the Jewish residents to the outskirts of the town. Next, they would force them to dig a mass grave or take them to mass graves prepared in advance. Finally, German forces and/or local auxiliary units would shoot all of the men, women, and children into these pits. Sometimes, these massacres involved the use of specially designed mobile gas vans. Perpetrators would use these vans to suffocate victims with carbon monoxide exhaust.

at these killing sites. At Maly Trostenets, thousands of victims were also murdered in gas vans.

The German units that perpetrated the mass shootings in eastern Europe included (special task forces of the SS and police), units. The provided logistical support and manpower. Some Wehrmacht units also carried out massacres. In many places, local auxiliary units working with the Einsatzgruppen Order Police battalions, and Waffen-SS German military ( Wehrmacht ) SS and police participated in the mass shootings. These auxiliary units were made up of local civilian, military, and police officials.

As many as 2 million Jews were murdered in mass shootings or gas vans in territories seized from Soviet forces.

Killing Centers

In late 1941, the Nazi regime began building specially designed, stationary killing centers in German-occupied Poland. In English, killing centers are sometimes called "extermination camps" or "death camps." Nazi Germany operated five killing centers: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. They built these killing centers for the sole purpose of efficiently murdering Jews on a mass scale. The primary means of murder at the killing centers was poisonous gas released into sealed gas chambers or vans.

German authorities, with the help of their allies and collaborators, transported Jews from across Europe to these killing centers. They disguised their intentions by calling the transports to the killing centers "resettlement actions" or "evacuation transports." In English, they are often referred to as "deportations." Most of these deportations took place by train. In order to efficiently transport Jews to the killing centers, German authorities used the extensive European railroad system, as well as other means of transportation. In many cases the railcars on the trains were freight cars; in other instances they were passenger cars.

The conditions on deportation transports were horrific. German and collaborating local authorities forced Jews of all ages into overcrowded railcars. They often had to stand, sometimes for days, until the train reached its destination. The perpetrators deprived them of food, water, bathrooms, heat, and medical care. Jews frequently died en route from the inhumane conditions.

The vast majority of Jews deported to killing centers were gassed almost immediately after their arrival. Some Jews whom German officials believed to be healthy and strong enough were selected for forced labor.

My mother ran over to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, and she told me "Leibele, I'm not going to see you no more. Take care of your brother."
- Leo Schneiderman describing arrival at Auschwitz, selection, and separation from his family

At all five killing centers, German officials forced some Jewish prisoners to assist in the killing process. Among other tasks, these prisoners had to sort through victims' belongings and remove victims' bodies from the gas chambers. Special units disposed of the millions of corpses through mass burial, in burning pits, or by burning them in large, specially designed crematoria.

Nearly 2.7 million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered at the five killing centers.

What were ghettos and why did German authorities create them during the Holocaust?

Ghettos were areas of cities or towns where German occupiers forced Jews to live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. German authorities often enclosed these areas by building walls or other barriers. Guards prevented Jews from leaving without permission. Some ghettos existed for years, but others existed only for months, weeks, or even days as holding sites prior to deportation or murder.

German officials first created ghettos in 1939-1940 in German-occupied Poland. The two largest were located in the occupied Polish cities of Warsaw and Lodz (Łódź). Beginning in June 1941, German officials also established them in newly conquered territories in eastern Europe following the German attack on the Soviet Union. German authorities and their allies and collaborators also established ghettos in other parts of Europe. Notably, in 1944, German and Hungarian authorities created temporary ghettos to centralize and control Jews prior to their deportation from Hungary.

The Purpose of the Ghettos

German authorities originally established the ghettos to isolate and control the large local Jewish populations in occupied eastern Europe. Initially, they concentrated Jewish residents from within a city and the surrounding area or region. However, beginning in 1941, German officials also deported Jews from other parts of Europe (including Germany) to some of these ghettos.

Jewish forced labor became a central feature of life in many ghettos. In theory, it was supposed to help pay for the administration of the ghetto as well as support the German war effort. Sometimes, factories and workshops were established nearby in order to exploit the imprisoned Jews for forced labor. The labor was often manual and grueling.

Life in the Ghettos

Life in the ghettos was miserable and dangerous. There was little food and limited sanitation or medical care. Hundreds of thousands of people died by starvation; rampant disease; exposure to extreme temperatures; as well as exhaustion from forced labor. Germans also murdered the imprisoned Jews through brutal beatings, torture, arbitrary shootings, and other forms of arbitrary violence.

Jews in the ghettos sought to maintain a sense of dignity and community. Schools, libraries, communal welfare services, and religious institutions provided some measure of connection among residents. Attempts to document life in the ghettos, such as the Many ghettos also had underground movements that carried out armed resistance. The most famous of these is the Oneg Shabbat archive and clandestine photography, are powerful examples of Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943. spiritual resistance.

Liquidating the Ghettos

Beginning in 1941-1942, Germans and their allies and collaborators murdered ghetto residents en masse and dissolved ghetto administrative structures. They called this process "liquidation." It was part of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." The majority of Jews in the ghettos were murdered either in mass shootings at nearby killing sites or after deportation to killing centers. Most of the killing centers were deliberately located near the large ghettos of German-occupied Poland or on easily-accessible railway routes.

Who was responsible for carrying out the Holocaust and the Final Solution?

Many people were responsible for carrying out the Holocaust and the Final Solution.

At the highest level, inspired, ordered, approved, and supported the genocide of Europe's Jews. However, Hitler did not act alone. Nor did he lay out an exact plan for the implementation of the Final Solution. Other Nazi leaders were the ones who directly coordinated, planned, and implemented the mass murder. Among them were Adolf Hitler Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and Adolf Eichmann.

However, millions of Germans and other Europeans participated in the Holocaust. Without their involvement, the genocide of the Jewish people in Europe would not have been possible. Nazi leaders relied upon German institutions and organizations; other Axis powers; local bureaucracies and institutions; and individuals.

German Institutions, Organizations, and Individuals

(the SD), the the Nazi leaders relied on many German institutions and organizations to help them carry out the Holocaust. Members of Nazi organizations initiated and carried out many anti-Jewish actions before and during World War II. These organizations Schutzstaffel , Protection Squadron). Once the war began, the SS and its police affiliates became especially deadly. Members of the Sicherheitsdienst Gestapo ,Criminal Police (Kripo), and the Order Police played particularly active and deadly roles in the mass murder of Europe's Jews. Other German institutions involved in carrying out the Final Solution included the German military; the German national railway and healthcare systems; the German civil service and criminal justice systems; and German businesses, insurance companies, and banks.

chose to implement the regime's policies. Ordinary Germans also participated in the Holocaust in a variety of ways. Some Germans cheered as Jews were beaten or humiliated. Others denounced Jews for disobeying racist laws and regulations. Many Germans bought, took, or looted their Jewish neighbors' belongings and property. These Germans' participation in the Holocaust was motivated by enthusiasm, careerism, fear, greed, self-interest, antisemitism, and political ideals, among other factors.

Non-German Governments and Institutions

Nazi Germany did not perpetrate the Holocaust alone. It relied on the help of its allies and collaborators. In this context, "allies" refers to Axis countries officially allied with Nazi Germany. "Collaborators" refers to regimes and organizations that cooperated with German authorities in an official or semi-official capacity. Nazi Germany's allies and collaborators included:

The European Axis Powers and other collaborationist regimes (such as Vichy France). These governments passed their own antisemitic legislation and cooperated with German goals.

These organizations helped round up, intern, and deport Jews even in countries not allied with Germany, such as German-backed local bureaucracies, especially local police forces. the Netherlands.

Local auxiliary units made up of military and police officials and civilians. These German-backed units participated in massacres of Jews in eastern Europe (often voluntarily).

The terms "allies" and "collaborators" can also refer to individuals affiliated with these governments and organizations.

Individuals across Europe

Throughout Europe, individuals who had no governmental or institutional affiliation and did not directly participate in murdering Jews also contributed to the Holocaust.

One of the deadliest things that neighbors, acquaintances, colleagues, and even friends could do was denounce Jews to Nazi German authorities. An unknown number chose to do so. They revealed Jews' hiding places, unmasked false Christian identities, and otherwise identified Jews to Nazi officials. In doing so, they brought about their deaths. These individuals' motivations were wide-ranging: fear, self-interest, greed, revenge, antisemitism, and political and ideological beliefs.

Individuals also profited from the Holocaust. Non-Jews sometimes moved into Jews' homes, took over Jewish-owned businesses, and stole Jews' possessions and valuables. This was part of the widespread theft and plunder that accompanied the genocide.

Most often individuals contributed to the Holocaust through inaction and indifference to the plight of their Jewish neighbors. Sometimes these individuals are called bystanders.

Who were the other victims of Nazi persecution and mass murder?

The Holocaust specifically refers to the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews. However, there were also millions of other victims of Nazi persecution and murder. In the 1930s, the regime targeted a variety of alleged domestic enemies within German society. As the Nazis extended their reach during World War II, millions of other Europeans were also subjected to Nazi brutality.

The Nazi regime also targeted Germans whose activities were deemed harmful to German society. These included men accused of homosexuality, persons accused of being professional or habitual criminals, and so-called asocials (such as people identified as vagabonds, beggars, prostitutes, pimps, and alcoholics). Tens of thousands of these victims were incarcerated in prisons and concentration camps. The regime also forcibly sterilized and persecuted Afro-Germans.

People with disabilities were also victimized by the Nazi regime. Before World War II, Germans considered to have supposedly unhealthy hereditary conditions were forcibly sterilized. Once the war began, Nazi policy radicalized. People with disabilities, especially those living in institutions, were considered both a genetic and a financial burden on Germany. These people were targeted for murder in the so-called Euthanasia Program.

The Nazi regime employed extreme measures against groups considered to be racial, civilizational, or ideological enemies. This included Roma (Gypsies),

How did the Holocaust end?

so-called The Holocaust ended in May 1945 when the major Allied Powers (Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union) defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. As Allied forces moved across Europe in a series of offensives, they overran concentration camps. There they liberated the surviving prisoners, many of whom were Jews. The Allies also encountered and liberated the survivors of death marches. These forced marches consisted of groups of Jewish and non-Jewish concentration camp inmates who had been evacuated on foot from camps under SS guard.

But liberation did not bring closure. Many Holocaust survivors faced ongoing threats of violent antisemitism and displacement as they sought to build new lives. Many had lost family members, while others searched for years to locate missing parents, children, and siblings.

How did some Jews survive the Holocaust?

Despite Nazi Germany's efforts to murder all the Jews of Europe, some Jews survived the Holocaust. Survival took a variety of forms. But, in every case, survival was only possible because of an extraordinary confluence of circumstances, choices, help from others (both Jewish and non-Jewish), and sheer luck.

Survival outside of German-Controlled Europe

Some Jews survived the Holocaust by escaping German-controlled Europe. Before World War II began, hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrated from Nazi Germany despite significant immigration barriers. Those who immigrated to the United States, Great Britain, and other areas that remained beyond German control were safe from Nazi violence. Even after World War II began, some Jews managed to escape German-controlled Europe. For example, approximately 200,000 Polish Jews fled the German occupation of Poland. These Jews survived the war under harsh conditions after Soviet authorities deported them further east into the interior of the Soviet Union.

Survival in German-Controlled Europe

A smaller number of Jews survived inside German-controlled Europe. They often did so with the help of rescuers. Rescue efforts ranged from the isolated actions of individuals to organized networks, both small and large. Throughout Europe, there were non-Jews who took grave risks to help their Jewish neighbors, friends, and strangers survive. For example, they found hiding places for Jews, procured false papers that offered protective Christian identities, or provided them with food and supplies. Other Jews survived as members of partisan resistance movements. Finally, some Jews managed, against enormous odds, to survive imprisonment in concentration camps, ghettos, and even killing centers.

Aftermath

While the Holocaust ended with the war, the legacy of terror and genocide did not. By the end of World War II, six million Jews and millions of others were dead. Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators had devastated or completely destroyed thousands of Jewish communities across Europe.

In the those Jews who survived were often confronted with the traumatic reality of having lost their entire families and communities. Some were able to go home and chose to rebuild their lives in Europe. Many others were afraid to do so because of aftermath of the Holocaust, postwar violence and antisemitism. In the immediate postwar period, those who could not or would not return home often found themselves living in displaced persons camps. There, many had to wait years before they were able to immigrate to new homes.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the world has struggled to come to terms with the horrors of the genocide, to remember the victims, and to hold perpetrators responsible. These important efforts remain ongoing.

Last Edited: Nov 5, 2021

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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Introduction to the Holocaust: What was the Holocaust?

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Learn about the Holocaust, the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

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History.ca

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Historical Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism in Europe did not begin with Adolf Hitler. Though use of the term itself dates only to the 1870s, there is evidence of hostility toward Jews long before the Holocaust-even as far back as the ancient world, when Roman authorities destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and forced Jews to leave Palestine.

The Enlightenment, during the 17th and 18th centuries, emphasized religious tolerance, and in the 19th century Napoleon Bonaparte and other European rulers enacted legislation that ended long-standing restrictions on Jews. Anti-Semitic feeling endured, however, in many cases taking on a racial character rather than a religious one.

Did you know? Even in the early 21st century, the legacy of the Holocaust endures. Swiss government and banking institutions have in recent years acknowledged their complicity with the Nazis and established funds to aid Holocaust survivors and other victims of human rights abuses, genocide or other catastrophes.

Hitler's Rise to Power

The roots of Adolf Hitler's particularly virulent brand of anti-Semitism are unclear. Born in Austria in 1889, he served in the German army during World War I. Like many anti-Semites in Germany, he blamed the Jews for the country's defeat in 1918.

Soon after World War I ended, Hitler joined the National German Workers' Party, which became the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), known to English speakers as the Nazis. While imprisoned for treason for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Hitler wrote the memoir and propaganda tract " Mein Kampf " (or "my struggle"), in which he predicted a general European war that would result in "the extermination of the Jewish race in Germany."

Hitler was obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the "pure" German race, which he called "Aryan," and with the need for "Lebensraum," or living space, for that race to expand. In the decade after he was released from prison, Hitler took advantage of the weakness of his rivals to enhance his party's status and rise from obscurity to power.

On January 30, 1933, he was named chancellor of Germany. After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler anointed himself Fuhrer, becoming Germany's supreme ruler.

Concentration Camps

The twin goals of racial purity and territorial expansion were the core of Hitler's worldview, and from 1933 onward they would combine to form the driving force behind his foreign and domestic policy.

At first, the Nazis reserved their harshest persecution for political opponents such as Communists or Social Democrats. The first official concentration camp opened at Dachau (near Munich) in March 1933, and many of the first prisoners sent there were Communists.

Like the network of concentration camps that followed, becoming the killing grounds of the Holocaust, Dachau was under the control of Heinrich Himmler, head of the elite Nazi guard, the Schutzstaffel (SS) and later chief of the German police.

By July 1933, German concentration camps ( Konzentrationslager in German, or KZ) held some 27,000 people in "protective custody." Huge Nazi rallies and symbolic acts such as the public burning of books by Jews, Communists, liberals and foreigners helped drive home the desired message of party strength and unity.

In 1933, Jews in Germany numbered around 525,000-just one percent of the total German population. During the next six years, Nazis undertook an "Aryanization" of Germany, dismissing non-Aryans from civil service, liquidating Jewish-owned businesses and stripping Jewish lawyers and doctors of their clients.

Nuremberg Laws

Under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered a Jew, while those with two Jewish grandparents were designated Mischlinge (half-breeds).

Under the Nuremberg Laws, Jews became routine targets for stigmatization and persecution. This culminated in Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass" in November 1938, when German synagogues were burned and windows in Jewish home and shops were smashed; some 100 Jews were killed and thousands more arrested.

From 1933 to 1939, hundreds of thousands of Jews who were able to leave Germany did, while those who remained lived in a constant state of uncertainty and fear.

Euthanasia Program

In September 1939, Germany invaded the western half of Poland, starting World War II. German police soon forced tens of thousands of Polish Jews from their homes and into ghettoes, giving their confiscated properties to ethnic Germans (non-Jews outside Germany who identified as German), Germans from the Reich or Polish gentiles.

Surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, the Jewish ghettoes in Poland functioned like captive city-states, governed by Jewish Councils. In addition to widespread unemployment, poverty and hunger, overpopulation and poor sanitation made the ghettoes breeding grounds for disease such as typhus.

Meanwhile, beginning in the fall of 1939, Nazi officials selected around 70,000 Germans institutionalized for mental illness or physical disabilities to be gassed to death in the so-called Euthanasia Program.

After prominent German religious leaders protested, Hitler put an end to the program in August 1941, though killings of the disabled continued in secrecy, and by 1945 some 275,000 people deemed handicapped from all over Europe had been killed. In hindsight, it seems clear that the Euthanasia Program functioned as a pilot for the Holocaust.

'Final Solution'

Throughout the spring and summer of 1940, the German army expanded Hitler's empire in Europe, conquering Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Beginning in 1941, Jews from all over the continent, as well as hundreds of thousands of European Romani people, were transported to Polish ghettoes.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 marked a new level of brutality in warfare. Mobile killing units of Himmler's SS called Einsatzgruppen would murder more than 500,000 Soviet Jews and others (usually by shooting) over the course of the German occupation.

A memorandum dated July 31, 1941, from Hitler's top commander Hermann Goering to Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SD (the security service of the SS), referred to the need for an Endlösung ( Final Solution) to "the Jewish question."

Yellow Stars

Beginning in September 1941, every person designated as a Jew in German-held territory was marked with a yellow, six-pointed star, making them open targets. Tens of thousands were soon being deported to the Polish ghettoes and German-occupied cities in the USSR.

Since June 1941, experiments with mass killing methods had been ongoing at the concentration camp of Auschwitz, near Krakow, Poland. That August, 500 officials gassed 500 Soviet POWs to death with the pesticide Zyklon-B. The SS soon placed a huge order for the gas with a German pest-control firm, an ominous indicator of the coming Holocaust.

Holocaust Death Camps

Beginning in late 1941, the Germans began mass transports from the ghettoes in Poland to the concentration camps, starting with those people viewed as the least useful: the sick, old and weak and the very young.

The first mass gassings began at the camp of Belzec, near Lublin, on March 17, 1942. Five more mass killing centers were built at camps in occupied Poland, including Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and the largest of all, Auschwitz.

From 1942 to 1945, Jews were deported to the camps from all over Europe, including German-controlled territory as well as those countries allied with Germany. The heaviest deportations took place during the summer and fall of 1942, when more than 300,000 people were deported from the Warsaw ghetto alone.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Amid the deportations, disease and constant hunger, incarcerated people in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up in armed revolt.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from April 19-May 16, 1943, ended in the death of 7,000 Jews, with 50,000 survivors sent to extermination camps. But the resistance fighters had held off the Nazis for almost a month, and their revolt inspired revolts at camps and ghettos across German-occupied Europe.

Though the Nazis tried to keep operation of the camps secret, the scale of the killing made this virtually impossible. Eyewitnesses brought reports of Nazi atrocities in Poland to the Allied governments, who were harshly criticized after the war for their failure to respond, or to publicize news of the mass slaughter.

This lack of action was likely mostly due to the Allied focus on winning the war at hand, but was also partly a result of the general incomprehension with which news of the Holocaust was met and the denial and disbelief that such atrocities could be occurring on such a scale.

'Angel of Death'

At Auschwitz alone, more than 2 million people were murdered in a process resembling a large-scale industrial operation. A large population of Jewish and non-Jewish inmates worked in the labor camp there; though only Jews were gassed, thousands of others died of starvation or disease.

In 1943, eugenics advocate Josef Mengele arrived in Auschwitz to begin his infamous experiments on Jewish prisoners. His special area of focus was conducting medical experiments on twins, injecting them with everything from petrol to chloroform under the guise of giving them medical treatment. His actions earned him the nickname "the Angel of Death."

Nazi Rule Ends

By the spring of 1945, German leadership was dissolving amid internal dissent, with Goering and Himmler both seeking to distance themselves from Hitler and take power.

In his last will and political testament, dictated in a German bunker that April 29, Hitler blamed the war on "International Jewry and its helpers" and urged the German leaders and people to follow "the strict observance of the racial laws and with merciless resistance against the universal poisoners of all peoples"-the Jews.

The following day, Hitler died by suicide. Germany's formal surrender in World War II came barely a week later, on May 8, 1945.

German forces had begun evacuating many of the death camps in the fall of 1944, sending inmates under guard to march further from the advancing enemy's front line. These so-called "death marches" continued all the way up to the German surrender, resulting in the deaths of some 250,000 to 375,000 people.

In his classic book Survival in Auschwitz, the Italian-Jewish author Primo Levi described his own state of mind, as well as that of his fellow inmates in Auschwitz on the day before Soviet troops liberated the camp in January 1945: "We lay in a world of death and phantoms. The last trace of civilization had vanished around and inside us. The work of bestial degradation, begun by the victorious Germans, had been carried to conclusion by the Germans in defeat."

Legacy of the Holocaust

The wounds of the Holocaust-known in Hebrew as "Shoah," or catastrophe-were slow to heal. Survivors of the camps found it nearly impossible to return home, as in many cases they had lost their entire family and been denounced by their non-Jewish neighbors. As a result, the late 1940s saw an unprecedented number of refugees, POWs and other displaced populations moving across Europe.

In an effort to punish the villains of the Holocaust, the Allies held the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46, which brought Nazi atrocities to horrifying light. Increasing pressure on the Allied powers to create a homeland for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust would lead to a mandate for the creation of Israel in 1948.

Over the decades that followed, ordinary Germans struggled with the Holocaust's bitter legacy, as survivors and the families of victims sought restitution of wealth and property confiscated during the Nazi years.

Beginning in 1953, the German government made payments to individual Jews and to the Jewish people as a way of acknowledging the German people's responsibility for the crimes committed in their name.
Sources
The Holocaust. The National WWII Museum.
What Was The Holocaust? Imperial War Museums.
Introduction to the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Holocaust Remembrance. Council of Europe.
Outreach Programme on the Holocaust. United Nations.

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Holocaust: Definition, Remembrance & Meaning - HISTORY

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The Holocaust was the persecution and murder of millions of Jews, Romani people, political dissidents and homosexuals by the German Nazi regime from 1933-1945.

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Anne Frank

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During the Second World War, the Nazis murdered nearly six million European Jews. This genocide is called the Holocaust. Here, you can read about its causes and backgrounds, the stages of the Holocaust, and the perpetrators.

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Apartheid in South Africa

Racial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy long before apartheid began. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing Black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Opponents of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would become the African National Congress (ANC).

Did you know? ANC leader Nelson Mandela, released from prison in February 1990, worked closely with President F.W. de Klerk's government to draw up a new constitution for South Africa. After both sides made concessions, they reached agreement in 1993, and would share the Nobel Peace Prize that year for their efforts.

The Great Depression and World War II brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation. In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the general election under the slogan "apartheid" (literally "apartness"). Their goal was not only to separate South Africa's white minority from its non-white majority, but also to separate non-whites from each other, and to divide Black South Africans along tribal lines in order to decrease their political power.

Apartheid Becomes Law

By 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between Black and white South Africans. The Population Registration Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by race, including Bantu (Black Africans), Coloured (mixed race) and white.

A fourth category, Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. In some cases, the legislation split families; a parent could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.

A series of Land Acts set aside more than 80 percent of the country's land for the white minority, and "pass laws" required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas.

In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied non-white participation in national government.

Apartheid and Separate Development

Hendrik Verwoerd, who became prime minister in 1958, refined apartheid policy further into a system he referred to as "separate development." The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 created 10 Bantu homelands known as Bantustans. Separating Black South Africans from each other enabled the government to claim there was no Black majority and reduced the possibility that Black people would unify into one nationalist organization.

Every Black South African was designated as a citizen as one of the Bantustans, a system that supposedly gave them full political rights, but effectively removed them from the nation's political body.

In one of the most devastating aspects of apartheid, the government forcibly removed Black South Africans from rural areas designated as "white" to the homelands and sold their land at low prices to white farmers. From 1961 to 1994, more than 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and deposited in the Bantustans, where they were plunged into poverty and hopelessness.

Opposition to Apartheid

Resistance to apartheid within South Africa took many forms over the years, from non-violent demonstrations, protests and strikes to political action and eventually to armed resistance.

Together with the South Indian National Congress, the ANC organized a mass meeting in 1952, during which attendees burned their pass books. A group calling itself the Congress of the People adopted a Freedom Charter in 1955 asserting that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, Black or white." The government broke up the meeting and arrested 150 people, charging them with high treason.

Sharpeville Massacre

In 1960, at the Black township of Sharpeville, the police opened fire on a group of unarmed Black people associated with the Pan-African Congress (PAC), an offshoot of the ANC. The group had arrived at the police station without passes, inviting arrest as an act of resistance. At least 67 people were killed and more than 180 wounded.

The Sharpeville massacre convinced many anti-apartheid leaders that they could not achieve their objectives by peaceful means, and both the PAC and ANC established military wings, neither of which ever posed a serious military threat to the state.

Nelson Mandela

By 1961, most resistance leaders had been captured and sentenced to long prison terms or executed. Nelson Mandela, a founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"), the military wing of the ANC, was incarcerated from 1963 to 1990; his imprisonment would draw international attention and help garner support for the anti-apartheid cause.

On June 10, 1980, his followers smuggled a letter from Mandela in prison and made it public: "UNITE! MOBILIZE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF UNITED MASS ACTION AND THE HAMMER OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE WE SHALL CRUSH APARTHEID!"

President F.W. de Klerk

In 1976, when thousands of Black children in Soweto, a Black township outside Johannesburg, demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for Black African students, the police opened fire with tear gas and bullets.

The protests and government crackdowns that followed, combined with a national economic recession, drew more international attention to South Africa and shattered any remaining illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation.

The United Nations General Assembly had denounced apartheid in 1973, and in 1976 the UN Security Council voted to impose a mandatory embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa. In 1985, the United Kingdom and United States imposed economic sanctions on the country.

Under pressure from the international community, the National Party government of Pieter Botha sought to institute some reforms, including abolition of the pass laws and the ban on interracial sex and marriage. The reforms fell short of any substantive change, however, and by 1989 Botha was pressured to step aside in favor of another conservative president, F.W. de Klerk, who had supported apartheid throughout his political career.

When Did Apartheid End?

Though a conservative, De Klerk underwent a conversion to a more pragmatic political philosophy, and his government subsequently repealed the Population Registration Act, as well as most of the other legislation that formed the legal basis for apartheid. De Klerk freed Nelson Mandela on February 11, 1990.

A new constitution, which enfranchised Black citizens and other racial groups, took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system.

Sources

The End of Apartheid. Archive: U.S. Department of State.
A History of Apartheid in South Africa. South African History Online.
South Africa: Twenty-Five Years Since Apartheid. The Ohio State University: Stanton Foundation.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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Apartheid: Definition & South Africa | HISTORY

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Apartheid, the legal and cultural segregation of the non-white citizens of South Africa, ended in 1994 thanks to activist Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk.

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Apartheid: The rise and fall of South Africa's 'apartness' laws

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History Extra

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What is apartheid? And what does apartheid mean?

An Afrikaans word for 'separation' - literally, 'separateness' - apartheid was used to describe the discriminatory political and economic system of racial segregation which the white minority imposed on non-whites. It was implemented by the governing party, the National Party of South Africa, from 1948 until 1994.

When did apartheid start?

Segregation according to race wasn't new to South Africa, as racial legislation in the country can be seen as early as 1806. But it was greatly extended with the Population Registration Act of 1950, which divided South Africans into four categories: Bantu (black South Africans), Coloured (those of mixed race), White and Asian (Indian and Pakistani South Africans). The Act was designed to preserve white supremacy in the country.

What was living under apartheid like?

The effects of apartheid touched every aspect of daily life. By 1950, marriage and sexual relations between white and non-white South Africans were banned, while a series of Land Acts meant more than 80 per cent of the country's land was set aside for the white minority. Black men and women were forced to live in ten so-called 'black homelands', where they were permitted to run businesses. To live and work in designated 'white areas', they required permits. Hospitals, ambulances, buses and public facilities were all segregated, and non-white participation in government was denied.

The impact on South Africa's non-white population was horrific. Families were often split by the laws (if parents were black and white, their children were classed as 'coloured') and, between 1961 and 1994, 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes. Their land was sold for a fraction of its price, plunging non-whites into severe poverty and despair.

White children in South Africa paddling in a pond marked by a sign reading 'For European Children Only', c1956. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

What happened to those who broke the laws of apartheid?

South Africans caught disobeying apartheid could be imprisoned, fined or whipped, while those suspected of being in a racially mixed relationship were hunted down under the Immorality Acts of 1927 and 1950. Most 'guilty' couples were sent to prison. If a black man or woman was found without their 'dompas' - a passport containing fingerprints, photograph, personal details of employment and permission from the government to be in a particular part of the country - they could be imprisoned as well. More than 250,000 black South Africans were arrested each year under these Pass Laws.

Who fought apartheid?

In 1952, the first significant, non-violent political campaign took place - the Defiance Campaign. For four months, more than 8,000 volunteers deliberately flouted the laws of apartheid by refusing to carry passes, violating curfews and using public places and facilities designated for white-use only. The campaign, run by the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Indian Congress, generated a mass upsurge for freedom within South Africa itself, and attracted the attention of the United Nations.

Other episodes of resistance took place throughout the period, including demonstrations, protests, strikes, political action and eventually armed resistance. In 1960, one act of protest saw at least 69 unarmed black people killed and 180 wounded when the police opened fire at a protest in the poor black township of Sharpesville.

Defiance Campaign volunteers gather in Johannesburg as part of a civil disobedience campaign to protest the apartheid regime, 12 August 1952. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

What was Nelson Mandela's role in resistance to apartheid?

Nelson Mandela - President of the ANC Youth League - was Volunteer-in-Chief of the 1952 Defiance Campaign. He went on to play a leading role in generating large-scale resistance to apartheid and, in 1961, introduced a controversial, armed wing of the ANC - 'Umkhonto we Sizwe' (Spear of the Nation).

Mandela's involvement in both peaceful and armed resistance led to a 27-year prison sentence where he was subjected to appalling and inhumane conditions. His story became famous around the world.

When did apartheid end?

In 1973, the UN had denounced apartheid, but things came to a head in 1976, when police opened fire with tear gas and bullets against school children in Soweto. The violence caused outrage and a UN embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa was introduced, followed, in 1985, by economic sanctions by the UK and US.

Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, raise fists upon Mandela's release from Victor-Verster Prison in Paarl after 27 years, 11 February 1990. (Photo by Alexander Joe/AFP via Getty Images)

With mounting international pressure, some apartheid laws were revoked. In 1990, the world watched as Nelson Mandela was released from prison, whereupon he continued to campaign. Four years later, on 26 April 1994, more than 22 million South Africans took part in the first multiracial parliamentary elections, voting in the ANC with Nelson Mandela sworn in as the country's first black president.
This article was first published in the November 2015 issue of BBC History Revealed

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An Afrikaans word for 'separation' - literally, 'separateness' - apartheid was used to describe the discriminatory political and economic system of racial segregation which the white minority imposed on non-whites. It was implemented by the governing party, the National Party of South Africa, from 1948 until 1994.

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Gulf News

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1948 - Policy of apartheid (segregation on a racial basis) implemented when National Party (NP) comes to power.

1949- Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act passed.

1950 - The Population Registration Act demands all South Africans be registered according to their racial group: White, Black or Coloured. (According to this act, Indians fell under the Coloured category). Group Areas Act passed to residentially segregate blacks and whites. Communist Party banned. African National Congress (ANC) protests with campaign of civil disobedience, led by Nelson Mandela.

1960 - Sharpeville massacre: Police shooting at peaceful demonstrators, against laws for Africans, in Sharpeville: 69 men, women and children were killed and about 200 wounded. ANC is banned.

1961 - South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth and proclaims itself a Republic.

1963- Mandela leads ANC's new military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, which launches sabotage campaign against government.

1960s - International pressure against government intensifies. United Nations (UN) calls on nations to stop sale and shipment of arms and equipment until apartheid is abolished. South Africa excluded from Olympic Games.

1964 - Rivonia trial- Mandela and other ANC members sentenced to life imprisonment.

1966 - Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd assassinated.

1970s - Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act (1970) passed. More than 3 million people forcibly resettled in black 'homelands'.

1974- South Africa expelled from the UN because of apartheid.

1976 - More than 600 killed in violent clashes between black protesters and security forces during uprising which starts in Soweto. Head of Soweto Student Representative Council (SSRC) and Black consciousness leader Steve Biko killed in police custody.

1978 - P.W. Botha, outspoken apartheid supporter, replaces John Vorster as Prime Minister.

1984-89 - Township uprising (1984-5), state of emergency.

1989 - F.W. de Klerk replaces PW Botha as president, meets Mandela. Public facilities desegregated. Many ANC activists freed.

1990 - ANC ban is lifted. Mandela released after 27 years in prison. Namibia becomes independent.

1991 - Multi party talks begin. De Klerk repeals remaining apartheid laws, international sanctions lifted. Major fighting between ANC and Zulu Inkatha movement.

1992- A referendum on ending apartheid held in South Africa on March 17, 1992. The referendum is limited to white South African voters.

1993 - New interim constitution establishing a democratic system of one person one vote. F.W. de Klerk and his successor, Mandela, win the Nobel Peace Prize for peaceful dialogue, negotiation and their joint effort to bring an end to the policy of racial segregation.

1994 - ANC wins first democratic elections. Mandela becomes president, Government of National Unity formed, Commonwealth membership restored, remaining international sanctions lifted. South Africa returns to UN General Assembly after 20 years.

1996 - Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins hearings on human rights abuses committed during the apartheid era by former government and liberation movements.
Quotes:
Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia trial (April 20, 1964):

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society, in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Nelson Mandela in June 1980:

"Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule."

Steve Biko:

"The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."

"Apartheid- both petty and grand- is obviously evil. Nothing can justify the arrogant assumption that a clique of foreigners has the right to decide on the lives of a majority."

Bishop Desmond Tutu, speech 1985.

"We don't want apartheid liberalised. We want it dismantled. You can't improve something that is intrinsically evil.

F.W. Klerk:

"The question that we must ask is whether we are making progress toward the goal of universal peace. Or are we caught up on the treadmill of history, turning forever on the axle of mindless aggression and self-destruction."
- The writer is an intern at Gulf News

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Compiled by Aishwarya Shukla, Special to Gulf News

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A look at the rise and fall of the racial segregation system in South Africa

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National Geographic Kids

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Discover the remarkable life and work of Nelson Mandela - who helped change the lives of millions of South African people - in our Nelson Mandela facts...
Throughout history, lots of people around the world have faced discrimination - where they are treated differently because of their race, skin colour, gender, age and lots of other things, too.

Sadly, it still happens to this day! But there are some amazing people who have worked hard to make a change for the better, and helped us move towards a world where everyone is treated fairly and equally. One such person is Nelson Mandela ...

Nelson Mandela facts

Who was Nelson Mandela?

Full name: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Born: 18 July 1918
Hometown: Mvezo, South Africa
Occupation: President of South Africa and civil rights activist
Died: 5 December 2013
Best known for: Becoming the first black President of South Africa and a civil rights hero
Also known as: Madiba

Nelson Mandela's early life

Nelson Mandela was born on the 18th July 1918 in the village of Mvezo, which is located in an area of South Africa called Transkei. His father's name was Henry, and his mother was called Nosekeni Fanny.

As a youngster, little Nelson was actually called Rolihlahla - it wasn't until he was seven that a teacher at school gave him the name ' Nelson ', and it stuck!

And check this out... Nelson was born into royalty! His father, Henry, was chief of a tribe in South Africa called the Tembu, and his great grandfather was the tribe's king! But sadly, Nelson was just twelve years old when his father died.

Nelson studied hard at school and later attended the University of Fort Hare, the South African Native College. He then moved to the city of Johannesburg to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand, before qualifying as a lawyer in 1942, aged 24.

Inequality in South Africa

South Africa is home to many different peoples and cultures - so much so that it's been nicknamed the ' rainbow nation'. But, sadly, at the time that Nelson Mandela was growing up, there was a huge racial divide in the country.

White people ran the country, and they generally led privileged lives with good jobs, nice homes and access to good schools and healthcare. Most black people, however, worked in low-paid jobs, and lived in poor communities with poor facilities. They had far fewer rights, too - they weren't even allowed to vote in elections!

Like many others, Nelson Mandela felt that everyone deserved to be treated the same, regardless of their skin colour. So, in 1944, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) - a political group that strived for equal rights for whites and blacks.

In 1948 the South African government introduced a system called ' apartheid', which furthered the country's racial divide even more. Under new racist laws, black people and white people were forced to lead separate lives. They weren't allowed to live in the same areas, share a table in a restaurant, attend the same schools or even sit together on a train or bus!

What did Nelson Mandela do?

Nelson Mandela became an important figure in the ANC, and he helped set up and lead a section for young people called the ANC Youth League. He later travelled the country to gain support for non-violent protests against the National Party's racist laws, too.

This activism made him very unpopular with the authorities, and Nelson was arrested for treason - the crime of betraying your country's government - several times.

While Nelson was under arrest in the late 1950s, the government banned anti-apartheid groups such as the ANC. But that didn't stop Nelson and his fellow activists - in fact, they felt more had to be done to bring about change.

So, even though they preferred using peaceful protests in their struggle for equality, in 1961 Nelson and other ANC leaders formed a secret military group called Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation.

Why did Nelson Mandela go to prison?

Nelson knew he would be in big trouble if the authorities found out about the secret army and their plans, and so he kept a very low profile. He lived in hiding - and even dressed in disguise! But in August 1962, he was arrested on his return from a trip to Algeria in Northern Africa, and sentenced to five years in prison. From there, things only got worse for Nelson...

In 1963, the police raided a farm near the city of Johannesburg and found documents belonging to the secret army, as well as weapons. The result? Nelson and seven other men were charged for plotting to overthrow the government and given life sentences. Nelson would spend the next 27 years behind bars ...

Nelson was first sent to a prison on Robben Island, seven miles off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa's capital city. He was moved to Pretoria Local Prison to appear in court, then returned to the Island prison for nearly ten years. In 1982, Nelson was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, and later in 1988, he moved for a final time to Victor Verster Prison near a town called Paarl.

Throughout his time behind bars, Nelson Mandela didn't give up on what he believed in. He even refused freedom on two occasions, and instead chose to stand by his principles. He used his time to learn new things, including Afrikaans - a language of South Africa spoken mostly by white people - which earned him respect from the guards he spoke to.

When was Nelson Mandela freed from prison?

Over time, Nelson Mandela became a famous prisoner, and there were calls all around the world to ' Free Nelson Mandela! '. For decades, countries around the world had put pressure on South Africa to end apartheid, but now the anti-apartheid movement had more support than ever.

Change for the better finally came in 1989. The president of South Africa, FW de Klerk, met with Nelson Mandela and in 1990 set him free!

In 1991, Nelson became President of the ANC and worked with FW de Klerk to bring an end to apartheid in a harmonious way, and introduce equal rights for everyone. Their work towards making South Africa a more peaceful place won the pair the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Come the 1994 general election, all races in South Africa were allowed to vote. Nelson's hard work finally paid off - the ANC won, and Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black president.

As President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela improved the living standards and facilities of South Africa's black population, who had suffered for decades under apartheid. He also worked hard to make South Africa a country of equality, where people of all race and colour could live together in peace.

In 1999, Nelson Mandela retired as President and his successor was called Mbeki. But whilst he left politics behind, he continued to be an important figure around the world as a symbol of peace and equality. The same year that he retired, he founded the Nelson Mandela Foundation, an organisation that works to this day to promote the principals of equality, freedom and peace.

When did Nelson Mandela die?

From 2004, he lived a quiet life with his wife Graça. Following a lung infection, Nelson Mandela sadly died in December 2013, aged 95 years old.

How is Nelson Mandela remembered?

Nelson Mandela's spirit and values are still very much alive to this day, and he will forever be remembered. He wrote a book called " Long Walk to Freedom", where people can read about the struggles he faced in his battle against discrimination and fight for equality. In 2009, Nelson's birthday, 18 July, was officially named ' Nelson Mandela Day '. Every year on this day, people around the world honour his legacy by helping their communities and making the world a better place.

Discover more inspirational figures who fought for equality by finding out all about Rosa Parks or reading our Martin Luther King facts.

What did you think of our Nelson Mandela facts? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

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Nelson Mandela facts - National Geographic Kids

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Learn all about South Africa's first black president in our Nelson Mandela facts. His life story is extraordinary...

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Apartheid: The rise and fall of South Africa's 'apartness' laws

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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"Votes for Women" pennant (courtesy The Manitoba Museum, H9-38-198).

Early Voting Rights and Disenfranchisement

There were signs of some women being able to vote in the early 19th century in British North America, notably in Lower Canada but also in the Maritimes and Canada West. At least 27 Kanyen'kehà:ka women from Kahnawake, Lower Canada, cast ballots in an 1825 election. Some Catholic, Protestant and Jewish women with property also voted in early Quebec elections. After enslavement was abolished in 1834, Black women and men were not officially excluded as a group from the Canadian franchise.

Women's right to vote was not to last, however. By the mid-19th century, full citizenship was legally limited to white men and most colonies removed women's franchise. TheBritish North America Act of 1867 specified that only "Male British Subject, aged Twenty-one Years or upwards, being a Householder, shall have a Vote." By the end of the century, laws across Canada mandated near-universal, white male citizenship at the federal and provincial level and explicitly excluded female voters.

The necessity of being male to vote reflected the emerging Victorian idea of placing women and men in separate spheres. Women were idealized as guarantors of cultural survival, who had no place in political life. They were expected to remain at home, producing children and preserving culture. As French Canadians increasingly became a minority culture among English-speaking Protestants in British North America, women's suffrage was seen as a particular threat to their national survival.

There was opposition to having independent women who were believed to be a danger to religious, ethnic or national communities. Exclusion from the franchise also remained acceptable to many Canadians because many women as well as men believed that men had greater capacity for reason and that men's potential for military service justified more rights. Opposition would only dissipate as suffragists successfully redefined women as legitimate public subjects and the public sphere as a respectable space for women to exercise authority.

In 1885, House of Commons debates over a new federal franchise act (previously the right to vote was set by provinces) demonstrated the significance of suffrage in shaping the country. The decision to exclude all women, most Indigenous peoples ( see also ) and all Asian persons was meant to preserve white men's citizenship and the right to rule.

Rise of the Suffrage Movement

By the last decades of the 19th century, Canadian women increasingly protested against discrimination in education and paid employment as well as violence against women and children. One remedy was the suffrage campaign, which was led by many first-generation university graduates and female professionals in medicine, teaching and journalism. Suffragists advocated for the extension of suffrage to include women. They also insisted on the value of women's maternal qualities in private and public life.

Clipping from The Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 11 September 1915 (courtesy University of Manitoba Libraries, Digital Collections).

University of Manitoba Libraries, Digital Collections

Early suffragists were typically white, middle-class women, many of whom believed that suffrage would increase the influence of their class and result in a better country. Many of these suffragists were not inclusive, however, and even advocated against non-white women getting the vote. Nonetheless, there were non-white advocates who fought for women's suffrage such as Black abolitionists like Mary Ann Shadd. Shadd edited the Provincial Freeman and advocated for women's rights. Suffrage was also supported by unionists, socialists and temperance activists.

The majority of Canadian suffragists relied on peaceful campaigning. Only a handful identified with the militant suffragettes led by Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) and the Women's Social and Political Union in the United Kingdom.

While they campaigned at every level of government for the vote, suffragists made their first inroads at the local level. Many Canadians believed that women's mothering and domestic qualities were especially useful in managing local affairs. By 1900, suffragists had won municipal voting privileges for property-owning women in many cities, and some women could vote in elections for park, library and school boards.

Mary Ann Shadd, editor of the Provincial Freeman, was a pioneer suffragist and abolitionist, who used her newspaper as a platform to discuss women's rights, including the right to vote. The paper also informed readers of suffrage meetings held in Canada and the United States. However, Shadd was marginalized as a Black woman and as an opponent of American slavery. Her influence was all the more minimal as she returned to the United States in the 1860s.

Emily Howard Stowe, from The Women's Suffrage Movement in Canada (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-9480).

In Ontario, widening public debate about suffrage and women's rights produced the Toronto Women's Literary Club (TWLC). The TWLC was devoted to higher education and intellectual development as well as to the physical welfare and employment conditions of women workers. To the TWLC, extending the vote to women would help to improve women's safety as well as their chances of employment and education. The TWLC was created in 1876-1877 by Emily Howard Stowe, one of Canada's first female doctors. She and her daughter, Augusta Stowe-Gullen, spearheaded Ontario's suffrage campaign for 40 years ( see Women's Suffrage in Ontario). In 1883, the TWLC became the Toronto Women's Suffrage Association, which in 1889 became the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association. From the 1880s on, many Ontario unionists and socialists, including Knights of Labor journalist Thomas Phillips Thompson, also endorsed women's suffrage.

Suffragists were not a homogeneous group; nor did they focus only on suffrage. Campaigns also called for improved public health, equality in employment and education, social assistance and condemnation of violence.

Despite numerous petitions and private members' bills, lawmakers across the country (with a few exceptions) repeatedly voted against the enfranchisement of women. Suffragists had to undertake long years of public education and agitation while facing repeated abuse. In the 1890s, critical support came from Canada's largest women's group, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The Union's leaders believed the franchise would help introduce prohibition and thus reduce violence.

By 1914, women's suffrage was seen as both a progressive and conservative cause. Growing urbanization, industrialization and immigration in the years before the First World War raised fears about how to integrate newcomers and control working-class Canadians. Some suffragists, especially those who were unionists and socialists, took up the cause of women workers, who were for the most part ill-paid and unprotected. Progressive members also championed suffrage early on as an expression of women's right to equality while the respectable and cautious National Council of Women of Canada only endorsed the vote in 1910. Meanwhile, more conservative suffragists viewed the vote as a means of strengthening white middle-class power while oppressing non-white minorities and working-class Canadians.

The First World War interrupted the suffrage campaigns and divided activists. Many concentrated on supporting the war effort, including conscription, in groups such as Women's Patriotic Fund. Socialist and pacifist suffragists preferred to place their hopes on an armistice and international collaboration. Some endorsed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, formed in 1915. A Canadian, Julia Grace Wales, wrote the League's founding document, "Continuous Mediation without Armistice." During the war, Winnipeg suffragist and journalist Francis Marion Beynon left her job and moved to Brooklyn due in part to her opposition to the war. Beynon and Ontario pacifist and suffragist Alice Chown left moving testaments to their views in Aleta Dey (1919) and The Stairway (1921) respectively.

Suffrage in the West

Opposition to feminism seemed strongest in central and eastern Canada, while the western provinces appeared more receptive. The West's greater openness to women's suffrage can be interpreted as strategic: newly colonized regions relied on white settler women to guarantee the displacement of Indigenous peoples. The vote was to attract and reward white newcomers.

Though the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was a powerful advocate for the franchise in the West, the farm movement was at least equally influential. As early as the 1870s, the Manitoba Icelandic community was endorsing women's suffrage.

Gladstone, Manitoba, 1905-1922.

Early Manitoba leaders included Margret Benedictsson, Amelia Yeomans, Francis Marion Beynon, E. Cora Hind and Nellie McClung. A popular author and member of the Canadian Women's Press Club, McClung became the Prairie movement's dominant figure. Her best-seller In Times Like These (1915) combined serious argument with satiric put-down of anti-suffragists. Manitoba's Political Equality League, established in 1912, was a star-studded assembly of articulate and hard-working activists. In 1914, the League held a successful fundraiser with a well-publicized mock parliament, a tactic employed elsewhere as well.

(courtesy PAM/N-10863).

On the stage of Winnipeg's Walker Theatre, women played politicians, with Nellie McClung mocking Conservative Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin, as she debated whether or not to give men the vote. In 1915, suffragist support was critical to the victory of the pro-suffrage Liberal Party in the provincial election. ( See also Women's Suffrage in Manitoba.)

Victories in the West and in Ontario

Western suffragists found powerful supporters in the farm, labour and social gospel movements. Like men of their own class and community, Prairie suffragists never paid much attention to Indigenous women and were generally convinced of the superiority of Anglo-Celtic peoples. ( See also Indigenous Women's Issues.)

On 28 January 1916, Manitoba women became the first in Canada to win both the right to vote and to hold provincial office. Manitoba was followed by Saskatchewan on 14 March and Alberta on 19 April 1916. In these instances, the farm movement supported women's suffrage as the proper course for a democracy. The WCTU's determination to protect the home and to end violence against women and children strengthened the suffrage cause. British suffragette Barbara Wylie visited Saskatchewan in 1912. Her communications, like those by activists from the United States and the rest of Canada, affirmed powerful global ties among suffragists.

In 1914, a number of political equality leagues were created in Saskatchewan as well as the Women's Grain Growers' Association (WGGA). Farm journalist and president of the WGGA Violet McNaughton was Saskatchewan's most powerful feminist for many years. In 1915, the WGGA and the WCTU collaborated to form the Provincial Equal Franchise Board. Their petition campaign ensured the Liberal government's passage of a suffrage bill in 1916.

Alberta showed a similar groundswell of support. The United Farmers of Alberta endorsed suffrage in 1912, and three years later the United Farm Women of Alberta (UFWA) emerged to campaign for suffrage, temperance and improvements in health and education. By then, Nellie McClung had moved to the province and joined suffragists such as journalist Emily Murphy, WCTU leader Louise McKinney and UFWA activist Irene Parlby.

In British Columbia, campaigns drew most heavily on urban activists, notably in Victoria, where suffrage demands were pioneered, and Vancouver, which had assumed centre-stage by the First World War. Once again, the WCTU was influential, but so too were the local councils of women as well as university women's clubs. British Columbia also produced various political equality leagues and welcomed suffrage speakers from the rest of Canada, the UK and the US. British Columbia's socialist and labour movements were critical, with the BC Federation of Labour endorsing suffrage in 1912. As elsewhere in Canada, BC suffragists showed little interest in Indigenous or Asian women, who served more often as an inspiration for charity rather than for sisterly alliance. On 19 March 1913, the Vancouver Sun sold out a special women's edition that, together with massive petitions, demonstrated the breadth of support mobilized against anti-suffrage Conservative governments in Victoria and Ottawa. Suffrage leaders such as Helena Gutteridge, Mary Ellen Smith and Laura Marshall Jamieson displayed the talents that would later make them successful elected politicians. British Columbia was the only jurisdiction in Canada to put women's suffrage to a referendum of male voters, during the provincial election of 1916. Bolstered by the favorable results (43,619 to 18,604 ballots), the new Liberal government approved women's suffrage on 5 April 1917. ( See also Women's Suffrage in the West timeline.)

A week later, on 12 April 1917, Ontario suffragists caught up with the West. It was the first conservative government to pass women's suffrage. Ontario produced the only suffrage organizations claiming a nation-wide mandate - the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association and Canadian Women's Suffrage Association - but their campaigns were largely restricted to the province. Although the WCTU was the strongest provincial group in support of women's suffrage, Ontario also produced charismatic non-conformists such as social reformer, writer and spiritualist Flora MacDonald Denison. Denison admired British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and was a Canadian representative in giant protests in the UK and the US. ( See also Women's Suffrage in Ontario.)

Achieving the Vote in Federal Elections

During the First World War, pressure mounted on federal politicians in the Conservative - later the Union Government (1917) - of Sir Robert Borden. The government wished both to acknowledge women's contribution to the war effort and to appeal to future female voters by extending the franchise; it also wanted to firm up support for conscription. The government also feared that voters, especially men, who were born in countries with which Canada was at war would oppose conscription. In the controversial Military Voters Act andWartime Elections Act of 1917, the federal vote was extended to nursing sisters (women serving in the Canadian Army Medical Corps) and to close female relatives of military men. At the same time, the Wartime Elections Act disenfranchised thousands of immigrants from enemy countries who had become citizens after 1902 as well as all conscientious objectors (those who refused to go to war because it was against their religious, moral or ethical beliefs). The Act divided Canadian suffragists, many of whom opposed partial enfranchisement and disenfranchisement.

Nova Scotia-born, Borden entered the provincial parliament in 1896, took command of the federal Conservative party in 1901, and was Canadian Prime Minister, 1911-1920.en.

(courtesy William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada / PA-028129)

Once conscription was secured, the government began to argue that women had earned the right to vote through their war work. On 24 May 1918, female citizens, not included under racial or Indigenous exclusions, aged 21 and over became eligible to vote in federal elections regardless of whether they had yet attained the provincial franchise. In July 1919, enfranchised women gained the right to stand for the House of Commons, although appointment to the Senate remained out of reach until after the Persons Case of 1929. The Dominion Elections Act of 1920 continued to exclude voting rights on the basis of race in the provinces (this meant Japanese, Chinese and South Asians in BC and the Chinese in Saskatchewan). Similarly, Inuit and most First Nations were excluded from voting.

Atlantic Provinces

In Nova Scotia, women had been formally excluded from the provincial vote in 1851. In the 1890s, Nova Scotian women launched a campaign for the franchise. The suffrage movement was strongest in Halifax, where women championed progressive causes. Many activists were associated with the Local Council of Women and the WCTU. These included scholar and philanthropist Eliza Ritchie and Anna Leonowens, author of The English Governess at the Siamese Court (the inspiration for the play and film, The King and I). On 26 April 1918, women in Nova Scotia won the right to vote.

Eliza Ritchie, Massachusetts, United States of America, Partridge Studio, 1856-1933.

Partridge Studio . Library and Archives Canada, e008295886

The WCTU was also critical from the 1880s onward in New Brunswick, where a bill to enfranchise single, property-owning women failed in 1870. Sixteen years later, that same small group won the municipal franchise. New Brunswick's only group devoted to the vote was the Women's Enfranchisement Association of New Brunswick, which was formed in 1894 in Saint John. Not until 17 April 1919 was New Brunswick's 1843 prohibition of female voters finally revoked.

Prince Edward Island, which produced no popular agitation for women's suffrage, revoked its 1836 formal exclusion of women on 3 May 1922.

The suffrage movement in Newfoundland, a Crown colony separate from Canada, was active from about the 1890s. In 1892, a suffrage bill supported by the local branch of the WCTU was defeated. Many Newfoundland suffragists were directly inspired by British campaigns, and in 1920, the WCTU and The Women's Patriotic Association inspired the Women's Franchise League, which fought hard to win women the vote. That right was eventually obtained on 3 April 1925. In Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland, the right to stand for provincial office accompanied voting rights, but New Brunswick resisted that extension until 9 March 1934. ( See also Women's Suffrage in Atlantic Canada timeline.)

Quebec

In Quebec, suffrage supporters came from both the French and the English-speaking communities, but the former was hobbled by the opposition of the Catholic Church and by nationalist fears. Montreal's Local Council of Women included many strong suffragists, including McGill University's Carrie Derick and Octavia Grace Ritchie England. Québécoise suffragists were led by McGill professor Idola Saint-Jean in the Canadian Alliance for Women's Vote in Quebec and Thérèse Casgrain in the League for Women's Rights. Their campaigns, in concert with some support from federal Liberal politicians, progressive provincial counterparts, as well as from the CCF (whose Agnes Macphail was a stalwart ally of Quebec suffragists), helped bring success on 25 April 1940.

Black Women

Enslaved Black men and women were unable to vote. After the abolition of enslavement in 1834, land-owning Black people were granted the right to vote. However, like other women, Black women were disenfranchised in subsequent decades across British North America on the basis of their gender. Unlike Asian and Indigenous women, Black women's right to vote was not officially restricted on the basis of race and ethnicity.

Black women like Mary Ann Shadd advocated for women's suffrage. Over time, Black women regained the right to vote as gender-based voting restrictions were repealed at the federal and provincial levels. ( See Black Voting Rights.)

Asian Women

Asian residents were explicitly excluded from the vote under the 1885 federal franchise legislation. The 1920 Dominion Elections Act did not exclude Canadians of Asian heritage explicitly, but the Act stated that persons disenfranchised "for reasons of race" by provinces would not get the federal franchise. Since Chinese, Japanese and South Asians were excluded from the vote in British Columbia, as were the Chinese in Saskatchewan, members of those communities could not vote at the federal level in those provinces. Despite continuing protests, Asian women and men waited until 1948 to receive the vote, the year of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Canada helped to draft and then adopted.

Indigenous Women

Indigenous women were largely invisible in the suffrage campaigns. The vast majority of Canadian suffragists were of European origin. While some were sympathetic to Indigenous women, none campaigned to include First Nations or Inuit in legislation and most accepted the commonplace assumption that Status Indians were a "dying race." Kanyen'kehà:ka-English writer and performer, Pauline Johnson, challenged that designation.

Pauline Johnson is best known for her poetry celebrating her Indigenous heritage.

(courtesy of Library and Archives Canada/National Film Board fonds/e011177518)

Indigenous women worked locally to improve conditions for their communities. As non-voters, they lobbied band councils, much as suffragists elsewhere pressured other levels of government. The 1934 Dominion Franchise Act explicitly denied the franchise to Status Indians on reserves and to Inuit in the north. Until 1951, the also barred many Indigenous women from voting for or holding office in their bands. Inuit received the vote in 1950; however, their names were rarely added to official lists of people entitled to vote, and ballot boxes were not brought to Inuit communities in the Arctic until 1962. Ottawa finally extended the right to vote to all Indigenous people, women and men, in 1960. Both sexes continued, however, to question the value of a right to vote in a nation dominated by settler communities that resisted equality. (S ee also Indigenous Women and the Franchise; Indigenous Women's Issues; Indigenous Suffrage.)

Women in Politics

Once women won the vote, they encountered considerable resistance in entering politics. In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman to win a seat in the House of Commons, representing the United Farmers of Ontario. The second, Martha Black, replaced her ailing husband in 1935 as Conservative MP for Yukon. The third, Saskatchewan's Dorise Nielsen (associated with the CCF and then the Communist Party of Canada), arrived in Ottawa in 1940 but found little support. The first Indigenous female Member of Parliament was the Liberal Ethel Blondin Andrews for Western Arctic, Northwest Territories, in 1988.

In 1917, Alberta's Louise McKinney of the Nonpartisan League was the first woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada and the British Empire (followed closely by Roberta MacAdams, elected by soldiers and military nurses). Numbers grew slowly. In 1941, British Columbia had five female MLAs, the largest number in any legislature until the 1970s. In 1957, Conservative MP Ellen Fairclough became the first woman appointed to a federal Cabinet. In 1996, British Columbia elected the first Chinese Canadian women to its legislature: Liberal Ida Chong and NDPer Jenny Kwan.

Campbell served as Justice Minister in the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, before becoming Canada's first female prime minister.

(courtesy of Prime Minister's Office)

Real advances in numbers, which depended on the resurgence of feminism, awaited the end of the 20th century. Feminist Kim Campbell became prime minister of a short-lived Conservative government in 1993. The 2019 general the House of Commons - 29 per cent of MPs elected. To much approval, the Liberal government announced an unprecedented Cabinet with 50 per cent female ministers.

The first female senator, Liberal Cairine Wilson, was appointed in 1930 and by 2016 there were 33 women senators. The first female premier of a province or territory was Rita Johnson (Social Credit) of British Columbia in 1991.

Significance and Legacy

The other test of suffrage rests with legislative outcomes. While modern polling often suggests that female voters disproportionately favour more liberal causes, little attention has been paid to post-suffrage results. It is clear, however, that the suffrage movement everywhere endorsed improvements in education, healthcare and social services that would better lives for women and children. The introduction of provincial mothers' allowances or pensions beginning in the First World War would not have occurred without feminist pressure and politicians' fears of new voters. It is also no coincidence that Canada's general, if imperfect, experiments with social security in the 20th century coincided with some 50 per cent increase in the electorate. As democracy became nearly universal, governments were forced as never before to begin to address issues of equity and justice. Women's suffrage was essential to that advance.

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"Votes for Women" pennant (courtesy The Manitoba Museum, H9-38-198). There were signs of some women being able to vote in the early 19th century in British North America, notably in Lower Canada but also in the Maritimes and Canada West. At least 27 Kanyen'kehà:ka women from Kahnawake, Lower Canada, cast ballots in an 1825 election.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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Women and the Law | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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History, politics, arts, science & more: the Canadian Encyclopedia is your reference on Canada. Articles, timelines & resources for teachers, students & public.

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Canadian Women's Foundation

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Get The Facts

What is gender equality?

UN Women explains it as "equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities" for all genders. It doesn't mean that everyone should be the same. It means peoples' rights, responsibilities, and opportunities shouldn't depend on their gender. It implies that the interests and needs of everybody, in all their diversities, are important. It's not a "women's issue." It's everyone's issue, and it makes life better for all of us.

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The Facts: Gender Equality and Gender Justice Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, 2021 Statistics Canada, 2019 RBC Economics, 2021 Statistics Canada, 2019 McKinsey & Company, 2017 Benchmarks gender-based gaps in economic participation/opportunity, educational attainment, health, and survival, and

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Canadian Women

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By Matthew McRae
Published: March 4, 2019

Through the courageous efforts of many Canadian women, human rights have advanced significantly, both in our country and beyond our borders. Their bravery and passion to make a difference has helped make Canada what it is today, and their stories highlight the challenges women continue to face in the pursuit for gender equality. We present to you five of these women, whose stories should be known by all Canadians.

With a determination to spread awareness and build support for the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, Jaime Black created The REDress Project. Hundreds of red dresses were collected through community donations and installed in public spaces across Canada as a visual reminder of the many women and girls who have died or disappeared. Several of these dresses can be viewed at the Museum, and it is one our most talked‐about exhibits. The REDress Project is sparking countless conversations about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. These are conversations that Canadians need to have - and Jaime Black's artwork is helping move the dialogue forward.

Imagine being imprisoned and tortured for speaking out against your government - at just 16 years old. For Marina Nemat, there was no need to imagine. In 1979, she was arrested by the Iranian government for attending protests and writing articles about the new government's oppressive policies. She spent more than two years in Evin prison, where she was tortured and very nearly executed. In 1991, Nemat emigrated to Canada and eventually decided to speak out about her experience. She has written two books and now regularly speaks at high schools, universities and conferences around the world about our right - what she sees as our duty, in fact - to speak out against injustice. In 2007, Nemat was awarded the first Human Dignity Prize, given annually by the European Parliament and the cultural association Europa 2004 to celebrate those working toward a world free of intolerance and social injustice.

When people think of segregation - the enforced separation of racial groups - they usually think of the United States and the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King. But segregation happened in Canada too, and Viola Desmond - a Black Nova Scotian beautician - was one of the first people to challenge it. In 1946, Desmond was already a business leader in her community. That year, she refused to leave a whites‐only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia and was arrested as a result. She appealed the arrest and lost her case, but her courageous stand continues to inspire. Desmond is fast becoming more well‐known by Canadians. In 2010, then‐Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Mayann Francis posthumously pardoned her, removing her conviction from the historical record. In 2018, she became the first Canadian woman to appear on a regular Canadian bank note.

A Francophone Acadian nurse who grew up in the tiny New Brunswick village of Pré‑d'en-Haut, Huberte Gautreau has travelled the world fighting for the rights of women and communities. Gautreau has fought for health and human rights in many countries including the United States, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Peru. Her efforts have focused on vital issues like sanitation, clean water, education and women's equality. Here in Canada, Gautreau has also been very active. Among other achievements, she helped establish a shelter for battered women and counselled people about sexual and gender harassment in her home province of New Brunswick. Today, she continues to work for the rights of women and others.

Today, women across Canada have the right to vote in all elections. But that right wasn't just given to women - it had to be won. Nellie McClung was instrumental in making Manitoba the first Canadian province to give some women the vote in 1916 - over a hundred years ago. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. McClung never stopped advocating for the rights of Canadians and worked all her life as an activist, author and politician. McClung was one of the "Famous Five" - a group of women who convinced the courts to finally recognize women as persons under the law in 1929.

Nellie McClung also took positions that violated people's rights. She promoted the pseudoscience of eugenics, which called for racist and ableist control over sexual reproduction. McClung was an influential supporter of Alberta's Sexual Sterilization Act, which led to the involuntary sterilization of thousands of people considered "mentally deficient" until the law was repealed in 1972.

All Canadians should know the names of these five women. If we work their achievements into our conversations with friends and family, we can ensure that their stories will not be forgotten and will inspire others to take action in the quest for gender equality. There are a multitude of other amazing women in Canada and from around the world who are working passionately for human rights. Which ones inspire you?

Ask yourself:

Which woman would I add to a list of human rights defenders?

Which woman inspires me to take a stand for equality? Why?

What are some of the challenges women still face today?

Dive deeper

One woman's resistance

Viola Desmond helped inspire Canada's civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat in a movie theatre. Now, she is on the $10 bill.

Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir

Author: Marina Nemat
This heartbreaking but triumphant book is an account of one woman's courage in the face of terror and her quest for freedom.

Shop with confidence and conscience at the Boutique.

Suggested citation : Matthew McRae. "Five women all Canadians should know." Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Published March 4, 2019. https://humanrights.ca/story/five-women-all-canadians-should-know

Ododo Wa: Stories of Girls in War

Voices of women and girls in war

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Five women all Canadians should know | CMHR

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The year 2016 marks a century since women in Canada first got the right to vote and so it seems like a fine time to celebrate the achievements of Canadian women.

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CBC News

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Canada slipped four spots this year on a global index that ranks countries based on women's equality and well-being.

The 2019 Women, Peace and Security Index placed Canada in the 11th spot, below the Netherlands and Sweden. Canada placed seventh on the list in 2018.

The ranking system is put together by Georgetown University's Institute for Women, Peace and Security, in partnership with the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, and weighs variables such as access to bank accounts, jobs and security.

Researchers found Norway and Switzerland are the best countries to be a woman, and Yemen and Afghanistan are the worst.

However, their findings also show that the state of women's rights is not "all doom and gloom" around the world.

While life for women has deteriorated in Yemen and other war-torn nations, it has improved in some 60 countries.

The researchers looked at 167 countries since 2017, when the first Women, Peace and Security Index was compiled.

Financial gains, political representation

Rounding out the top of the list were Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Austria, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Sweden and the Netherlands, which tied for ninth place.

At the bottom were Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Iraq, Congo, Central African Republic, Mali and Libya.

"There are important areas of progress," said Jeni Klugman, managing director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and lead author of the index.

Gains were strongest in women's access to financial accounts, either mobile or at conventional banks, in fewer discriminatory laws and through increasing legislative representation.

"A national election can bring about big changes, both positive and negative," Klugman said.

"We have a number of countries which boosted the share of women in their national legislatures. We also had several countries which went the other way," she added.

Iceland lost its top spot from 2017 after elections reduced the number of women in parliament.

The United States inched up to No. 19 from No. 22 two years ago, in part due to 2018 elections when a record number of women were elected to Congress. But Klugman said the U.S. continues to lag in the area of domestic violence.

The research is intended to inform and inspire action, Klugman said, noting that the factors it weighed are integral to the global development goals that the United Nations adopted unanimously in 2015.

"It's not like it's something we invented out of thin air. It's something which is grounded in those long, hard-negotiated agreements, so we're holding them to account for that," Klugman said.

The UN adopted 17 goals, including gender equality and an end to hunger, poverty and other ills, to be achieved by 2030.

The new research found deterioration in women's lives was often linked to security, which worsened in almost 50 countries.

As for legal reforms, Moldova moved up 22 places, owing to changes in its sexual assault laws.

Saudi Arabia persisted in having the most extensive legal discrimination against women, followed by Yemen, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Syria.

The report said legal discrimination means about 2.7 billion women globally are restricted from working in the same jobs as men.

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Canada slips 4 places on world index measuring women's equality | CBC News

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Canada slipped four spots this year on a global index that ranks countries based on women's equality and well-being. The 2019 Women, Peace and Security Index placed Canada in the 11th spot, below the Netherlands and Sweden. Canada placed seventh on the list in 2018.

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YouTube

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Voting Rights in Canada: A Select Timeline

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YouTube

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How 5 Women Changed Canada Forever Over a Cup of Tea

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The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Forestry is the science and practice of caring for forests. Both the meaning and practice of forestry in Canada have evolved over time. In the first half of the 20th century, forestry referred almost exclusively to the management of wooded tracts of land for industrial use. Following the Second World War, managing woodlands on a sustainable basis increased in importance, and by the 1960s, the extent to which forestry incorporated ecological considerations was unprecedented. By the turn of the 21st century, forestry activities had expanded further still, including caring for trees in urban settings. ( See also Timber Trade History; Forest Harvesting; Lumber and Wood Industries; Pulp and Paper Industry; Reforestation.)

Background

About 38 per cent of Canada's land area is forested, or about 3.4 million out of 9.1 million km ². Slightly more than half of this area is classified as commercial forest capable of producing merchantable trees in a reasonable length of time, and has not been reserved for other uses such as parks.

Most Canadian forest land is owned and administered by either the provincial or federal government and is thus referred to as Crown forest. The British North America Act of 1867 assigned jurisdiction for forests to the provincial governments regardless of when each joined Confederation. There were a few exceptions to this rule, however. Until 1930, the federal government retained authority over the forests of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and the 64 km-wide railway belt along the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia. Today, provincial and territorial governments are responsible for about 90 per cent of the non-reserved commercial forest land, the federal government controls roughly 2 per cent (this includes First Nations reserves, military bases and national parks), and private owners oversee the remaining 8 per cent. In some instances, provincial governments - and sometimes the federal government - have supported forestry on private lands through a variety of instruments including tax incentives and regulatory policies. Finally, nearly every province and territory has a forestry agency, usually a branch or service located within a ministry charged with responsibility for natural resources.

The fact that governments have had jurisdiction over nearly all the commercial timberlands in Canada has had a profound influence on the manner in which forestry has been practised. From the outset, foresters called for the woods to be managed prudently. This approach entailed both improving the efficiency with which trees were harvested and investing in regenerating them to ensure that the forest's productivity would be sustained forever. A problem arose, however, due to a marked lack of political will to support the latter activity. In the eyes of elected officials, whose terms lasted a mere four years, there was little point in spending precious public resources on reforestation when the returns on investment would not be seen until decades after they had left office. In this regard, the politicians were simply reflecting the wishes of most Canadians, who, for the longest time, did not insist that their governments be good stewards of their woodlands.

History

Forestry's Pioneering Years: ca. 1900-40

The forestry profession was born and developed in Europe during the first part of the 19th century. It owed its genesis to a widespread realization that short-sighted harvesting practices had deforested major parts of the continent and created a string of environmental issues. This realization, combined with an acute awareness of Europe's relatively small land base, fostered strong public and political support for forestry principles, which were embraced in an effort to rectify the situation. In this context, forestry ranked alongside other professions - such as medicine and dentistry - in terms of social stature.

When forestry arrived in Canada around the turn of the 20th century, it was transplanted into a very different social setting than the one in Europe. By this time, Canadians had come to value certain professions, such as engineering, for their relatively immediate and practical contributions to society. Engineers enjoyed a privileged status, and efforts were made to train more in the field.

The situation was the opposite for forestry. There had been calls for the woodlands in Canada to be managed in a more effective manner, but there was hardly widespread political or public support for full-fledged forest management. People struggled with the concept of spending money in the present in order to realize long-term gains. This meant that the handful of foresters who began practising their profession in Canada in the early 1900s lacked the social legitimacy that their brethren in Europe enjoyed. This disparity lingered for decades.

Despite these challenges, Canadian forestry had its beginnings in the early 20th century. Canada's first forestry school was established at the University of Toronto in 1907. Over the next few years, the second was created at the University of New Brunswick and the third at Laval University in Québec City (the forestry school at the University of British Columbia would open its doors in 1921). By this time, the country's proponents of forestry had formed the Canadian Forestry Association (est. 1900) to publicize the need for forest conservation and the Canadian Institute of Forestry (est. 1908) to give forest practitioners a forum for discussing the issues they faced.

From roughly 1900 to 1940, the number of foresters grew dramatically in Canada, but they were able to make relatively little headway in terms of improving how the country's woodlands were managed. The forest industry had long been a mainstay in the Canadian economy; during this period it was concentrated in the Maritimes, Ontario, Québec and British Columbia. It consisted of lumber makers (they turned relatively large-diameter trees into building materials) and pulp and paper producers (they transformed generally small-diameter trees into things such as newsprint and book paper), located across the country. They leased their woodlands from provincial governments. Although a few of them showed interest in investing in implementing forestry programs on their woodlands, they often argued that they were reluctant to do so because of the tenuous nature of their control over their timber supplies. Similarly, provincial governments showed little inclination to compel the firms to practise sound forestry.

This period did, however, see forestry expand its realm of operations. This included undertaking forest research, led by Ottawa through its Dominion Forest Service (established at the turn of the century). It and other branches of government investigated a wide gamut of subjects, including the insects and diseases that were attacking Canada's trees and the means by which they could be combatted.

Forestry's Golden Era: 1940-70

In the middle of the 20th century, Canada's forest industries enjoyed an unprecedented boom - a time period often referred to as the golden era. The world's appetite for wood products - everything from construction lumber to toilet paper - exploded. Existing facilities expanded, and new ones were established in places with little industrial forestry, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan. In addition, the country began producing new products (e.g., oriented strand board). This success did not, however, translate into meaningful support for regenerating the commercial woodlands.

This extraordinary growth increased the demand for foresters to oversee the harvesting and procurement of wood needed to supply mills and plants. The ranks of foresters expanded, and enrolment at the country's existing forestry schools rose to meet this demand. In addition, two new forestry schools were established in the early 1970s, one at Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and the other in Edmonton, at the University of Alberta.

Technological advances occurred in nearly every aspect of foresters' work. While aircraft had been introduced to forestry during the 1920s, specifically for spotting and fighting forest fires and carrying out forest inventories, the development of ever more sophisticated aerial photography equipment during and after the Second World War greatly improved the information foresters gained about the trees they were managing. Specialized planes were also developed for fighting forest fires, a field in which Canada became a world leader. Furthermore, foresters increasingly adapted computers to their work, allowing them to analyze larger sets of data concerning things such as the rate at which forests grow. Steps were also taken, principally by the federal government, to improve the research that was being conducted into the nature of the country's trees. This included establishing several new facilities across Canada's different forest regions.

Forestry also branched out into new activities during these years. Trees had long been part of urban landscapes, but during the 1960s, caring for them emerged as a sub-field of the profession. This was due largely to the devastating toll Dutch elm disease was taking in the early 1960s on the stately trees that dominated the largest cities in southern Ontario. Erik Jorgensen, a forest pathology professor at the University of Toronto's faculty of forestry, spearheaded an effort to combat the menace. Largely due to Jorgensen's efforts, by the end of the decade the world's foresters had come to recognize urban forestry as a bona fide specialization.

The country's foresters also faced new challenges in their work. Canadians enjoyed more disposable income and leisure time after the Second World War and began demanding that larger portions of the forest be set aside for recreational pursuits. Closely related to this movement was the rise of an environmental consciousness among Canadians. Its more radical exponents unleashed a barrage of criticism against industrial forestry, specifically because of its focus on extraction instead of stewardship. It was ironic timing: at the same moment that Canadians were beginning to support foresters in their long-sought-after environmental initiatives, forestry was also becoming one of the most stigmatized professions in the country.

Forestry Under Siege: 1970-Present

Since the dawn of the environmental movement in the 1960s, the forestry profession has endeavoured to defend itself against attacks from environmentalists. These efforts, however, have met with mixed success. Since at least the 1970s, forestry practices in Canada have improved dramatically; many provinces oblige those who harvest timber on Crown lands to adhere to some of the most rigid environmental standards in the world. Nevertheless, the criticism of logging that began in the 1960s intensified over the next few decades. For example, the protest against harvesting in the Clayoquot Sound watershed on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the early 1990s is said to have been the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Although the frequency of such campaigns has diminished in the 21st century, they continue. Moreover, in the new millennium, Canada's forest industry suffered from a new set of challenges that resulted in a long list of mill closures and lost jobs. Predictably, forestry's allure as a profession has declined, as has the number of foresters in Canada.

Insects also pose a challenge to forestry. Introduced insects, such the emerald ash borer from Asia, have decimated a number of ash species in Canada in the 21st century, particularly in urban environments. Likewise, some native "pests", such as the mountain pine beetle, have thrived under the conditions resulting from climate change and human suppression of fire in the forest.

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Forestry is the science and practice of caring for forests. Both the meaning and practice of forestry in Canada have evolved over time. In the first half of the 20th century, forestry referred almost exclusively to the management of wooded tracts of land for industrial use.

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Live Science

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(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. Deforestation can include clearing the land for farming or livestock, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.

Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). These forested areas produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), and are home to an estimated 80% of Earth's terrestrial species. Forests also are a source of food, medicine and fuel for more than a billion people. Worldwide, forests provide 13.4 million people with jobs in the forest sector, and another 41 million people have jobs related to forests.

Forests are an important natural resource, but humans have destroyed substantial quantities of forested land. In North America, about half the forests in the eastern part of the continent were cut down for timber and farming between the 1600s and late 1800s, according to National Geographic.

Today, most deforestation is happening in the tropics. Areas that were inaccessible in the past are now within reach as people build new roads through the dense forests. The world has lost about 10% of its tropical tree cover since 2000, and nearly 47,000 square miles (121,000 square kilometers) were destroyed in 2019 alone, The New York Times reported in 2020.

The World Bank estimates that about 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km) of forest have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century. In the past 25 years, forests shrank by 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) - an area bigger than the size of South Africa.

Why do people destroy forests?

Often, deforestation occurs when people cut or clear forested area to make way for agriculture or grazing. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that just four commodities are mostly responsible for the vast majority of tropical deforestation: beef, soy, palm oil and wood products. UCS estimates that an area the size of Switzerland (14,800 square miles, or 38,300 square km) is lost to deforestation every year.

People often light fires to clear land for agricultural use. First, workers harvest valuable timber, then burn the remaining vegetation to make way for crops like soy, or for cattle grazing. In 2019, the number of human-lit fires in Brazil skyrocketed. As of August 2019, more than 80,000 fires burned in the Amazon, an increase of almost 80% from 2018, National Geographic reported.

Many forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is the most commonly produced vegetable oil and is found in half of all supermarket products. Growing the trees that produce the oil requires the leveling of native forest and the destruction of local peatlands - which doubles the harmful effect on the ecosystem., The global palm oil market was valued at $36.71 billion in 2019 and has been "witnessing unprecedented growth," according to a 2020 report published by Business Wire.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

What are the consequences of deforestation?

Forests can be found from the tropics to high-latitude areas and contain a wide array of trees, plants, animals, fungi and microbes, according to WWF. Some places are especially diverse - the tropical forests of New Guinea, for example, contain more than 6% of the world's species of plants and animals.

When forests are destroyed, complex ecosystems are disrupted or perish. Human communities that depend on forests also suffer the consequences of widespread deforestation. In countries like Uganda, people rely on trees for firewood, timber and charcoal. From 2000 to 2020, , Uganda lost more than 3,500 square miles (9,200 square kilometers) of its forest cover, Global Forest Watch reported. Families send children - primarily girls - to collect firewood, and kids have to trek farther and farther to get to the trees, Ugandan entrepreneur Sanga Moses told the website Good Black News (GBN) Collecting enough wood often takes all day, so the children miss school, GBN reported.

According to the United Nation's 2020 State of the World's Forests report, three-quarters of Earth's freshwater comes from forested watersheds, and the loss of trees can worsen water quality. The report also found that over half the global population relies on forested watersheds for their drinking water as well as water used for agriculture and industry.

Deforestation in tropical regions can also affect the way water vapor forms over the canopy, which can reduce rainfall. A 2019 study published in the journal Ecohydrology showed that parts of the Amazon rainforest that were converted to agricultural land had higher soil and air temperatures, which can exacerbate drought conditions. In comparison, forested land had rates of evapotranspiration that were about three times higher, adding more water vapor to the air.

Trees also absorb carbon dioxide, mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases produced by human activity. As climate change continues, trees play an important role in carbon sequestration, or the capture and storage of excess carbon dioxide. Tropical trees alone are estimated to provide about 23% of the climate mitigation that's needed to offset climate change, according to the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit global research institute.

Deforestation not only eliminates vegetation that is important for removing carbon dioxide from the air, but the act of clearing the forests also produces greenhouse gas emissions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that deforestation is the second-leading cause of climate change. (The first is the burning of fossil fuels.) In fact, deforestation accounts for nearly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Are there solutions to deforestation?

Developing alternatives to deforestation can help decrease the need for tree clearing. For example, the desire to expand the amount of land used for agriculture is a compelling economic reason to deforest an area. But if people adopted sustainable farming practices or employed new farming technologies and crops, the need for more land might be diminished, according to the UN's Sustainable Forest Management Toolbox.

Forests can also be restored, through replanting trees in cleared areas or simply allowing the forest ecosystem to regenerate over time. The goal of restoration is to return the forest to its original state, before it was cleared, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The sooner a cleared area is reforested, the quicker the ecosystem can start to repair itself. Afterward, wildlife will return, water systems will reestablish, carbon will be sequestered and soils will be replenished.

Everyone can do their part to curb deforestation. We can buy certified wood products - made from wood that has been sustainably harvested - go paperless, limit our consumption of products that use palm oil and plant a tree when possible. However, deforestation is a global problem that won't be overcome by individual actions, and will require large-scale efforts by nations' leaders to change course and reduce forest destruction.

In 2020, more than 100 countries pledged to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, signing an agreement at the 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. A dozen countries that signed the pledge promised to provide $12 billion between 2022 and 2025 to mitigate the damage to forests from wildfires, to restore land and to assist Indigenous communities, The Guardian reported on Jan. 3. Other donors in the private sector pledged $7.2 billion, to support the development of agriculture strategies that do not rely on deforestation.

Additional resources

Check out this animation of deforestation in the Amazon made with images from NASA's Landsat 5 and 7 satellites. You can learn more about forest conservation efforts from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Read more about the problems caused by deforestation according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Bibliography

World Wildlife Fund, "Deforestation and Forest Degradation". https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation#causes

National Geographic Society Resource Library, "Deforestation". https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/deforestation/

The New York Times, "'Going in the Wrong Direction': More Tropical Forest Loss in 2019," June 2, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/climate/deforestation-climate-change.html

World Bank Blogs, "Five forest figures for the International Day of Forests," March 21, 2016. https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/five-forest-figures-international-day-forests

Global Forest Watch, "2017 Was the Second-Worst Year on Record for Tropical Tree Cover Loss," June 27, 2018. https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-research/2017-was-the-second-worst-year-on-record-for-tropical-tree-cover-loss/

The Guardian, "One football pitch of forest lost every second in 2017, data reveals," June 27, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/jun/27/one-football-pitch-of-forest-lost-every-second-in-2017-data-reveals

National Geographic, "The Amazon is burning at record rates-and deforestation is to blame," August 21, 2019 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/wildfires-in-amazon-caused-by-deforestation

Rainforest Rescue, "Palm oil - deforestation for everyday products". https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil

Union of Concerned Scientists, "What's Driving Deforestation?" Feb 8, 2016. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/whats-driving-deforestation

Business Wire, "Global Palm Oil Market (2020 to 2025) - Drivers, Restraints & Trends," April 07, 2020. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200407005439/en/Global-Palm-Oil-Market-2020-to-2025---Drivers-Restraints-Trends---ResearchAndMarkets.com

Global Forest Watch, "Uganda Deforestation Rates & Statistics" https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/UGA/

Good Black News, "Uganda Native Sanga Moses Awarded $1 Million to Boost his Innovative Energy Business, Eco-Fuel Africa," April 23, 2015. https://goodblacknews.org/2015/04/23/uganda-native-sanga-moses-awarded-1-million-to-boost-his-innovative-energy-business-eco-fuel-africa/

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "The State of the World's Forests: 2020". https://www.fao.org/state-of-forests/en/

Oliveira et al. "Effects of land‐cover changes on the partitioning of surface energy and water fluxes in Amazonia using high‐resolution satellite imagery," Ecohydrology, 2019. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eco.2126

World Resources Institute, "By the Numbers: The Value of Tropical Forests in the Climate Change Equation," October 4, 2018. https://www.wri.org/insights/numbers-value-tropical-forests-climate-change-equation

United Nations, "Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Toolbox." https://www.fao.org/sustainable-forest-management/toolbox/modules/reducing-deforestation/in-more-depth/en/

U.S. Forest Service, "Reforestation" https://www.fs.fed.us/forestmanagement/vegetation-management/reforestation/index.shtml

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(Image credit: Shutterstock) Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. Deforestation can include clearing the land for farming or livestock, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing. Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

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Natural Resources Canada

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Natural Resources Canada

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Natural disturbances like wildfire, insects or disease are often mistaken for causes of deforestation. In fact in Canada, forests - particularly in the boreal zone - rely on disturbances to renew and revitalize themselves. Although natural disturbances do create a temporary loss in the forest cover, in the long term they help forests stay healthy and encourage diversity in the tree, plant and animal species that inhabit them. Here are 7 reasons why natural disturbances don't cause deforestation.

1. Natural disturbances are a normal part Canada's forests

Natural forces such as wildfires, insects, disease, drought and floods have been at work in Canada's forests for thousands of years. A forest is a living community of organisms that is constantly changing, and natural disturbances are the biggest drivers of change. They shape the structure, age, types and diversity of the trees and other plants and animals that inhabit our forests. These natural cycles of renewal help keep forests healthy.

Natural disturbances account for considerably more lost trees in Canadian forests each year than human activities like logging or urban development. For example, in 2014 fires affected 4.6 million hectares of forest land while only 700,000 hectares were harvested.

2. Natural disturbances do not cause deforestation

Deforestation means that a forest landscape is cleared and permanently converted to another use. For example, forest land may be turned into farm land, or trees may be cut to build roads or other infrastructure to support industrial, urban or resource development. This represents a permanent loss of forest cover.

Natural disturbances cause a temporary loss of forest cover and do not contribute to deforestation, because the trees will regenerate. Forest land that temporarily has no trees is still considered a forest, since the trees will grow back in time.

3. Deforestation is not increasing in Canada

Canada carefully monitors and regularly reports on the important issue of deforestation. For the past 20 years, deforestation in Canada has been declining, and is currently at a rate of only 0.02%. Learn more about Canada's low rate of deforestation.

Natural disturbances such as fire, disease and drought occur in cycles that may be shorter in some forest regions and longer in others. This means that disturbances may increase in some years and decrease in others. This is part of the natural life cycle of the forest. Because the loss of forest cover to natural forces is temporary, this does not affect the deforestation rate.

4. Natural forces cause more temporary forest cover loss than harvesting

Although natural disturbances and timber harvesting both create some temporary loss of forest cover, natural forces disturb far more area in Canada's forests than is affected by harvesting. On average, over the last 25 years, about 21 times more forest area was disturbed by fires and insect outbreaks than by harvesting.

It is important to remember that these are only temporary losses in forest cover. Nearly all the forest area disturbed by natural forces and harvesting will grow back. In fact provincial laws or policies require that areas harvested on public land must be regenerated, either naturally or through planting and seeding. About 94% of Canada's forests are on public land. Learn more about sustainable forest management.

5. Boreal forests benefit the most from natural disturbances

Natural disturbances occur in all kinds of forests, but occur more often in boreal forests than in Canada's temperate forests. In fact, boreal forests rely on disturbances to help them rejuvenate.

Wildfires in particular help boreal forests to revitalize, to shape the forest landscape and to support biodiversity over the long term. Fire stimulates new growth and some fire-adapted tree species, such as jack pine, rely on forest fires to reproduce. Read more about fires in the boreal forest.

Large insect outbreaks and diseases are also part of the natural cycle and renew forests by releasing nutrients stored in the trees and in dead plant material. And while some types of trees die, other species are allowed to grow, which helps create diversity in the forest.

6. Sustainable forest management includes managing disturbances

Although forest fires are a natural part of the forest ecosystem and important for maintaining its health and diversity, they can also threaten communities and destroy valuable timber resources. This makes fire control a vital component of forest management in Canada. Forest agencies work to limit potential damage and costs of forest fires. In fact, governments and industry spend about half a billion dollars each year protecting forests from fire. Read more about the ways Canada manages wildfires.

7. Canada monitors the environmental impact of natural disturbances

Natural disturbances can have a major effect on the environment, including the carbon balance. Canada monitors disturbances very closely to inform management planning and as part of our climate change reporting requirements. We also report publicly on fire and insects as two key criteria in our annual State of the Forest report. By monitoring disturbances like fire and pests, forest managers can better understand their effects and take steps to mitigate the changes natural disturbances create in the environment. Learn more about sustainable forest management.

Learn more about natural disturbances in Canada's forests
See how fire, insects and other disturbances shape Canada's forests.

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7 facts on disturbances and deforestation

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Natural disturbances like wildfire, insects or disease are often mistaken for causes of deforestation. In fact in Canada, forests - particularly in the boreal zone - rely on disturbances to renew and revitalize themselves.

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Global News

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While B.C. aims to drastically cut fossil fuel emissions, a new report from an environmental action group says the province should end an even more dangerous contributor to climate change: clearcutting forests.

The report released last week by Sierra Club BC found 3.6 million hectares of forest were clearcut across B.C. between 2005 and 2017 - an area larger than the size of Vancouver Island.

Those areas are considered "sequestration dead zones" for 13 years after they're clearcut. That means until newly-planted trees grow and mature, the areas release more carbon into the atmosphere from decomposing matter and soil than those young trees can capture and absorb.

Conservationists attack NDP government over old-growth logging

After reviewing provincial data, the report found logging in B.C. contributes 42 million tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Add on the 26 million tonnes of carbon per year that cannot be captured because of clearcutting, and those emissions outpace the 65 million tonnes of emissions recorded annually in B.C., mainly from fossil fuels.

"At a time when we urgently need to be reducing all forms of carbon pollution to defend our communities from the climate crisis, clearcut logging in B.C. is making the problem notably worse," the study's author and Sierra Club BC's senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting said in a statement.

"We can only have a stable climate if we protect intact forests, and we can only sustain intact forests if we stabilize the climate. Both are only possible if we reform forestry and give up clearcutting."

According to Sierra Club BC, the province does not include forest carbon emissions in its official greenhouse gas inventories.

That practice should change immediately, the report argues, with the group calling for more government research and monitoring along with an overall end to clearcutting, primarily within old-growth forests.

The report found of the 3.6 million hectares of clearcut forest studied - which amounts to just over nine per cent of B.C.'s total forested land - 1.9 million hectares were old-growth forests.

Those old-growth trees are the best defence against carbon emissions due to their great capacity for capturing the gas. According to the report, B.C.'s old-growth rainforests can store over 1,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare, which is one of the highest rates on the planet.

Plan to allow logging of old growth forests draws criticism

"By clearcutting old-growth and older forests, we're fuelling more global heating," Wieting said. "We're putting at risk the future of communities, the forests that remain standing and current and future forestry jobs."

In his own statement, Nelson city Coun. Rik Logtenberg said local governments' efforts to reduce carbon emissions will do little to lessen impacts on the climate unless clearcutting comes to an end.

""Clearcutting the forests that surround our communities can have serious impacts on watersheds, dirtying drinking water and putting us at greater risk from flooding, landslides, droughts and wildfire," said Logtenberg, who also chairs a group of elected leaders known as the Climate Caucus.

"We need provincial leadership to reduce all emissions, including those from forestry, and we need reformed forestry laws to protect and restore forests as a natural defence against climate change."

The province's CleanBC plan, unveiled just over a year ago, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, based on 2007 levels.

Legislation was introduced earlier this year that would set interim emissions targets that will help reach that goal.

While the plan includes initiatives to reduce pollution from industry - primarily oil and gas - and pushes towards energy-conserving buildings and electric vehicles, it does not mention the forestry industry or logging practices.

In a statement, the Ministry of Environment said it does record emissions from forestry operations, but does not apply them to the province's emissions totals "as is standard carbon accounting practice around the world."

Disturbing finding about destruction of old-growth rainforest in B.C.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development added it introduced the forest carbon initiative in 2017, which includes planting more trees and hauling away residual waste from forest floors.

The initiative, which is jointly funded by the province and the federal government to the tune of $290 million, has led to the replanting of roughly 12 million trees on the coast and in the Cariboo, with an anticipated 70 million more anticipated by 2022.

The ministry also anticipates 55,000 hectares of fertilization along the coast between 2019 and 2022, after seeing 14,000 hectares fertilized over the past 18 months.

In a statement, BC Council of Forest Industries president and CEO Susan Yurkovich didn't dispute the Sierra Club's science, but pointed to its track record in "sustainable forest management."

"Each year, we harvest less than one per cent of the working forest land base and three trees are planted for every one harvested," she said. "We have more forested areas certified to internationally recognized sustainability standards than any other jurisdiction in the world."

Yurkovich went on to say buildings and products created with forested materials also store carbon dioxide, helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
-With files from Paul Johnson

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Clearcutting B.C. forests contributing more to climate change than fossil fuels: report

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While B.C. aims to drastically cut fossil fuel emissions, a new report from an environmental action group says the province should end an even more dangerous contributor to climate change: clearcutting forests. The report released last week by Sierra Club BC found 3.6 million hectares of forest were clearcut across B.C.

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Global News

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Disturbing finding about destruction of old-growth rainforest in B.C. | Watch News Videos Online

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Watch Disturbing finding about destruction of old-growth rainforest in B.C. Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Mining is one of Canada's primary industries and involves the extraction, refining, and/or processing of economically valuable rocks and minerals. Mineral products - including gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel - are critical to modern industrial society. Although mining has been key to Canadian settlement and development, in recent decades the industry has also been criticized for its environmental and social impacts. Canada remains one of the world's leading mining countries and has become a centre of global mining finance and expertise.

Description

Mining entails the extraction of ore, defined as rock from the earth's crust containing valuable minerals. It may also include quarrying, or the digging of sand, gravel or aggregate for construction purposes. Although the excavation of oil sands is similar, oil and gas production is not typically considered mining. Important Canadian mineral products include precious metals ( gold, silver, platinum) and diamonds; base metals ( iron, copper, lead, zinc, nickel); energy minerals such as coal and uranium; and industrial minerals ( limestone, rock salt, potash, gypsum).

The broad term "mining" often refers not only to the direct extraction of minerals, but to the complete cycle from discovery to mineral processing. Mineral exploration entails the identification of geological formations that may contain valuable ore. These formations may be found by prospectors traveling over the land or (increasingly) by aerial reconnaissance and sophisticated remote-sensing equipment. Once a valuable ore body is identified and claimed by a mining company, actual mining may proceed if market conditions are favourable and investors can be found.

Processes

Mineral Extraction

Mineral extraction ranges from basic low-technology techniques to massive energy- and capital-intensive undertakings. Historically, "high-grade" ores (containing high levels of target minerals) were mined using simple pick-and-shovel or water separation techniques (pans, sluices, etc.), often by a solo miner or small team. Gold was often mined in this manner. As accessible high-grade deposits declined, more elaborate technologies such as dredging and hydraulic mining (i.e. washing away sediment with high pressure water streams) required larger capital investments. Dredging, for instance, was key to maintaining production in the Klondike goldfields after the initial high-grade creek sediments were mined out. Coal and base-metal mines typically required digging and blasting deep underground to follow the veins of ore, for example, some mines tunnel far into mountain sides, while others range below water bodies (as at Newfoundland's Bell Island mine). Throughout the 20th century, technologies such as underground railcars, machine hoists, and large power shovels reduced the need for human labour as well as the rate and severity of industrial accidents.

After the Second World War, declining ore grades and new technologies, including large earth-moving machines, spurred the development of "opencast" mining. These methods, also known as strip mining or open-pit mining, remove surface material, or overburden, to reveal extensive, low-grade deposits. The removal of vegetation and soils and the creation of massive pits by opencast mining make it controversial as a source of landscape degradation and water pollution.

Mineral Processing and Associated Waste

Typically, target minerals form a small fraction of mined rock; today's mines often exploit ores containing a fraction of a percent of valuable minerals. Mineral processing, or beneficiation, removes target minerals through various thermo-mechanical or chemical techniques. The waste material, a pulverized rock slurry known as tailings, poses a major disposal challenge. It often contains heavy metals ( cadmium, arsenic, lead, zinc, etc.) that may be released into waterways, soil, and the air (as dust) at levels that threaten the health of humans and wildlife. Moreover, tailings from sulfide mineral deposits may react with water and air to produce sulfuric acid (or acid mine drainage) which can in turn dissolve more toxic heavy metals from surrounding rock or waste piles. In the case of uranium or radium mining, radioactive material within tailings may present a danger to local populations of humans and wildlife. At many mines, the sheer volume of waste rock and tailings can be staggering, creating large-scale, human-made topography such as ridges, hills, and the pits where the tailings were originally mined. The processing of ore in smelters, where rock is heated to very high temperatures to extract base metals, can result in smokestack pollution in the form of toxic compounds, such as sulfur dioxide and arsenic trioxide. While technological improvements have resulted in the increased capture of these pollutants prior to emission from smelter stacks, the collection of highly toxic dusts, such as arsenic trioxide, can pose additional waste disposal problems. More broadly, the combination of high postwar demand, declining ore grades, and increasing volumes of rock and tailings has meant that mining now generates the largest waste stream of any industry.

History

Early Exploration

Pre-contact Aboriginal use and trade of Canada's rich mineral resources included copper, gold, silver and chert. European exploration and colonization of northern North America was partially motivated by the search for valuable minerals. In 1577-8, Martin Frobisher established a mining operation at Baffin Island although the ore shipped turned out to be worthless and the venture collapsed. Fur trader Samuel Hearne and his guide Matonabbee traversed the region west of Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Coppermine River from 1770-2, in search of deposits of copper exploited by Dene people (including the Yellowknives, so named for their copper tools). During this early colonial period, settlers and sailors exploited small quantities of underground resources, particularly coal outcrops on Cape Breton Island and in New Brunswick, for local trade in the mid-17th century.

19th Century

Large-scale industrial exploitation of mineral resources in Canada commenced at the St. Maurice Forges in Québec. They were fed by iron deposits at Trois-Rivières and operated from 1738 to 1883. Industrial demand for coal and iron spurred the expansion of mining and smelting in the late colonial period. Coal mining developed rapidly near Sydney, Cape Breton, and, in the mid-19 th century, major coal deposits were located on Vancouver Island.

Precious metal discoveries in the 19th century spurred settlement and hinterland development across the country. Placer gold deposits in Québec and Nova Scotia stimulated important new mining laws, and massive gold rushes to the Fraser Canyon in British Columbia (1858) and the Klondike in the Yukon (1896) led directly to the extension of colonial and, eventually, Canadian authority over these regions. Silver discoveries north of Lake Superior spurred treaty-making with local First Nations to permit prospecting and mineral development in the 1850s. Ontario's rich Silver Islet mine was notable as the first site to use a diamond drill and compressed air drills. Silver discoveries near Mayo in the central Yukon led to the establishment of the Keno Hill mining camp, whose production between 1913 and 1989 exceeded the value of the Klondike.

Railway construction at the end of the 19th century opened up new mining territories in Northern Ontario and across the country. Canadian Pacific Railway construction led to the development of two of Canada's most significant individual mines: Sudbury nickel in the 1880s and, later, the Sullivan lead-zinc mine in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. Colonization railways constructed in northern Ontario led to the important silver discovery at Cobalt (1903), which, for a time, was North America's greatest silver camp. The pre- First World War period also saw the discovery of gold at Porcupine (later Timmins) and Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

20th Century

In the first half of the 20th century, Canada emerged as a world-leading producer of a wide range of minerals. Mines in the Canadian Shield produced not only precious metals but, increasingly, critical base metals, such as copper, lead and zinc as well. Mines at Flin Flon (copper-zinc) and Sherridon (nickel), Manitoba, helped consolidate the province's northward expansion, and similarly dramatic transformations followed the discoveries of radium at Great Bear Lake and gold at Yellowknife in the 1930s, inaugurating the Northwest Territories' storied mining history. To the east, gold mines were founded in the Rouyn-Noranda-Val-d'Or gold belt in Québec in the 1920s.

Driven by global demand for raw materials, the post- Second World War period witnessed a rapid expansion in the industry and saw important developments in recently-discovered minerals, such as uranium at Great Bear Lake, in northern Saskatchewan, and northern Ontario; potash on the Prairies and in New Brunswick; and industrial minerals such as asbestos, molybdenum and gypsum. Though not a major global producer, the Canadian coal industry also expanded, even as the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland fields were exhausted, through the development of large open-pit and strip-mining operations in British Columbia.

Beginning in the 1960s, opencast mining permitted the massive expansion of Canadian mineral production from coast-to-coast. Key sites included: Pine Point, Northwest Territories (lead, zinc); Highland Valley, British Columbia (copper); Northern Saskatchewan (uranium); Thetford Mines, Québec (asbestos); the Brunswick #12 mine at Bathurst, New Brunswick (lead, zinc, copper); and Schefferville, Québec, and Labrador City, Newfoundland (iron ore). Mining also expanded to Canada's far north; the short-lived Rankin Inlet nickel mine was Canada's first Arctic mine and was followed by Nanisivik and Polaris, the first high-Arctic mines. More recently, a major nickel mine was established at Voisey's Bay, Labrador, and diamond mines (Ekati and Diavik) in the Northwest Territories opened in the 1990s, even as the latter region's gold mines began their decline. Since the 1990s, Canada has emerged as a globally significant producer of diamonds and platinum group metals, while rare earth elements (used in green technologies and consumer electronics) are considered an important future prospect.

Mineral processing industries also expanded in this period, from the presence of a few smelters (notably at Trail, British Columbia; Sudbury, Ontario; and Arvida, Québec), to include a dozen base-metal refineries across the country, ferro-alloy plants for processing iron ore, as well as a number of other types of mineral "beneficiation" facilities. Aluminum smelters were established in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec before the war and at Kitimat, British Columbia in 1951, each taking advantage of large hydroelectric power installations.

Mining and the Economy

The value of mineral production surged in the postwar period, growing from just over $400 million to over $5 billion in 1975. Although the industry is beset by cyclical downturns in demand and price, -usually associated with recessions, such as those in the early 1980s and 1990s - the total value of non-fuel minerals reached $21.7 billion in 2004. After a dip in 2011, Canada's total estimated mineral production in 2012 topped $46.8 billion, representing 3.4 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. While mining's importance to Canada's overall economy and employment has declined, it remains a regionally significant industry, particularly in northern parts of the provinces and the northern territories. Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Québec are the leading mineral producing provinces.

Canada is not only a major producer of important minerals and metals, but also a centre of global mining finance and expertise. The TSX and TSX Venture stock exchanges have become world centres for investment in mining and mineral exploration companies. Canadian-based firms operate mines around the world, but there is increasing scrutiny and controversy surrounding the practices and impacts of Canadian mining companies in developing countries. Similar concerns around the effects of large-scale mineral developments on nearby Aboriginal territories in Canada (especially in the North) are prompting mining companies to adopt "corporate social responsibility" initiatives, including community consultation and impact and benefit agreements.

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Mining is one of Canada's primary industries and involves the extraction, refining, and/or processing of economically valuable rocks and minerals. Mineral products - including gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel - are critical to modern industrial society. Although mining has been key to Canadian settlement and development, in recent decades the industry has also been criticized for its environmental and social impacts.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (2)

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A carbonaceous fossil fuel, coal has a long history as the key energy source in the transition to industrialization, beginning in 17th-century Europe. In Canada, the history of commercial coal mining dates back nearly three centuries. Coal provided a critical energy source for early industrialization, generating steam power and coke (i.e., a manufactured, high-carbon derivative of coal that burns very hot and is essential for steel production). While coal remains an export commodity and an important source for domestic energy, Canadian production has always been small compared to the US, and relatively minor as a share of total global output.

History: Pre-contact to the 1940s

Prior to the 18th century, Aboriginal people and early colonists used coal for casual burning and trade. They relied on exposed surface deposits, such as the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia. Coal was first exploited by underground mining methods in Cape Breton in 1720, with the French Port Morien mine supplying the fortress of Louisbourg. Annual production of Nova Scotia coal increased with expanding industrial output, from just over one million tonnes in 1880, to more than seven million tonnes in 1913. Most of this material was destined for the growing domestic steel industry, and markets in Québec and the northeastern United States. New Brunswick also produced small amounts of coal commercially, beginning in the 1830s.

The coal mining industry expanded rapidly in Canada in the post- Confederation period until just after the Second World War. It spread westward, with major commercial centres emerging on Vancouver Island in the early 1850s, throughout southern Alberta from the 1890s until the mid-20th century, in the British Columbia and Alberta Rocky Mountain interior by the early 1900s, and in southeastern Saskatchewan in the early 1890s.

The coal industry provided the most important energy source to fuel expanding rail and steamship networks, stoke industrial machinery (especially the coke ovens that allowed for the production of steel), fire lights (in gas form prior to widespread electrification), and heat homes in Canada's rapidly growing cities. Coal's share of Canada's total energy consumption reached an historic high of 64 per cent for the year 1920. In general, transportation challenges hampered the Canadian coal industry's access to the emerging industrial centres in southern Ontario, which imported much of their coal energy from Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, during the heyday period in the first half of the 20th century, total annual coal production in Canada rose from about three million tonnes in 1890, to 17 million tonnes in 1942.

Mining Methods, Conditions and Disasters

The advent of commercial exploitation meant that miners had to work deposits located deep under the ground. In the early years of the industry, miners cut long tunnels, or drifts, horizontally from a shaft, and then used the room-and-pillar method, whereby a section of coal was removed and columns left to support the mine roof. Such mines entailed difficult and dangerous work. Air circulation had to be maintained at all times, while, in many cases, water was pumped constantly from the mineworks - a practice common in Nova Scotia, where mining tunnels often extended far out under the ocean floor. Volatile and combustible coal dust and methane gas inevitably floated throughout these mines; even the smallest spark or ignition flame could cause a massive explosion. Despite efforts to improve conditions through dust mitigation, major coal mining accidents took the lives of dozens of miners at places such as, the Drummond mine in Westville, Nova Scotia in 1873 (more than 60 dead); Nanaimo, British Columbia in 1887 (150 dead); and Hillcrest, Alberta in 1914 (189 dead). Springhill, Nova Scotia was the site of three major disasters: in 1891 (125 dead), 1956 (39 dead), and 1958, when a seismic "bump" (an earthquake caused by pillar collapse or shifting due to geological stress in the mine) collapsed part of the mine, killing 74 people. The event attracted international media to witness the drama of the 100 miners who were eventually rescued. The most recent coal mine explosion in Canada occurred at the Westray mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia in 1992, where 26 miners were killed, prompting a major public inquiry. Coal dust also presented a major health hazard for underground miners, causing respiratory ailments such as silicosis and black lung disease (pneumoconiosis). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many killed by, or exposed to, hazardous dust would have been young boys aged eight to 15, as child labour was common in the coal mining industry until compulsory schooling laws began to stamp out the practice in the 1920s. ( See also Coal Mining Disasters.)

Strikes and Unions

In response to low pay, poor working conditions, safety issues, and the economic control associated with company towns (where the only place to buy food and essentials was often the company-owned store), coal workers organized into labour unions. The Provincial Workmen's Association formed in Cape Breton in 1879 (becoming the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia union in 1917), and the US-based United Mine Workers of America established itself throughout the Canadian coal mining industry in the early 20th century. Strikes were numerous and often violent, with major job actions occurring in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1906; the Vancouver Island collieries in 1912-14; Cape Breton from 1922-26; Estevan, Saskatchewan in 1931; and Minto, New Brunswick from 1937-38.

History: 1950s to Present

After the Second World War, Canadian coal production declined from just over 17 million tonnes in 1949, to under 10 million tonnes annually, as diesel engines, oil furnaces, and the rise of the automobile situated oil as the dominant fuel of the postwar energy regime. The last Cape Breton underground coal mine closed in 2001, but continental demands for coal fired electricity generation, and rising energy prices in the early 1970s allowed Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan to develop new deposits. Overall, Canadian annual coal production increased from over 15 million tonnes in 1970 to more than 25 million tonnes in 1975, and reached its highest level ever in 1997 with 78.8 million tonnes. Currently, Canadian coal output remains high by historical standards, with production of just over 68 million tonnes in 2013. This amount positioned Canada as the 13th-largest coal producing country in the world but accounted for only one per cent of total annual global coal production.

Surface Mining

Safety and working conditions have improved dramatically in the coal industry, as most operations in Canada have abandoned the more dangerous underground mining in favour of open pit or strip mining methods. Instead of digging shafts and tunnels, miners use massive dragline and track shovels to remove the "overburden" (rock, soil and gravel that lies above coal deposits) and then load the exposed coal into gargantuan trucks and unit trains for shipment. Surface mining revived the moribund Crowsnest Pass coal district in British Columbia beginning in the late 1960s, supplying growing Japanese demand by exporting coal by rail to a new "superport" constructed near Vancouver. Export markets also stimulated the massive Tumbler Ridge development in northeastern British Columbia in the 1980s, which included the creation of an "instant town" whose fortunes have risen and fallen with market volatility.

Surface mining in Nova Scotia has proceeded slowly, however, due to public concern and fluctuating energy markets, with only one project in operation, at Stellarton. More generally, surface mining has generated environmental concerns over water pollution and impacts on flora, fauna, and landscapes, while burning coal for electricity generation is continually criticized as a major contributor to climate change through carbon dioxide emissions.

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A carbonaceous fossil fuel, coal has a long history as the key energy source in the transition to industrialization, beginning in 17th-century Europe. In Canada, the history of commercial coal mining dates back nearly three centuries.

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Encyclopedia Britannica

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mining, process of extracting useful minerals from the surface of the Earth, including the seas. A mineral, with a few exceptions, is an inorganic substance occurring in nature that has a definite chemical composition and distinctive physical properties or molecular structure. (One organic substance, coal, is often discussed as a mineral as well.) Ore is a metalliferous mineral, or an aggregate of metalliferous minerals and gangue (associated rock of no economic value), that can be mined at a profit. Mineral deposit designates a natural occurrence of a useful mineral, while ore deposit denotes a mineral deposit of sufficient extent and concentration to invite exploitation.

When evaluating mineral deposits, it is extremely important to keep profit in mind. The total quantity of mineral in a given deposit is referred to as the mineral inventory, but only that quantity which can be mined at a profit is termed the ore reserve. As the selling price of the mineral rises or the extraction costs fall, the proportion of the mineral inventory classified as ore increases. Obviously, the opposite is also true, and a mine may cease production because (1) the mineral is exhausted or (2) the prices have dropped or costs risen so much that what was once ore is now only mineral.

History

Archaeological discoveries indicate that mining was conducted in prehistoric times. Apparently, the first mineral used was flint, which, because of its conchoidal fracturing pattern, could be broken into sharp-edged pieces that were useful as scrapers, knives, and arrowheads. During the Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age (about 8000-2000 bce), shafts up to 100 metres (330 feet) deep were sunk in soft chalk deposits in France and Britain in order to extract the flint pebbles found there. Other minerals, such as red ochre and the copper mineral malachite, were used as pigments. The oldest known underground mine in the world was sunk more than 40,000 years ago at Bomvu Ridge in the Ngwenya mountains, Swaziland, to mine ochre used in burial ceremonies and as body colouring.

Gold was one of the first metals utilized, being mined from streambeds of sand and gravel where it occurred as a pure metal because of its chemical stability. Although chemically less stable, copper occurs in native form and was probably the second metal discovered and used. Silver was also found in a pure state and at one time was valued more highly than gold.

According to historians, the Egyptians were mining copper on the Sinai Peninsula as long ago as 3000 bce, although some bronze (copper alloyed with tin) is dated as early as 3700 bce. Iron is dated as early as 2800 bce; Egyptian records of iron ore smelting date from 1300 bce. Found in the ancient ruins of Troy, lead was produced as early as 2500 bce.

One of the earliest evidences of building with quarried stone was the construction (2600 bce) of the great pyramids in Egypt, the largest of which ( Khufu) is 236 metres (775 feet) along the base sides and contains approximately 2.3 million blocks of two types of limestone and red granite. The limestone is believed to have been quarried from across the Nile. Blocks weighing as much as 15,000 kg (33,000 pounds) were transported long distances and elevated into place, and they show precise cutting that resulted in fine-fitting masonry.

One of the most complete early treatments of mining methods in Europe is by the German scholar Georgius Agricola in his De re metallica (1556). He describes detailed methods of driving shafts and tunnels. Soft ore and rock were laboriously mined with a pick and harder ore with a pick and hammer, wedges, or heat (fire setting). Fire setting involved piling a heap of logs at the rock face and burning them. The heat weakened or fractured the rock because of thermal expansion or other processes, depending on the type of rock and ore. Crude ventilation and pumping systems were utilized where necessary. Hoisting up shafts and inclines was done with a windlass; haulage was in "trucks" and wheelbarrows. Timber support systems were employed in tunnels.

Great progress in mining was made when the secret of black powder reached the West, probably from China in the late Middle Ages. This was replaced as an explosive in the mid-19th century with dynamite, and since 1956 both ammonium nitrate fuel-blasting agents and slurries (mixtures of water, fuels, and oxidizers) have come into extensive use. A steel drill with a wedge point and a hammer were first used to drill holes for placement of explosives, which were then loaded into the holes and detonated to break the rock. Experience showed that proper placement of holes and firing order are important in obtaining maximum rock breakage in mines.

The invention of mechanical drills powered by compressed air (pneumatic hammers) increased markedly the capability to mine hard rock, decreasing the cost and time for excavation severalfold. It is reported that the Englishman Richard Trevithick invented a rotary steam-driven drill in 1813. Mechanical piston drills utilizing attached bits on drill rods and moving up and down like a piston in a cylinder date from 1843. In Germany in 1853 a drill that resembled modern air drills was invented. Piston drills were superseded by hammer drills run by compressed air, and their performance improved with better design and the availability of quality steel.

Developments in drilling were accompanied by improvements in loading methods, from handloading with shovels to various types of mechanical loaders. Haulage likewise evolved from human and animal portage to mine cars drawn by electric locomotives and conveyers and to rubber-tired vehicles of large capacity. Similar developments took place in surface mining, increasing the volume of production and lowering the cost of metallic and nonmetallic products drastically. Large stripping machines with excavating wheels used in surface coal mining are employed in other types of open-pit mines.

Water inflow was a very important problem in underground mining until James Watt invented the steam engine in the 18th century. After that, steam-driven pumps could be used to remove water from the deep mines of the day. Early lighting systems were of the open-flame type, consisting of candles or oil-wick lamps. In the latter type, coal oil, whale oil, or kerosene was burned. Beginning in the 1890s, flammable acetylene gas was generated by adding water to calcium carbide in the base of a lamp and then released through a jet in the centre of a bright metal reflector. A flint sparker made these so-called carbide lamps easy to light. In the 1930s battery-powered cap lamps began entering mines, and since then various improvements have been made in light intensity, battery life, and weight.

Although a great deal of mythic lore and romance has accumulated around miners and mining, in modern mining it is machines that provide the strength and trained miners who provide the brains needed to prevail in this highly competitive industry. Technology has developed to the point where gold is now mined underground at depths of 4,000 metres (about 13,100 feet), and the deepest surface mines have been excavated to more than 700 metres (about 2,300 feet).
George B. Clark William Andrew Hustrulid

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Mining | Definition, History, Examples, Types, Effects, & Facts

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Mining, process of extracting useful minerals from the surface of the Earth, including the seas. A mineral, with a few exceptions, is an inorganic substance occurring in nature that has a definite chemical composition and distinctive physical properties or molecular structure. (One organic

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Governernment of BC

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Britannia Mine Museum

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When the mine was at its peak, the surrounding environment paid a stiff price. Local groundwater, creeks and the waters of nearby Howe Sound all suffered losses that hung on for many decades. The source of the problem was known as Acid Rock Drainage (ARD). To explain, ARD forms when water and oxygen react with metal sulphides such as pyrite. The result is sulphuric acid and dissolved metals. ARD occurs naturally, anywhere that metal sulphides are exposed to air and water. Digging in the mine's tunnels made for vast quantities of ARD. Once it formed, it inevitably flowed into creeks and Howe Sound.

The Cleanup

Thankfully, Britannia's ARD issue is now ancient history. Working with the province, land owners and community, an intensive remediation campaign was launched. Since 2002, Golder Associates have spearheaded a cleanup of local contaminated soils. A further step was taken with EPCOR's water treatment plant in 2005. It collects all water coming from the mine. The end-result has been a successful turnaround. Life has returned to the waters surrounding the mine, including Howe Sound.

For a more in-depth look at Britannia's environmental story, see"The Facts About Britannia's Environment".

Understanding Acid Rock Drainage

ARD is a natural process where oxygen and water react with metal sulphides. Usually, this happens when air meets rain. Bacteria (Thiobacillus ferrooxidans) also plays a role in the process. The biggest ARD producer is pyrite (iron sulphide), although at Britannia, chalcopyrite (copper ore), galena (lead ore) and sphalerite (zinc ore) were involved. The sulphuric acid and dissolved metals that were produced by ARD wound up polluting the local environment once they found their way into groundwater and local water sources.

Our Two Cents: The Damage Done

When two pennies worth of copper are dissolved in a swimming pool, it becomes toxic to marine life. That said, the mine was pumping out the equivalent of 69 pennies worth of copper plus 20,800 pop cans worth of vinegar every minute. Obviously, this was a problem that called for a complex and thorough resolution. Fortunately, it came to pass.

How Britannia Overcame ARD

The overwhelming size of the mine meant larger amounts of ARD were generated. Environmental regulations of the day were minimal, so little was done to attack the problem. To make matters worse, the digging of 210 km of tunnels in the mountains, plus the fractured nature of the rock, created a much larger surface for the damaging chemical reaction. To add to that, with high snow and heavy rainfall winding up in the mine's open pit, more water was becoming polluted.

Back in the 1930's, the issue was already a concern, but little was understood about the impact on the environment. Copper launders existed at the mine which helped slightly, but it was done for economic, not environmental, reasons. These launders were long troughs containing iron scraps. Mine water was fed through the troughs before being discharged. An iron-copper exchange meant the iron pieces became coated in copper, while relatively non-toxic iron dissolved and flowed with the water out of the troughs. The copper was then collected and sold. So it did help reduce the amount of copper entering Howe Sound, but only until the mine was closed in 1974.

On closure, mine owners Anaconda installed an outflow pipe that discharged the water 50 metres below sea level. The water was not treated, but was taken away from the intertidal zone, the most vulnerable area for aquatic life. Anaconda also installed a mud/earth dam near the 2200 portal (reinstated in 2001). As a result, water was stopped from entering Britannia Creek, until the dam failed sometime in the 1980's/90's.

Today's Treatment & Current Result

These days, the mine water is captured and treated at the EPCOR Britannia Mine Water Treatment Plant. Now, it's clean. With the acidity neutralized and the metals removed, the water is discharged into Howe Sound. A mammoth challenge has been finally overcome with safety in mind. The mine's portals are sealed. All water flows down to a single portal near the top of the Mill building. Here, a concrete plug and outlet pipes control the water's exit to Howe Sound. Area residents now rest comfortably. For that matter, so does the surrounding aquatic life.

To neutralize the acidity, lime slurry (lime/water mixture) is added to a tank containing the ARD. This raises the pH from 3.8 to 9.3. In other words, it goes from being acidic to being alkaline. When this happens, the metals, which were dissolved in the ARD, naturally precipitate then become metal particles. Those particles go into another tank where a man-made customized polymer is added. This electrostatically attracts the metal particles. They sink to the bottom allowing the clean water to be removed at the top. Below, the metal sludge is removed and dewatered. Twice a year, it's taken up to the original Jane Basin mining pit. Here it helps cap the pit, preventing some of the water from entering the mine. Because the metal sludge is not in the form of metal sulphides, it cannot form ARD in the future. Every day, 600 to 700 kg of metal sludge is removed, all metal that is no longer discharged into Howe Sound.

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Environment When the mine was at its peak, the surrounding environment paid a stiff price. Local groundwater, creeks and the waters of nearby Howe Sound all suffered losses that hung on for many decades. The source of the problem was known as Acid Rock Drainage (ARD).

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YouTube

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Coal Mining's Environmental Impact | From The Ashes

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The Canadian Encyclopedia (1)

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Petrochemical Industry

The petrochemical industry, which produces chemicals using OIL AND NATURAL GAS as major raw materials, occupies an important position in Canada's MANUFACTURING and consuming sectors. Oil and natural gas are composed primarily of hydrocarbons. Most petrochemicals contain hydrogen or carbon or both. Petrochemicals can be converted into thousands of industrial and consumer products, including PLASTICS, paints, RUBBER, fertilizers, detergents, dyes, TEXTILES and solvents. The industry consists of 2 major divisions. The primary petrochemical industry produces basic chemicals, such as ethylene, from oil or gas. The secondary industries convert the basic petrochemicals into materials that may be directly used by other industries.

Canada's standard of living is dependent to a significant degree on domestic petrochemical production. The availability of economic petrochemicals allows the domestic production of numerous items that could be more costly if imported. The Canadian industry was growing more rapidly than its counterparts in Europe, Japan and the US, which are the dominant world producers, but investment in the mid-to-late 1980s dropped significantly. Investment is growing in the late 1990s. FOREIGN INVESTMENT is attracted to Canada because abundant energy resources can be profitably upgraded to supply growing world needs.

Many compounds now considered petrochemicals were formerly made from wood and COAL. By the late 19th century, a wood-based industry made methanol, acetic acid and other products. In 1904 an industry began in SHAWINIGAN, Québec, making acetylene and related chemicals from coke and limestone. Following WWI, Shawinigan Chemicals expanded to make vinyl resins, now an integral part of the petrochemical industry. Canadian research played a key role in the development of this important class of plastics and adhesives.

The discovery of oil in Lambton County, Ontario, in 1857 eventually led to a petrochemical industry that replaced the one established on acetylene. Within 7 years, 27 small oil refineries were established in Petrolia, Ontario. Abraham GESNER, one of Canada's industrial pioneers, was responsible for major technological breakthroughs in refining oil. Early efforts were aimed at producing lamp and stove oil, but as automobile use grew, refineries were adapted to produce TRANSPORTATION fuel. The new refinery processes also produced hydrocarbon mixtures suitable for petrochemical raw material (feedstock) but these were little exploited before WWII.

The outbreak of WWII made Canada an important petrochemical producer for the Allied war effort. POLYMER CORPORATION LTD (later renamed Polysar) was established by the federal government in 1942 at Sarnia, Ontario, to make synthetic butadienestyrene rubber. St Clair Processing Corp Ltd (a former subsidiary of Imperial Oil Ltd) and Dow Chemical of Canada Ltd built plants nearby to make the petrochemicals for the synthetic rubber process. Also in 1942, Alberta Nitrogen Products began production of ammonia from natural gas at Calgary, Alberta. These efforts spawned the modern Canadian industry.

The Modern Industry

After the war, the industry grew to supply the increasing demand for synthetic consumer products. The first industry-owned chemical plant based on oil was built at Sarnia by Dow in 1942, to produce polystyrene, a widely used plastic. Manufacture of many other chemical products soon developed at Sarnia including antifreeze, polyethylene, solvents and detergent materials. Montréal also grew as a petrochemical centre, especially after 1957, when Union Carbide Canada Ltd launched ethylene chemicals and polyethylene operations. The early industry in Sarnia and Montréal relied heavily on feedstocks from oil-refining plants. Meanwhile a gas-based industry was developing in Alberta. Canadian Industries Ltd established the first Canadian polyethylene plant near Edmonton in 1953, using ethane extracted from natural gas by Imperial Oil. The ethane-based industry remains the cornerstone of Alberta's petrochemical production, but the oil-based counterpart has grown since its beginning in 1953.

Location of Plants

Today, most petrochemical plants are located near oil-producing and oil-refining centres or near natural-gas sources and transmission pipelines. They are concentrated in Ontario, Québec and Alberta, but plants are also present in most other provinces. Petrochemical plants are costly, some requiring more than $500 million to build. The gross investment of Canadian petrochemical plants totalled nearly $10.3 billion in 1995.

Ownership

Many multinational petrochemical companies have established Canadian subsidiary companies and operations. These tend to be dominated by foreign shareholders, although Canadians also hold equity in some of the subsidiaries. Joint ventures between foreign-controlled and Canadian-controlled companies are important to the industry. Canadian investment is increasing, though the industry is still dominated by foreign ownership.

Economic Status

Annual sales of petrochemicals were about $10.7 billion in Canada in 1995, about 40% of the value of all chemical shipments excluding fertilizers. The sales volume represents 2.7% of all manufacturing sales and nearly 1.4% of the Gross Domestic Product. The industry grew rapidly until the early 1980s when it found itself overbuilt for the worldwide economic downturn. Alberta's industry is growing rapidly again in the late 1990s.

Nearly 44% of petrochemical production was consumed domestically in 1995. The amount exported has been increasing over the 10 years since 1985, and there have been no negative trade balances since 1986. In 1995 $1.2 billion more petrochemicals were exported than imported.

About 75% of all exports go to the US. Other large markets include Japan and other Pacific nations, Europe and South America. Imports, mainly chemicals for which the Canadian market is too small to warrant domestic production on an economic scale, come mostly from the US.

Costs

In 1995 the industry consumed about 5% of Canada's oil production and some 20% of gas. Purchases of energy and feedstocks are the largest operating costs of a petrochemical plant, typically 50%. Other major costs are related to equipment and maintenance services.

Work Force

The industry employs over 15 000 persons in jobs ranging from equipment operators to research scientists. Wages and salaries are higher than for most other manufacturing sectors. Productivity per worker is high because of the large investment in equipment. Plants normally operate 24 hours a day so that equipment can run continuously. The largest union in the industry is the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, although a significant number of workers are nonunionized.

Technology

Petrochemical technology employs high pressures and temperatures, requiring sophisticated ENGINEERING and equipment in order to use energy efficiently. Most modern technology has been developed at great expense in laboratories run by multinational firms and located outside Canada.

However, Canadian research efforts have resulted in notable discoveries, such as DuPont Canada's development of linear-low-density polyethylene (a plastic resin) at Kingston and Sarnia in the 1960s. This product became an important material for flexible packaging. Funds spent on petrochemical research in Canada are small compared with other industrialized nations, averaging about 2% of industry sales. Most of these funds are generated by industry.

Government Control

The pricing of oil and gas is critical to the international competitiveness of the industry. It has advocated a market responsive regime for oil and natural gas pricing in Canada. The availability of feedstocks at market-related prices in combination with world-scale modern plants provide the Canadian industry with an excellent competitive base.

Environmental Status

The industry has made great strides in controlling unwanted emissions; compared with other resource industries, its emissions are low per unit of output. Emissions are generally gaseous and can arise from production processes, handling and storage. Provincial regulations establish maximum emission levels that are complied with by the use of well-designed and well-maintained equipment. The industry does not generate large volumes of contaminated water. Most companies adhere to the Responsible Care environmental stewardship program of the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association.

Associations

Although there is no petrochemical industry association in Canada, companies are members of the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association (Ottawa), which represents most large industrial chemical manufacturers. The Chemical Institute of Canada (Ottawa) and its affiliate, the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, are important bodies for professional development. Trade publications include Camford Chemical Report, published by Camford Information Services, Canadian Oil Register and Nickles Daily Oil Bulletin, all published by Southam Communications Ltd; Process Industries Canada, published by Zanny Ltd.; and Oilweek, published by Maclean Hunter Ltd.

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The petrochemical industry, which produces chemicals using OIL AND NATURAL GAS as major raw materials, occupies an important position in Canada's MANUFACTURING and consuming sectors. Oil and natural gas are composed primarily of hydrocarbons. Most petrochemicals contain hydrogen or carbon or both.

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Oil and Gas Info

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When you think of oil and gas in Canada, you might just think of Alberta, but oil and gas is an important part of our national energy mix.

Canada's first well was drilled in Ontario in 1858! Over the past 150+ years, our oil and gas industry has become ever more sophisticated and streamlined. Today, many thousands of trained experts in several industry sectors work together to pull Canada's oil and gas resources from deep reservoirs scattered under every province and territory. These experts also drive the innovation and implement the technology that lowers emissions associated with the extraction, production and transportation of oil and gas.

Meeting the increasing energy demand of developing nations while satisfying the need to transition to lower emissions is complex. Canada's oil and gas will continue to play an important role in meeting the energy needs of Canadians and those living beyond our borders too.
Source: Canadian Geographic
If you need assistance with definitions for oil and gas terms, here's a link to Schlumberger's Oilfield Glossary.

How Energy Travels

Follow our Energy Travels interactive infographic to learn how oil and natural gas get from under the ground... into your hands.

Future of Canada's Oil & Gas

Learn why oil and gas will be an important part of Canada's energy mix for many years.

Oil & Gas in Canada

Canada has oil and natural gas from coast to coast to coast. Find out what's underground near you.

Canada's Oil & Gas Milestones

Trace the growth path of Canada's oil and natural gas industry, from 1853 to today.

Industry Who's Who

Discover who's who in the oil and gas industry. There may be a career for you!

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When you think of oil and gas in Canada, you might just think of Alberta, but oil and gas is an important part of our national energy mix. Canada's first well was drilled in Ontario in 1858! Over the past 150+ years, our oil and gas industry has become ever more sophisticated and streamlined.

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International GC

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CBC News

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YouTube

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Governernment of Canada

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How the G20 works

The presidency of the G20 rotates annually among its members. Summit hosts are responsible for preparing leaders' summits and for organizing the series of preparatory meetings that advance G20 work throughout the year.

The G20 working process changes from year to year. Ministerial meetings, working groups, and other experts' groups are added or removed by the presidency. This depends on the priority areas the host wishes to introduce to augment or adjust the agenda.

The G20 has no permanent secretariat. Much of the preparation for the summit is completed by G20 leaders' personal representatives, known as sherpas. With finance ministers and their deputies, sherpas are a recurring feature of summits. They maintain contact with each other during the course of the year to discuss agenda items for the summit and to coordinate the work of the G20. The work of the G20 culminates each cycle with a communiqué expressing members' commitments and vision for the future. Chosen recommendations and deliverables from ministerial meetings and other workstreams will also reach sherpas and deputies of finance ministers on their way to be incorporated in the communiqué for leaders' endorsements.

Canada's sherpa for the G20 Osaka Summit in 2019 is Jonathan Fried.

Working process

These are a number of key work streams, or tracks, which support the annual lead-up to the G20 leaders' summit every year. Each of these processes is based on key topics and themes the annual presidency decides to focus on and is managed by relevant ministers and/or their experts. Related meetings take place to provide specific expertise and recommendations and produce deliverables for ministers, some of which will ultimately reach leaders via their personal representatives (sherpas). Building on the G20's origins, leaders are also informed by meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors, who are assisted by their deputies.

Ministerial tracks and Workstreams

Working groups and experts' groups are established when needed to support the work of leaders, finance ministers, central bank governors and other ministries. These groups are generally co-chaired by one advanced and one emerging economy.

Working groups and experts' groups in 2019 include these:

Agriculture Ministers (supported by agriculture deputies)

Canada supports Japan's priorities for the G20 agriculture stream, which are needed for innovation toward the sustainability of the agri-food sector, domestic agri-food value chains, and the need for collaboration and knowledge exchange to address global issues. This includes achieving sustainable development goals. Canada continues to advocate its views on global food insecurity and facilitating rules-based agri-food trade, which would enable farmers to earn better incomes. Canada emphasizes the role of farmers in agricultural-innovation processes, with a particular emphasis on the transformative potential of women farmers. Canada supports the efforts to initiate effective dialogue on other issues of interest to the global agriculture and agri-food sector, including new technologies, reduction in food loss and waste, and many others. You can see results of this meeting on the G20 Niigata Agriculture page.

Anti-Corruption Working Group (reporting to sherpas)

Corruption has been on the G20 leaders' agenda since 2009. The G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) was established in 2010. Effective implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption remains a priority for all G20 members. With the agreement of a new three-year G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan in 2018, Canada will begin to work with international organizations and other G20 members to deepen the understanding of the relationship between corruption and gender.

Climate Sustainability Working Group

The Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG) promotes climate action and sustainable development by G20 countries through the sharing of best practices and lessons learned.

Canada played an active role as co-chair of the CSWG under the Argentine presidency in 2018. In this role, Canada also championed the importance of including a gender perspective in climate change action.

Under the 2019 Japanese presidency, Canada will continue to play a leadership role in ensuring that the G20 remains an active forum for climate action. The CSWG this year is anticipated to contribute to the first-ever G20 Joint Ministerial on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth. The CSWG will assist in advancing the Adaptation Work Program (2018 to 2019) adopted in Argentina.

Environment Senior Officials Meeting (reporting to global environment ministers)

Japan aims to advance international efforts on resource efficiency and marine litter, notably plastic, through a new Environment Senior Officials Meeting as part of the joint ministerial meeting. Canada intends to continue to work with Japan and G20 members to advance global efforts to address plastic pollution and marine litter and help leverage the Ocean Plastics Charter, agreed to by a majority of countries at the G7 leaders' summit in June 2018.

Development Working Group (reporting to sherpas)

The Japanese presidency's development agenda will continue to position the G20 as an engaged and key stakeholder in support of the 2030 Agenda. Building on past G20 initiatives, Japanese priorities include furthering a shared understanding of quality infrastructure to enhance international connectivity and building human capital through support for inclusive and resilient education.

These development priorities offer strong ties and opportunities to further Canada's commitments to help the poorest and most vulnerable, promote gender equality and women's empowerment, and implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with other G20 members, Canada will support Japan in developing a report on the G20's progress to date on implementing the 2030 Agenda, as well as a triennial comprehensive accountability report of the G20's development achievements since the 2016 Hangzhou G20 summit.

Digital economy ministers (supported by Digital Economy Task Force)

Building upon Germany's 2017 G20 Roadmap to Digitalization, the 2018 Salta Declaration emphasized collective action on the digital economy, including digital governments' skills for the future of work, digital infrastructure and inclusion, and the digital gender divide. In 2019, Japan will shift its focus to Society 5.0 and how digitalization can address societal challenges while working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Canada's continued focus is on people in the digital economy, as expressed in the Innovation and Skills Plan, and the key themes of our 2018 G7 presidency. In the 2019 G20, Canada will promote digital skills development, inclusive access to the digital economy and public trust in technologies-all against a backdrop of gender equality. Canada will also advocate a human-centric vision for artificial intelligence grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation and economic growth.

Employment Working Group

Building on the G20 priorities of Italy in 2017 and Argentina in 2018, Japan will continue to explore the overarching theme of the future of work, as well as three pillars of discussion:

adapting to demographic changes and aging populations

promoting gender equality in the labour market

new forms of work arising from technological changes and digitization

Canada will advocate for growth that benefits everyone, achieving gender equality, mitigating the effects of the aging ¬¬population on the economy and labour market, and helping its citizens to adapt and transition into the new world of work. Education and skills training continue to be essential, and Canada will continue to advocate for creating a culture of lifelong learning by providing access to the high-quality education and skills needed to reach one's life goals.

Energy transitions ministers (supported by Energy Transitions Working Group)

Transitions to a clean energy future are an essential element of long-term development strategies to ensure global energy access and security. Recognizing the role of energy in shaping our shared energy future and promoting fair and sustainable development, the Energy Transitions Working Group works to establish the groundwork for policies on topics such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy access and affordability, the reduction of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, data transparency, and innovation.

Canada's priority in this area is to advance the development of clean and resilient energy systems that support economic growth. Continuing the momentum of the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation meetings in Vancouver in May 2019, Canada will be seeking cooperation among G20 countries on the pressing global issues that must be tackled to support climate change action, energy access, reliability and affordability. Canada considers sustainable investment, innovative technologies, quality infrastructure and energy efficiency as integral to transitions toward a sustainable energy future. This is in line with the four pathways for the clean energy transition outlined in the Generation Energy Council Report.

Finance ministers and central bank governors (supported by finance minister and central bank deputies)

Building on the G20's origins, leaders are also informed by meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors, who are assisted by their deputies. Canada will again co-chair the Framework Working Group, which will continue to monitor risks to the global economic outlook and advance the understanding of global imbalances and macroeconomic implications of an aging population. Along with like-minded countries, Canada will work through the International Financial Architecture Working Group to address debt vulnerabilities in low-income countries and complete the 15th General Review of International Monetary Fund quotas. Canada will also work with the Japanese presidency to explore proposals by the Eminent Persons Group, focusing on items that promise tangible results in 2019. In particular, Canada will continue to push for progress on issues related to multilateral development banks working together as a system. Through the Infrastructure Working Group, Canada will promote investments that foster inclusive growth, including environmental, social, and governance aspects. Finally, Canada continues to support the G20 work on a harmonized approach to changing international tax principles in the context of digitalization and finalizing the financial regulation agenda.

Foreign affairs ministers

Trade ministers (supported by the Trade and Investment Working Group)

The G20 Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) was created in 2015. Canada has been an active participant at the TIWG, which offers an important platform for dialogue on international trade and investment outside of a negotiating context and has provided a valuable contribution to the advancement of trade and investment issues of interest to Canada. In 2019, under Japan's leadership, the TIWG will discuss World Trade Organization reform and digital trade, as well as current developments in international trade, including growing protectionism, market-distorting measures and the role of trade and investment in promoting sustainable and inclusive growth.

Tourism ministers (supported by tourism senior officials)

The meeting of tourism senior officials and G20 tourism ministers offers Canada the opportunity to exchange perspectives and best practices on tourism policy development. Participation in ongoing international discussions provides opportunities to learn how best to develop and sustain growth in Canada's tourism sector.

Steel excess capacity ministers (supported by the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity)

The Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) was established by leaders at the September 2016 G20 Summit in Hangzhou. The GFSEC is working to identify market-distorting subsidies and other types of support in order to develop policy solutions to reduce excess capacity in the steel sector. The GFSEC reported to G20 ministers in September 2018 and its work will continue in 2019. Canada has been among the most transparent of members by providing information on all support measures that are used by the steel sector. Canada supports full transparency by all participants so that a complete picture of support to the sector can be established.

Health ministers (supported by Health Working Group)

Issues of global health came to the fore at G20 in 2017 under the German Presidency. While still a relatively new area of focus for the G20, Canada supports health discussions given the importance of human health both as an important determinant and an outcome of economic growth, security and development. The Health Working Group (HWG) advises leaders and ministers of the key global health issues that the G20 can be helpful in advancing, both collectively within this forum, but also cooperatively in other multilateral forums. Canada will continue to seek opportunities to use the G20 HWG to advance domestic health, as well as international development priorities in order to maintain and improve the health of Canadians and people around the globe.

Joint health and finance ministers track on universal health care (supported by finance minister deputies and Health Working Group)

Japan's full calendar of event can be found on the G20 Osaka Summit page.

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Canada's participation at the 2019 G20 summit

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The Group of Twenty (G20) is the primary forum for international economic cooperation among its members, the world's major economies, representing all inhabited continents, 85% of global economic output, two thirds of the world's population, and 75% of international trade. The G20 reflects a recognition that global prosperity is interdependent and our economic opportunities and challenges are interlinked.

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The Canadian Encyclopedia

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The Summits: Who Gets to Rule the World?

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre is no Château de Rambouillet. To mention just one difference, the infamous fake lake installed at this week's G20 venue is merely temporary, whereas the canals and fountains of the historic manor south of Paris, where former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing hosted the first G6 in 1975, are permanent fixtures. But if the sites bear little resemblance, the basic idea behind the first and latest of these modern summits remains the same: even in an era of instant, even incessant, global communication, there's no substitute for prime ministers, presidents and chancellors looking one another in the eye.

There's plenty of debate, though, about how many leaders and exactly which ones should be gathered together to produce optimum results. The original G6 was a cozy affair, with just the leaders of France, the U.S., Britain, Italy, West Germany and Japan included. Canada snuck in the next year to make it the G7, and Russia was added after the Cold War ended, creating the G8. Along the way, the event turned from intimate to extravagant. But it took the financial markets' meltdown of 2008 and the global recession of 2009 to finally render the original model insufficient. Confronted with the crisis, the G8 was superseded by the G20, which draws in major new players from China to Brazil, India to Indonesia, as the world's top forum for economic summitry.

The question for Canada is whether the expanded club extends or dilutes our influence. G8 membership gave Ottawa equal standing, at least in theory, with Washington, London and Tokyo. Squeezing around the G20 table with smaller players such as South Africa and Turkey looks less prestigious. Yet Paul MARTIN, who as Liberal finance minister was a driving force behind the G20 concept, argues the alternatives for Canada were far worse. "Being influential in a [G8] that represents only half the world's reality doesn't make much sense to me," Martin says. "I'd rather be at a G20 that represents the whole world's reality. Otherwise what you'd end up with is the great powers talking amongst themselves."

The notion that without the G20, even mid-sized countries would be shut out of negotiations among heavyweights like, say, the U.S., China and Germany, is a strong argument for the new configuration being good for Canada. Another is the early evidence that Ottawa can use the expanded membership to find fresh allies for its priorities, as it has in opposing a global bank tax. In any case, the G8 hasn't disappeared. Canada is hosting both summits this month, the smaller, older confab in the Ontario resort town of Huntsville, and then the bigger, newer assemblage in Toronto. It's as if the old six-team NHL kept on playing as a subset of the post-expansion league. "My impression last year was that the G8 was going to fade into sepia-toned memory," says Stewart Patrick of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. "But we haven't seen that."

One reason is that nobody is sure yet how much of the old G8 role the G20 can comfortably take on. For now, the G20 is managing the economic recovery, while the G8 concentrates on security and aid to developing countries. Martin predicts this division of responsibilities will prove too artificial to maintain, since most big files have economic dimensions that will demand G20 attention. " CLIMATE CHANGE is an economic issue," he says. "Development is an economic issue." Martin also rejects the notion that the G8 can remain the premier forum of foreign-assistance donor nations. "Come to Africa with me and tell the Africans that China is not a donor," he scoffs. "Go to Asia and tell them the Australians are not donors."

Martin is among the G20's most outspoken enthusiasts. He pushed hard for its creation as a forum of finance ministers from advanced and emerging economies after the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and then plumped for a leaders' G20. But his expectation that the group's scope will widen is echoed by some veteran summit-watchers who don't share his personal stake in its success. Patrick also foresees "mission creep" for the G20. "Over time," he predicts, "leaders will find it an irresistible venue." And he doesn't buy the argument that 20 voices are too many for productive talk. The G8's so-called "major economies forum" had already invited so many guests that it encompassed 17 of the G20 members.

Still, the G20's ascent is far from guaranteed. Its early momentum was fuelled by grim necessity. The first G20 leaders meeting was held in Washington after world credit markets froze up in the fall of 2008. Subsequent summits in London and Pittsburgh last year reached an impressive degree of consensus on injecting massive government stimulus into the slumping world economy and working toward reforming shaken financial markets. For countries like Canada that rely heavily on exports, G20 peer pressure on member countries not to resort to trade barriers was another huge accomplishment. "There has actually been a startling lack of protectionism," Patrick says.

But now that the immediate crisis has passed, G20 solidarity is showing signs of fracturing. As the recovery spreads unevenly, leaders are taking different tacks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is leading the charge for countries to start cutting their deficits. Her stance has attracted sharp criticism from Americans, like Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, who called her austerity push a "bad idea" as the rebound from last year's recession remains weak. U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned in a pre-summit letter against governments repeating the mistakes of past slumps "when stimulus was too quickly withdrawn and resulted in renewed economic hardships and recession."

A looming clash of major powers creates a classic opening for leaders of smaller countries to try playing brokerage roles. In a G20 briefing, Prime Minister Stephen HARPER's officials took pains to claim that Canada hears no discord in U.S. pleas for sustaining stimulus and European calls for fiscal restraint. Playing both sides of that divide this weekend will test Harper's diplomatic skills. He's already enjoyed some success on a tough challenge, fending off pressure from the U.S. and Europe - the core of the G8 - for a global bank tax. On that issue, the Canadian government took full advantage of the G20's membership roll, finding key support for its opposition to the tax among new players, such as Australia and India.

The battle against a bank tax shows how the G20 might serve Canada's interests by broadening the spectrum of coalitions that might be forged on any given issue. Another test is Canada's ongoing bid to shape new banking regulations on capital and leverage. No final deal on the reforms is expected in Toronto. Negotiations will likely stretch well into the fall, when another G20 summit is scheduled to be held in South Korea. But since Harper touts Canada's solid domestic banking sector at every opportunity, as G20 host in Toronto he will want to signal how that translates into impact when it comes to drafting a new global banking rule book.

Even bigger questions, though, are emerging as potential G20 preoccupations. None is more fundamental than tension between countries that spend and borrow and those that save and lend. The U.S. leads the first category, and China dominates the second. Fixing that imbalance will, as Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman who now heads Obama's economic recovery advisory board, recently said, "go way beyond the technicalities of law and regulation of financial markets." The G20 is the first economic forum where U.S. and Chinese leaders sit as equals. Can it help? Before the Toronto summit, the Chinese government issued a tentative hint of willingness to let its currency appreciate. If Beijing follows through, allowing a stronger renminbi to boost its domestic consumption, the G20 will have to get at least some of the credit.

A potential shift of that sort suggests powerful forces at work, currents in world affairs that run far deeper than any scripted exchange or stilted photo-op. Yet Martin says his experience of summits was that individual rapport often mattered a great deal. "Personalities played much more than countries at the table," he claims. It's a more appealing notion, at least, than the jaded view that all the real work is done in advance by faceless officials pursuing entrenched interests. And for a middle power, the notion that the men and women at the table actually matter holds the hope of influence based on factors other than sheer size, even now that the size of the summit itself has irreversibly grown.

Maclean's July 5, 2010

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The Summits: Who Gets to Rule the World?

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The Metro Toronto Convention Centre is no Château de Rambouillet. To mention just one difference, the infamous fake lake installed at this week's G20 venue is merely temporary, whereas the canals and fountains of the historic manor south of Paris, where former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing hosted the first G6 in 1975, are permanent fixtures.

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The Balance

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The G-20 is comprised of the G-7 nations, plus developing nations such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia. The G-20's members represent two-thirds of the world's people and 85% of its economy.﻿﻿ Since 2007, the news media has covered each G-20 summit that recognizes the members' role as significant drivers of the world economy.

The G-20's primary mandate is to prevent future international financial crises and shape the global economic agenda. The finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-20 countries meet twice a year and at the same time as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In 1999, the meetings started as an informal get-together of finance ministers and central bankers seeking a dialogue between developing and developed countries.

G-20 Member Nations

The G-20 members include the G-7 nations-Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States-and 11 emerging market and smaller industrialized countries-Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey. The EU is also a member of the G-20.

The G-7 nations have no legal or political authority, but they wield significant influence as some of the leading economies in the world. Russia had been part of what previously was known as the G-8, but it was excluded in 2014 after invading Crimea.﻿﻿

Why the G-20 Is Important

The growth of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries) has driven the growth of the global economy. The G-7 countries grow slower. Therefore, the BRIC countries are critical for ensuring continued global economic prosperity.

In the past, the leaders of the G-7 could meet and decide on global economic issues without much interference from the BRIC countries, but those nations have become more critical in providing the needs of the G-7 nations. For example, Russia delivers most of the natural gas to Europe. China produces much of the manufacturing for the United States. India provides high-tech services.

Previous Summit Meetings

Summit meetings have become major news events as top world leaders come together for a couple of days each year. Each summit has primary objectives based on current events of the time, and they also provide opportunities for leaders from individual nations to meet over issues specific to their respective governments:

June 28-29, 2019, in Osaka, Japan: G-20 members expressed concerns about U.S. protectionism and how it could slow global growth.﻿﻿ U.S. President Donald Trump met with China's President Xi Jinping to discuss the ongoing trade war. Trump also hinted at potential trade agreements with Japan and India. The G-20 leaders pledged to have the World Trade Organization oversee rules on online trade. They also called for the U.S. to appoint new judges to staff the WTO's trade dispute function.

Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2018, in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Trump and Xi agreed to start trade negotiations and stop the escalation of their trade war.﻿﻿ Trump canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to protest Russia's attack on Ukraine. Trump signed the new NAFTA agreement with Mexico and Canada. All countries except the U.S. reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Climate Accord.

July 7-8, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany: The meeting focused on climate change and global trade but made little progress with Trump opposing the views of the other 19 countries. The G-20 agreed to share information about steel production, eliminate safe havens for terrorist financing, and address conflicts in North Korea, Syria, and Ukraine.﻿﻿ On July 7, Trump and Putin privately met for two hours. When Trump asked about Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Putin denied it.﻿﻿ They agreed to a limited cease-fire in Syria.

Sept. 4-5, 2016, in Hangzhou, China: Both the U.S. and China agreed to ratify the Paris climate change agreement.﻿﻿ They are the two worst emitters of greenhouse gases. Russia and the United States did not agree on ending the Syrian war. China complained that other countries should allow more free trade, but China has become more protectionist itself.

Nov. 15-16, 2015, in Antalya, Turkey: The meeting focused on responding to the terrorist attacks in Paris.﻿﻿ The members agreed to tighten border surveillance against threats. At the same time, they would admit refugees who were escaping the war against ISIS. The U.S. agreed to share more intelligence with France and other members. It wouldn't send in ground troops but would support Syrian and Iraqi forces fighting ISIS. They outlined further steps to cut off financing for ISIS.

Nov. 15-16, 2014, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: The meeting condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine. All members promised to work together to increase global GDP growth to 2.1% percent by 2018.﻿﻿ That would add $2 trillion to global economies. The U.S. and Europe pressured the group to take strong action on climate change. That was not on the official agenda. The leaders vowed to do all they could to combat Ebola in West Africa. President Barack Obama met with the leaders of Japan and Australia. They agreed to work toward a peaceful resolution of maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

Sept. 5-6, 2013, in St. Petersburg, Russia: Unofficially, the meeting focused on a response to Syria's chemical weapons attack.﻿﻿ Obama sought support for a U.S. strike, while others argued for economic sanctions. Russia supported the Syrian government with arms and trade. China was concerned about an increase in oil prices. France, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia supported an airstrike. Officially, the leaders focused on spurring global economic growth. The BRIC countries sought G-20 action to reinvigorate their economies after they were pummeled by a withdrawal of foreign direct investment.

June 18-19, 2012, in Los Cabos, Mexico: The summit focused on the eurozone debt crisis. The G-20 pressured German Chancellor Angela Merkel to work with other European Union leaders.﻿﻿ They wanted a more sustainable grand plan to resolve the Greece debt crisis. Germany wouldn't bail out Greece without austerity measures because German taxpayers ultimately face higher costs to fund the bailout. Germany itself is already highly indebted and pushed for a fiscal union to support the EU's monetary union. That meant EU members would give up political control of their budgets to an EU-wide approval process. This was necessary before Merkel would support Euro-wide bonds.

Nov. 2-4, 2011, in Cannes, France: The summit addressed the Greek debt crisis. Members agreed on plans to create jobs and strengthen financial regulation.﻿﻿

Nov. 11-12, 2010, in Seoul, South Korea: In advance of the G-20 meeting, finance ministers pledged to stop the currency wars.﻿﻿ They occurred primarily between China and the United States and could create global inflation in food, oil prices, and other commodities.

June 26-27, 2010, in Toronto, Canada: Leaders agreed to cut their budget deficits in half by 2013.﻿﻿ They promised to eliminate deficits three years later.

Sept. 24-25, 2009, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Leaders established a new Financial Stability Board to develop standard financial regulations for all G-20 countries by working with the World Bank and the IMF.﻿﻿

April 1-2, 2009, in London, United Kingdom: G-20 leaders pledged $1 trillion to the IMF and World Bank to help emerging market countries ward off the effects of the recession.﻿﻿ They promised $250 billion in trade finance. They also agreed to develop new financial regulations, create a supervisory body, and crack down on hedge funds.

Nov. 16-17, 2008, in Washington, D.C.: The G-20 held its first-ever summit. Before this meeting, the G-7 guided most global economic plans. The topic was the 2008 financial crisis.﻿﻿ Emerging market leaders asked the U.S. to regulate its financial markets better, but the U.S. refused. The leaders also wanted better regulation of hedge funds and debt-rating companies such as Standard & Poors. They also sought to strengthen standards for accounting and derivatives. One of the causes of the financial crisis was insufficient regulations and standards.

G-20 Protests

G-20 meetings usually are the site of protests against the G-20 agenda.﻿﻿ They claim the group focuses too much on financial interests and globalization. Protesters want the G-20 leaders to focus on one or more other issues:

Poverty: In 2010, protesters were against the G-20's focus on fiscal responsibility and austerity at the cost of social programs. They also were opposed to the $1 billion cost of the meeting itself, which was borne by Canadian taxpayers.

Climate Change: Protesters wanted the G-20 to refocus on global warming as a priority.

Gender Equality: Protesters argue G-20 countries need to pay more attention to rights for the LGBT community. They ask for more funding for family planning, including abortions.

Immigration: Protesters seek more open borders for immigrants fleeing humanitarian crises in their home nations.

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The G-20 is comprised of the G-7 nations, plus developing nations such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia. The G-20's members represent two-thirds of the world's people and 85% of its economy.﻿﻿ Since 2007, the news media has covered each G-20 summit that recognizes the members' role as significant drivers of the world economy.

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G20 Foundation

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The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international cooperation on the most important issues of the global economic and financial agenda. The objectives of the G20 refer to: Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth; Promoting financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises; Modernizing international financial architecture.

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YouTube

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Justin Trudeau – Prime Minister of Canada

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Prime Minister Trudeau delivers remarks at end of the G20 Summit in Germany

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YouTube

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G20 explained (explainity® explainer video)

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The Canadian Enc

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Human Smuggling

The glare of a lightbulb dangling from the ceiling of his decrepit basement room casts a harsh light on the young illegal's life. A beetle scurries from under a mattress on the floor beneath a grimy window. Three shirts lie by a battered suitcase; a few Chinese-language magazines are piled in the corner. "Here they are," says Yong, a tall 21-year-old from the Chinese province of Fujian, pulling a small photo album from under the mattress. The pictures take him back to a happier time. In one, his mother straddles a motor scooter; in another, his father stands smiling in the sunshine. Yong longs to be with them, but it is an impossible dream. Last year, he paid $65,000 to be smuggled into Canada, via a route that took him to Burma and finally to Toronto, where he expected life to be much easier. Instead, to pay off the debt, he now works 12 gruelling hours a day butchering chickens in a Chinese-owned slaughterhouse. "I miss them so much," he sighs, gazing at the pictures of his family. "It is very hard."

Not far from Yong's, in a garment factory on the second floor of a century-old warehouse in Toronto's Chinatown, Ah-Zhen, 23, slumps at her sewing machine and breaks into tears. Like Yong, she works hard - night and day trying to raise enough money to pay back the smugglers who brought her to the promised land. They are not alone: over the past 10 years, almost 15,000 Chinese have entered Canada illegally and, after launching refugee claims, are now working for less than minimum wage on farms or in restaurants and factories. Lacking identification to open a bank account, they stuff their meagre earnings under their mattresses, only to hand a large part over to often-shady immigration consultants and lawyers working on their refugee claims - a process that can take years to complete. "I just wish I could make some money and go home," says Ah-Zhen, as she pulls another piece of black cloth from a bin beside her and tries again to feed the fabric under the needle. "My family got into deep debt because of me. Now we owe a lot of money to the smugglers and others. I dare not go back."

Those who have - sent back by the Canadian government for entering Canada illegally - face stiff fines and prison sentences. But despite the risks, and the hard life that usually awaits them here, the migrants keep coming, undaunted by the smugglers who will control their existence for years under threat of violence - making them, for all intents and purposes, little more than slaves. Since January, 1996, alone, nearly 7,000 Chinese have declared refugee status in Canada - most of them from Fujian province, which is on the east coast of China just north of Hong Kong, and whose people, desperate to escape poverty in an area where the average yearly income is about $2,000, have historically tended to go abroad to seek their fortune.

The great majority of them, like Yong and Ah-Zhen, entered the country illegally, arriving by plane in Vancouver or Toronto with fake documents. But others have come by more dangerous means. In 1999, nearly 600 people from Fujian arrived off the coast of British Columbia in four rusting ships. Hoping to slow the illegal flood, Canadian immigration officials clamped down; of the 600, 67 remain in custody pending refugee hearings, 272 were imprisoned and sent back to China after their refugee claims were dismissed, and 191 were released pending refugee hearings (of those, 149 have disappeared into the Fujianese community and warrants have been issued for their arrest). But the tough response has had little effect. According to Immigration Canada estimates, almost 2,000 Chinese will still enter the country this year as refugees - most of them illegally.

Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan visited Fujian last year to encourage the Chinese to clamp down on the smugglers. But according to a report published last week by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada can expect even more illegals to enter the country over the next five years. The report says that as the Chinese economy slows during that period, a growing number of unemployed people will try to buy their way into Canada. While Caplan did not comment on the CSIS report, she said the government hopes to introduce changes to the Immigration Act next year that could slow the flow of bogus refugees by allowing immigration officials to more easily detain people they believe are hiding their true identities. "It will contain important clarifications for the grounds for detention," said Caplan. "It also streamlines the process to be faster while remaining fair."

According to Det. Jim Fisher, Asian crime co-ordinator with the Vancouver police, snakeheads - as the smugglers are called - now charge as much as $100,000 to supply fake passports and visas and to arrange the passage to Canada. The demand is great. Wu, a lanky 31-year-old Fujianese who entered Canada illegally in 1999 at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, remembers the overwhelming response a smuggler received when he visited the city of Tianjin in southern Fujian. "They stormed the snakehead's home," says Wu, who currently works as a minimum-wage labourer on a Chinese construction gang in Toronto and asked that his full name not be used. " 'Let me go - put me in a group,' they asked. No one put a gun to their heads."

Ottawa's crackdown has had one effect - it has forced smugglers to be far more cautious moving the Fujianese into Canada. Many illegals are now stranded in safe houses in Europe and South America, waiting to be moved to Canada. Ah-Zeng, 25, a waiter in a seafood restaurant sandwiched between two bars in Toronto's Chinatown, was fortunate: he arrived in 1998, with fake documents indicating he was the nephew of a Chinese man already living in Canada, and experienced few delays in his passage from Beijing. His brother has not been as lucky - Ah-Zeng, who is now a landed immigrant, says he has been detained in a safe house in Mexico City for almost a year. "He called me collect in October to say he hopes to be here soon," says Ah-Zeng, finally able to take an early-morning break after nearly 14 hours on his feet. Pulling a cigarette package from the pocket of his wrinkled white shirt, he adds: "I told him to go back to China, but he is desperate to come to Canada."

Desperation has its limits. Both smugglers and potential migrants now consider an ocean crossing too risky - and with good reason. Enforcers working for the snakeheads often accompany their human cargo and fear being caught at sea by authorities. But there are greater dangers. A number of Chinese illegals currently in Canada told Maclean's that, in 1999, a fifth boat crammed with people was also on its way towards British Columbia and sank, killing hundreds. Within the close-knit Fujianese community, some are now grieving for lost relatives and friends. "People saw 600 arrive in Canada," says Wu. "No one could see the others - who would never arrive."

The fading sunshine is pale, the shadows thin and hungry on a late afternoon in November. Long Quong, 31, clutches her 15-month-old baby boy, Jian, against her chest as she stands at the door of her rickety house trailer in the fertile Holland Marsh area 60 km north of Toronto. She is listening for the throaty growl of farm tractors that will bring exhausted Fujianese workers back from the fields - her signal to begin cooking a meal of pigs' feet and rice for more than a dozen men.

A sudden gust of wind whips across the vast stretches of damp black soil and lifts up a protective orange tarp draped across the trailer. Quong retreats into the cluttered tin home she shares with her husband, Zhou, and her mother - a white mesh curtain hung around the couple's mattress on the floor providing their only privacy. The camp, which includes five other trailers and two reeking outhouses, has been Quong's home for months. It is not the harshness of life on the marsh that bothers her but the sense of being in limbo. "It is very boring," she complains. "But I had to come to Canada to be with my husband."

Dozens of Fujianese work the fields of Holland Marsh in an effort to pay off their debt to snakeheads. Most of the miserly $500 the field workers get for working six days a week, sun-up to sundown, goes to pay off the smugglers - who also charge 18 per cent interest. As darkness finally sets in, lights from two giant tractors carrying Quong's husband and his co-workers appear on the edge of the farm, pulling wagons piled high with freshly harvested carrots - the last crop to come off before winter. Within minutes, the camp is teeming with more than a dozen Fujianese workers. Exhausted, dirty and hungry, they disappear down muddy pathways between the trailers, only to emerge seconds later with large white pails. Grabbing hoses, they take turns filling the buckets with hot water to wash with, then carry them off into the darkness. Soon they will reassemble in the kitchen, which is pungent with the smell of garlic and ginger as Quong prepares their meal.

Other headlights also appear, this time those of a luxury four-wheel-drive vehicle carrying two Canadian women - the daughters of the land's owner. Dressed in designer jeans, they are angry and refuse to discuss the small workforce of Fujianese milling about in the darkness. But a growing number of the area's farms are now owned by Chinese-Canadians, who over the past few years have started buying property in the marsh (50 acres of Holland Marsh farmland, among the most fertile in Canada, can easily sell for more than $1 million). Where the rich loam once produced tomatoes and sweet peppers, many farmers now grow acres of leafy bok choy for the Chinese market in New York City and Toronto. But the owner's daughters are not interested in discussing how so many Fujianese have ended up there. "They come from Toronto," is all they will say before ordering Maclean's off the property.

Upon his arrival in Canada, Wu went to work in the marsh - after a dangerous journey that, he says, "still makes my heart flutter" when he thinks of it. In Fujian, the smugglers put him on a train to southern China, from where he was moved by car and on foot through jungle to the coast of Vietnam. "The Vietnamese soldiers would simply shoot us if they caught sight of us," says Wu. "If you survived the soldiers and police, there were the wild animals that could attack you in the jungle."

Spirited safely onto a ship, Wu then travelled to Bangkok, flying from there to Mexico City, an important transit stop for human smuggling, before continuing north on foot and by truck. "It was like gambling with your life every hour," he recalls. "You never know when you were going to be killed." In Mexico, he says, he came face-to-face with death when his group stumbled upon an army patrol. "Ten of us were walking as a group," said Wu. "The Mexicans caught three and they just killed them all there. I am lucky to be alive." Life in Canada proved to be less dangerous - but equally onerous. Wu worked for more than a month on the marsh - the hardest job, he says, of his life. Nearly every part of his body was swollen from toiling on his hands and knees as he harvested vegetables. When the workers returned from the fields, exhausted from as much as 15 hours in the sun, the farm owner provided them with a meal Wu described as little more than vegetables and "bones with a bit of meat on them." At night, as he lay on his cot in a trailer, his legs too stiff to bend, he could hear other men crying. "The only way to survive on the farm is to work with friends," he says. "They keep telling you to go on - not to stop."

One reason for perseverance is the snakeheads - as dangerous as anything the migrants face on their long journeys. As soon as she departed from China, Ah-Zhen recalls, she was warned to obey their every command or she would be severely punished. "The organizers are very strict with you since they are afraid of leaking information," she says. "One of my former neighbours was the only child in his family. Just because he sneaked out for sightseeing in the streets, he was beaten to death by the gang leader."

The snakeheads and their enforcers are never far away from the burgeoning Fujianese communities across Canada. Fearing retribution, most of the newcomers Maclean's contacted refused to discuss their relationship with the smugglers. But the few who did talk said they were brought to Canada by members of the Fu Qing Bang (Fujianese Youth) gang - a criminal organization well-known to Canadian authorities. "The Fu Qing are notorious," says Wu. "They control the entire stowaway network into Canada and have members here."

If payments are missed, the illegals are not the only ones to fear retribution. Ah-Zeng says snakeheads often target family members back in Fujian with threats or, worse, physical violence. Their presence suddenly becomes real when, during one interview with Maclean's, Ah-Zeng pushes his way through the late afternoon crowds on the streets of Chinatown and then stops. "There is a snakehead," he says, turning to indicate three men in casual jackets. "The one with the bald spot," he adds, touching the side of his own head and nervously staring after the men as they disappear down an alley. "He is the snakehead."

Yong started to work almost immediately after arriving in Canada. Most of the jobs he found were through advertisements in Chinese-language newspapers, placed by prospective employers aware of the desperate pool of cheap labour from Fujian. "Restaurants, clothing factories, food-processing stores, I have worked in seven or eight places," he says. He spent a year and a half on the road before getting to Canada - but nothing could prepare him for the homesickness he still endures. "After working hard for the whole day, I would fall asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow," Yong says. "Otherwise, I don't know how can I survive it here. There are no tears anymore, but I really miss home."

The illegals have little choice but to keep working. Yong, who is paying 18 per cent interest or $11,000 annually on the $65,000 he owes, expects it will take years to pay off the debt. "We will just pay back little by little," he says. "We simply have no other way out." Yong's refugee claim was accepted earlier this year and he is now a landed immigrant. But many who do not achieve refugee status will still remain in Canada, working in the underground economy to pay off their debts. Of the nearly 7,000 Fujianese who entered with false papers since 1996 and who sought refugee status, more than 2,500 never showed up for their hearings. Most of those are working for abysmally low wages in restaurants and factories. But Caplan ruled out any sort of amnesty for the illegals. "Amnesty would send the wrong signal," said Caplan. "Particularly when you are dealing with trafficking [in humans]."

The Fujianese also complain bitterly about immigration consultants and lawyers who, they say, prey on them - not to mention a refugee process that many newcomers say takes too long to complete. Wong, 29, who arrived in Canada in 1999 and asked that his full name not be used, has waited for over a year to receive a letter from Immigration Canada advising him on when his refugee hearing will take place. Wong barely makes $300 a week, but he says he often pays as much as $1,000 to consultants or lawyers just to fill out a routine government form - because he cannot speak English. "This is wrong," he says, pulling on two spring jackets to keep out the cold autumn wind sweeping through Chinatown. "It is too much money."

There is optimism among the hardship. Nearly all the newcomers from Fujian have a single burning ambition: to open their own business. That is something Ah-Xiu has achieved. A single mother of two girls aged 10 and 2, she entered Canada illegally 10 years ago and has since become a Canadian citizen. Working as a seamstress, it took her years to pay off the $50,000 she owed smugglers; she now owns the tiny clothing factory where Ah-Zhen has found work. Standing amid the clutter of fabric on the factory floor, wearing a long green skirt and matching sweater, Ah-Xiu says she has never regretted her decision to come to Canada. "I prefer the lifestyle here," she says, bending over Ah-Zhen as the younger woman struggles with the sewing machine. "It might be that I knew how to sew clothes, so it never seemed that hard to land a job here."

Ah-Xiu makes $40,000 to $50,000 a year. She wants to do better, but her achievements have come at a high personal cost. She works so many hours that, in November, she returned to China with her younger daughter and left her in the care of her mother. "I had about two or three workers at first," says Ah-Xiu, taking a picture of her daughter from her wallet. "Now I have eight to 10 workers. No one can make a fortune in a short time here. Everyone is starting from scratch."

And in the process, changing the face of Canada's Chinese communities. As evening falls and the neon lights blink on in Toronto's Chinese business district, Steve Ang walks through Chinatown, shaking hands and chatting with people rushing home to dinner. In the past, says the prominent Fujian-born member of the city's Chinese community, most of the businesses in Chinatown were owned by Cantonese Chinese. Now, he says, Fujianese are taking over. "It has been sold to a Fujianese," says Ang, pointing to a busy grocery store crowded with shoppers buying fish and produce for dinner. "Hong Kong immigrants, then the Vietnamese, originally owned these businesses. Now the Vietnamese are selling to the Fujianese." For those dreaming of being their own masters even as they toil to pay off their debts, it is reason for hope.

MIGRANTS FROM CHINA

The number of refugee claimants, primarily from Fujian province, has steadily risen:

A LAST-DITCH APPEAL

Endless hours of work and repeated bids for refugee status leave Fujianese migrants in Canada with virtually no time or money for any kind of social life. And vast distances and long separations also make it nearly impossible for those who leave spouses behind in China's Fujian province to maintain their marriages. Such strains split up Ah Hong, 37, and her husband after she came to Toronto in 1993. She now works 12-hour days in a fabricating factory, returning home to her $300-a-month room in downtown Toronto for even more work. After eating a light supper, Ah spends her remaining waking hours at her sewing machine, working freelance. The extra money from the piecework comes in handy - she has paid nearly $15,000 to lawyers working on her refugee claim.

But the lawyers have failed her, and in August, Immigration Canada ordered her deported. Ah, who made a last-ditch appeal to stay on humanitarian grounds, is awaiting a final ruling. If that, too, goes against her, she vows she will not return to China and instead will disappear into the Fujianese underground. "I have had bad luck," sighs Ah, sipping a bowl of chicken-foot soup in a small Chinatown restaurant. "I divorced my husband in China and now I will never see my son. I just want to stay and have a good life."

'I WANT TO STAY'

In the Fujianese underground, the growing numbers of illegals without any form of Canadian identification quickly fall prey to unscrupulous employers. Knowing the workers are under threat of discovery and deportation, employers take advantage of their situation, paying them less than minimum wage for gruelling work that anyone with options would refuse. Lina, 26, who asked that her full name not be used, is one of many Fujianese migrants who has drifted from one such low-paying job to another. She arrived in Toronto in 1999 with a forged passport and visitor's visa, but was too frightened to declare refugee status. Now living in legal limbo, she faces deportation if she turns herself in to authorities and jail if she returns to China. For now, she shares a $300-a-month room with five other Chinese people in a house in the Portuguese area of downtown Toronto. Dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans she looks like a teenager, but like others from Fujian, she knows she must work constantly and spends most of her time toiling in restaurants for as little as $4 an hour.

The hardest part of her life as an illegal is never knowing when she might be discovered. "When I'm walking and see police I am nervous and frightened," Lina says. "To avoid being deported, I will go into a store or cross the street." But she has little to worry about. Most of Canada's immigration authorities are busy attempting to find hardened criminals who have come to Canada illegally - usually leaving people like Lina undetected. Although she does not know how she will achieve legal status in Canada, she is determined to do so. "I want to stay and go to school," says Lina. "I don't ever want to go back."

Maclean's December 11, 2000

1996

Total Claims: 925

Accepted: 154

Denied: 211

Abandoned/Withdrawn: 396

1997

Total Claims: 897

Accepted: 201

Denied: 259

Abandoned/Withdrawn: 420

1998

Total Claims: 1,417

Accepted: 288

Denied: 382

Abandoned/Withdrawn: 728

1999

Total Claims: 2,447

Accepted: 594

Denied: 423

Abandoned/Withdrawn: 743

2000*

Total Claims: 1,312

Accepted: 733

Denied: 737

Abandoned/Withdrawn: 274

Source: Immigration and Refugee Board

*January-September

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The glare of a lightbulb dangling from the ceiling of his decrepit basement room casts a harsh light on the young illegal's life. A beetle scurries from under a mattress on the floor beneath a grimy window. Three shirts lie by a battered suitcase; a few Chinese-language magazines are piled in the corner.

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Governernment of BC

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The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines trafficking in persons as:

"The act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons ... by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person ... for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum:

the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation,

forced labour or services,

slavery or practices similar to slavery,

servitude,

or the removal of organs."

The Difference between Domestic and International Human Trafficking

Domestic Human Trafficking

Domestic trafficking occurs when the crime takes place entirely within Canada's borders. The trafficked person may be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, visitor, temporary worker or student.

In Canada, Aboriginal women and youth are uniquely vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation due to factors including:

The effects colonization

Residential school abuse

Poverty

Gender inequity

Discrimination

International Human Trafficking

International trafficking occurs when a person is brought into Canada to be exploited.

A trafficker may bring the trafficked person into the country using a temporary work permit or a visa, or smuggle them across international borders using false documents or by routes that are undetected by border authorities.

The Difference between Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling

Human trafficking and human smuggling are not the same thing.

Smuggling is when a person pays to be transported illegally to a new country and is free from the smuggler on arrival.

Human trafficking is when a trafficked person is exploited by a trafficker. People who pay to be smuggled to another country are considered trafficked if they are kept captive or exploited on their arrival.

Nonetheless, not all human trafficking involves crossing international borders. People can be trafficked within a country, too. This is referred to as domestic trafficking.

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The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines trafficking in persons as: "The act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons ...

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Governement of Canada

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From Public Safety Canada

Human trafficking doesn't have to involve crossing borders. And it's not just a foreign problem, it's happening right now in communities across Canada.

Human trafficking involves recruiting, moving, or holding victims to exploit them for profit, usually for sexual reasons or forced labour. Traffickers can control and pressure victims by force or through threats, including mental and emotional abuse and manipulation.

If you or someone you know is a victim or survivor of sex or labour trafficking, get help now.

Can you recognize different forms of human trafficking?

Learn more about sex trafficking.

Learn more about labour trafficking.

Human trafficking: It's not what it seems

Better understand human trafficking

The big picture

Because incidents often go unreported, global and Canadian organizations often don't know the true scope of human trafficking. According to police-reported incidents:

96% of victims of human trafficking were women and girls.

65% of police reported human trafficking incidences between 2010-2020 were reported in Ontario.

91% of victims of police-reported human trafficking incidents knew their trafficker.

Spotting human trafficking close to home

Educational tools

Report a problem or mistake on this page

Thank you for your help!

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From Public Safety Canada Human trafficking doesn't have to involve crossing borders. And it's not just a foreign problem, it's happening right now in communities across Canada. Human trafficking involves recruiting, moving, or holding victims to exploit them for profit, usually for sexual reasons or forced labour.

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Government of Canada

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Foreword

Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, often described as modern-day slavery. This crime robs its victims of their most basic human rights and is occurring in Canada and worldwide. The victims, who are mostly women and children, are deprived of their normal lives and compelled to provide their labour or sexual services, through a variety of coercive practices all for the direct profit of their perpetrators. Exploitation often occurs through intimidation, force, sexual assault and threats of violence to themselves or their families.

Human trafficking is a complex issue with a diverse range of victims and circumstances. In Canada, we have seen instances of trafficking for sexual exploitation and labour exploitation. We have seen both Canadian victims and foreign national victims. We have seen men, women, and children fall prey to this terrifying reality.

As part of our Government's longstanding commitment to protect the vulnerable, tackle crime and safeguard Canadians and their families in their homes and communities, we are taking action against these terrible crimes.

Canada was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Our efforts are guided by this Trafficking Protocol and seek to prevent trafficking from occurring, protect victims of human trafficking, bring its perpetrators to justice and build partnerships domestically and internationally. To effectively combat this issue will require the involvement not only of the federal government, but of provincial and territorial governments as well. And to be successful, governments must also work closely with law enforcement, civil society and others.

While many initiatives are underway, both at home and abroad, the time has come to consolidate all of the activities into one comprehensive plan with an unwavering pledge to action. The Government of Canada's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking proposes strategies that will better support organizations providing assistance to victims and helps to protect foreign nationals, including young female immigrants who arrive in Canada alone, from being subjected to illegitimate or unsafe work.

The National Action Plan builds on our current responses and commitment to work together with our partners to prevent and combat this disturbing crime. It leverages and builds on Canada's international and domestic experience to date and provides aggressive new initiatives in order to address human trafficking in all its forms.

I commend those who have already shown their commitment to ending this horrific crime for their hard work and dedication. I am confident that as we move forward as a country, we will be able to effectively address this issue in Canada and in the international arena as well. In releasing this National Action Plan, we are sending a clear message that Canada will not tolerate this crime, that victims will be given the help they need, and that perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Minister of Public Safety

Introduction

Globally, it is estimated that human trafficking is amongst the most lucrative of criminal activities, rivaled only by drug and firearms trafficking and generating billions of dollars annually for sophisticated criminal organizations.

At any given time, it is believed that worldwide at least 2.45 1 million people are forced to perform degrading, dehumanizing and dangerous work in conditions akin to slavery. At the same time, it is estimated that the numbers continue to increase. It is not known whether this increase is due to improved efforts to investigate, detect and report this crime or whether it is due to an actual increase in the incidence of the crime worldwide. This crime is taking place in Canada, where human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is, to date, the most common manifestation of this crime and where the vast majority of the victims are Canadian women and children.

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, harbouring and/ or exercising control, direction or influence over the movements of a person in order to exploit that person, typically through sexual exploitation or forced labour. It is often described as a modern form of slavery.

Human trafficking is often confused with human smuggling, so what are the differences?
Consent: The smuggling of migrants, while often undertaken in dangerous or degrading conditions, involves migrants who have consented to the smuggling. Trafficking victims, on the other hand, have either never consented or, if they initially consented, that consent has been rendered meaningless by the coercive, deceptive or abusive actions of the traffickers.

Exploitation: Smuggling ends with the migrants' arrival at their destination, whereas trafficking involves the ongoing exploitation of the victim.

Transnationality: Smuggling is always transnational, whereas trafficking may not be. Trafficking can occur regardless of whether victims are taken to another State or only moved from one place to another within the same State.
United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime

Organized criminal networks, as well as individuals, perpetrate this crime, operating within Canada's borders and internationally. Traffickers reap large profits while robbing victims of their freedom, dignity and human potential at great cost to the individual and society at large. Traffickers control their victims in various ways such as taking away their identity documents and passports, sexual abuse, threats, intimidation, physical violence, and isolation.

Victims suffer physical or emotional abuse and often live and work in horrific conditions. They may also face fatal consequences if they attempt to escape. This crime represents a consistent and pervasive assault on the fundamental human rights of its victims.

He told her that he had control over her, that she belonged to him and that he could do anything he wanted to her. He became more and more abusive with her, both physically and verbally. He threatened to kill her and told her that, if she reported him to the police, he could easily hire someone to kill her for a couple of rocks of crack. He told her that if she fled, he would end up finding her and that he would stab her [translation].

Excerpt from the decision of the court in R v. Urizar, Court of Québec, Criminal Division

While it is impossible to truly know the full scope and impact of this problem at the international or Canadian level, we do know that women and children are the primary victims -overwhelmingly so for sexual exploitation but also for forced labour - however, men are not immune to this crime.

The extent of human trafficking, either in Canada or internationally, is difficult to assess due to the hidden nature of these offences, the reluctance of victims and witnesses to come forward to law enforcement and the difficulty of identifying victims in practice. Moreover, these cases often go unnoticed and unreported due to manipulation, fear, threats from traffickers, shame, language barriers or mistrust of authorities.

Why do victims not come forward?

Victims May:

Fear for their own lives;

Not understand that they are victims of human trafficking;

Be taught to distrust outsiders, especially law enforcement and other government authorities; Foreign victims may be afraid they will be detained and deported, or they may have limited language skills;

Be completely unaware of their rights or may have been intentionally misinformed about their rights in Canada;

Fear for their families and/or loved ones;

Feel threatened that traffickers will harm their families if they report their situation to, or cooperate with, law enforcement.

A set of interrelated "push" and "pull" factors contribute to human trafficking. "Push" factors include extreme poverty, unemployment, lack of education, inadequate social programs, gender-based inequality, corruption, war and conflict situations, and political unrest in countries of origin. "Pull" factors include the perceived financial rewards of cheap, exploitative labour practices in some economic sectors. Victims may also be 'pulled' into trafficking through the promise of money and what is portrayed as or believed to be a better life.

Human trafficking is often characterized as a "low risk/high reward activity" because of the fact that the crime is clandestine, therefore difficult to detect and investigate, which contributes to the relatively low prosecution rates worldwide. Victims can be exploited over and over for the financial or material benefit of the traffickers making this crime lucrative. The United Nations (UN) has estimated that this illegal activity generates approximately $32 billion 2 (US) annually for its perpetrators.

The United Nations, including the General Assembly (UNGA), Security Council (UNSC), Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and the Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) regularly contribute to the global research, prevention and protection landscape on human trafficking. Canada strongly supports anti-human trafficking activities in these various fora and offices, as well as those which are specifically dedicated to the fight against trafficking including the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.

Human Trafficking in Canada

In Canada, human trafficking often takes place in large urban centres, and also occurs in smaller cities and communities, largely for the purpose of sexual exploitation. We know that men, women and children fall victim to this crime, although women represent the majority of victims in Canada to date. More generally, those who are likely to be at-risk include persons who are socially or economically disadvantaged, such as some Aboriginal women, youth and children, migrants and new immigrants, teenaged runaways, children who are in protection, as well as girls and women, who may be lured to large urban centres or who move or migrate there voluntarily. Young women are sometimes recruited by younger male members of street gangs who use the promise of affection as a tool to recruit them.

As part of the Government's efforts, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducted Canada's first Human Trafficking Threat Assessment, which reviewed cases and intelligence between 2005 and 2009 to determine the extent of this crime in 2010 3. The Threat Assessment confirmed that vulnerable, economically challenged and socially dislocated sectors of the Canadian population represent a potential pool of trafficking victims. It noted that non-Canadian victims are often brought to Canada from countries in Asia, notably Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as countries in Eastern Europe.

More recently, increased evidence of human trafficking for forced labour has come to light. Investigations of such cases have occurred across the country with charges being laid in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia. Cases encountered to date suggest that human trafficking for forced labour is more prevalent in Alberta and Ontario. Labour-related intelligence and investigations have involved foreign nationals, both male and female, from the Philippines, India, Poland, China, Ethiopia, Mexico, Thailand and Hungary. In addition, there are indications that some foreign nationals are illegally transported and subsequently exploited by the employers as domestic servants.

Obtaining cooperation from foreign victims has been particularly challenging for law enforcement. Foreign victims who were trafficked are usually in the country alone, without family or a support system, and may be obstructed by language barriers. Also, they may not always see themselves as victims of human trafficking. In most cases, they are skeptical of police and see very little value or nothing to gain from cooperating with police.

The Threat Assessment reports that investigations and intelligence have identified both men and women migrant workers as a vulnerable group for forced labour. Investigations into claims of labour exploitation have centred on the treatment of migrant workers, and in some cases, the fraudulent use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by third parties.

"We were treated like dogs on a short leash... To this day I don't go out after dark because of all the threats. I have also received threats against my mother in Hungary".

- Victim Impact Statement (Hamilton forced labour case)

This Threat Assessment was the first significant overview identifying trends in Canada, providing strategic guidance for enforcement efforts. It has also guided government action by strengthening policies and programs to: better prevent and combat trafficking, address the needs of victims, and target traffickers. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducts threat assessments on this crime on an ongoing basis.

Canada's Criminal Law Responses

The Criminal Code of Canada (Criminal Code) contains the tools to hold traffickers accountable and includes four specific indictable offences to address human trafficking, namely sections 279.01 (Trafficking in persons), 279.011 (Trafficking of a person under the age of eighteen years), 279.02 (Material benefit), and 279.03 (Withholding or destroying documents).

Many other Criminal Code offences can also apply to human trafficking cases including kidnapping, forcible confinement, uttering threats, extortion, assault, sexual assault, prostitution-related offences, and criminal organization offences.

Section 118 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) contains a provision that prohibits the bringing into Canada of persons by means of abduction, fraud, deception or use of threat of force or coercion. It carries a maximum penalty of a fine of up to $1 million and/or up to life imprisonment.

The Criminal Code also contains measures designed to make testifying less traumatic for victims and other vulnerable witnesses. Testimonial aids, such as a screen that prevents the witness from seeing the accused, the use of closed-circuit television that permits the witness to testify from outside the courtroom or the presence of support persons may be made available in appropriate circumstances. Other measures that may be available are publication bans on information that would identify a complainant or witness and, in some cases, orders excluding the public from the courtroom.

See Annex A for Canadian anti-trafficking legislation.

Human Trafficking Offences in Canada

Although the extent of human trafficking in Canada is difficult to determine, the following available statistics, as of April 2012, provide some context:

25 convictions (41 victims) under human trafficking specific offences in the Criminal Code enacted in 2005. This does not include the numerous other convictions for human trafficking related conduct under other criminal offences.

Approximately 56 cases currently before the courts, involving at least 85 accused and 136 victims.

At least 26 of these victims were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence.

Over 90% of these cases involve domestic human trafficking; the remaining, less than 10% involved people being brought into Canada from another country.

3 charges have been laid under section 118 of IRPA, which prohibits trafficking into Canada. While no convictions under that section have been registered, accused persons have been convicted under related IRPA provisions.

Government of Canada Response

The National Action Plan will consolidate ongoing efforts of the federal government to combat human trafficking and introduce aggressive new initiatives to prevent human trafficking, identify victims, protect the most vulnerable, and prosecute perpetrators. A compendium of Canadian efforts on both the domestic and international stage can be found in Annex B.

In line with internationally accepted best practices, outlined in the Trafficking Protocol, Canada focuses on four core areas, known as the 4-Pillars (the 4-Ps):

The prevention of human trafficking.

The protection of victims.

The prosecution of offenders.

Working in partnership with others both domestically and internationally.

The following pages highlight the key elements and activities that will be pursued at home and abroad under the National Action Plan. A full compendium identifying activities and the departments responsible can be found in Annex C.

A Human Trafficking Taskforce, led by Public Safety Canada and comprised of key departments, will replace the Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons and be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the National Action Plan commitments under the 4-Ps and for coordinating the federal anti-human trafficking response and reporting annually on progress to the public.

"Human trafficking and all forms of child exploitation is a horrific abuse of human rights and impacts all of us. Defeating it must unite us all as a nation in the fight to protect our most vulnerable citizens."

Joy Smith, Member of Parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul

The Government will be investing over $6M on an annual basis on Human Trafficking activities, including:

Effort or Activity (lead organization)

Government of Canada Investment 2012/13

Dedicated Enforcement Team - RCMP and CBSA

$2,030,000

Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre - RCMP

$1,300,000

Regional Coordination and Awareness - RCMP

$1,600,000

Border Service Officer Training/Awareness - CBSA

$445,000

Training, Legislative Implementation, and Policy Development - JUS

$140,000

Enhanced Victim Services - JUS

Up to $500,000*

Temporary Foreign Worker Program - HRSDC

$140,000

Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program - DFAIT

$96,000

Global Peace and Security Fund - DFAIT

$1,200,000

Stakeholder Consultation and Coordination - Public Safety

$200,000

Awareness and Research - Public Safety

$155,000

* Beginning in 2013/14

Prevention
The Government of Canada will support a broad-based prevention strategy focusing on awareness raising and research activities to prevent human trafficking.
The Government's view is that prostitution victimizes the vulnerable and that demand for sexual services can be a contributing cause of human trafficking. Prevention is a critical component in responding to human trafficking. The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of developing holistic strategies that address the root causes and risk factors that can lead to human trafficking and related forms of exploitation, and that will assist in reducing the levels of victimization and the harms associated with it. Successful prevention strategies must be developed and implemented at all stages of the prevention continuum, from awareness raising through to prevention of re-victimization.

Action Highlights

Promote training for front-line service providers

Support and develop new human trafficking awareness campaigns within Canada

Provide assistance to communities to identify people and places most at risk

Distribute awareness materials at Canadian embassies and high commissions abroad

Strengthen Child Protection Systems within the Canadian International Development Agency's programs targeting children and youth

To date, the Government of Canada has focused on training law enforcement officials and raising the public's awareness of this crime. Moving forward, the National Action Plan will continue these efforts but will enhance awareness activities by tailoring information to various audiences including with our partners overseas. In addition, the Plan will focus on assisting communities to identify people and places most at-risk of human trafficking so that prevention and intervention efforts can be better targeted.

Under the National Action Plan, efforts will continue to focus on targeted training for first responders and service providers because they are often the first point of contact and provide victims with essential care and emergency relief. This includes promoting the online training tool developed for front-line service providers developed by the British Columbia Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons through a partnership with the Government of Canada. The training of font-line service providers and enforcement officials will continue to strengthen prevention and protection efforts.

The Government of Canada will increase its prevention and awareness efforts in several ways. The Government will develop a new and enhanced web page that includes updates on the Government of Canada's efforts, resources, awareness materials and events. The Government will also align national education, information and awareness campaigns and develop campaigns tailored for specific audiences. Some of these campaigns include a "TruckSTOP" campaign to prevent human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation; distribution of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's "I'm Not for Sale" campaign including to large communities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis; a youth campaign; and, distribution of awareness materials at Canadian Embassies and Consulates.

In addition, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada will develop awareness products for temporary foreign workers, employers, third parties, and Service Canada officers, including working with Citizenship and Immigration Canada to update and translate into five (5) foreign languages a brochure informing temporary foreign workers, including international students who may work in Canada, of their rights and providing important contact information.

There are still many gaps in our knowledge about how human trafficking plays out in Canada, including in Aboriginal communities. Indeed, much of the information in this area is anecdotal. To address the particular context out of which the exploitation of Aboriginal men, women, boys and girls arises, the Government of Canada will raise awareness about trafficking that focuses on prevention, and provide culturally and historically informed training to enforcement officials on the circumstances that may contribute to human trafficking within Aboriginal communities.

The Government of Canada will also develop national and local diagnostic tools to assist with the identification of populations and places most at-risk of trafficking in Canada. In addition, this tool will gather information on related forms of exploitation, and identify resources and populate an inventory of prevention practices. These efforts will inform prevention strategies at the national and local levels and allow better targeting of prevention efforts.

Canada will also seek to prevent human trafficking internationally. Under the Children and Youth Strategy, the Canadian International Development Agency supports a range of programs which address the factors that make children and youth vulnerable to human trafficking. These include investments in health and education, and programs to ensure that schools are safe and free from violence and which protect the human rights of children and youth. Through this Strategy, the Government of Canada will support international partners to increase capacity to prevent and combat human trafficking by developing tools, resources and by providing training to properly equip partners to review and design programs with consideration of unsafe migration and human trafficking risks; ensuring investments include support for community-based women and youth protection mechanisms; ensuring investments in education include the systematic incorporation of curriculums that tackle safe migration and human trafficking scenarios; and, ensuring birth registration is included and promoted in bilateral partners' frameworks and throughout programming.

Protection and Assistance for Victims
The Government of Canada will continue to assist all victims of crime, including trafficking victims; to work with the provinces and territories to deliver services responsive to the needs of trafficking victims; and to promote greater understanding of the needs of trafficked persons with a view to promoting their physical, psychological and social recovery.
Every trafficked person requires a range of support measures to address their particular needs and to assist them in recovering physically, psychologically and socially. In the case of foreign national victims, they may require additional supports and services including, for instance, some form of immigration status.

Comprehensive protection for trafficked persons encompasses many things. First and foremost, it requires the identification of victims of trafficking in a timely manner to ensure their safety and separation from their traffickers and to provide access to immediate health care needs.

The Government of Canada condemns all forms of forced labour, including exploitation tied to human trafficking. Both foreign nationals and Canadian workers benefit from the efforts of the federal government, the provinces and territories which have responsibility for the enforcement of labour standards, occupational health and safety, and labour relations within their own jurisdiction. Furthermore, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada work together with a range of partners on key issues related to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, a program that supports Canada's economic growth while providing appropriate protections to foreign nationals beyond those in place under provincials and territorial laws. This includes ongoing efforts to ensure that the Live-in Caregiver Program remains fair and equitable for both workers and employers, and that measures are in place to protect participants' rights and security.

Action Highlights

The Victims Fund currently makes funding available to projects that improve services to victims of human trafficking and will, beginning in 2013/14, have up to $500,000 specifically designated for such projects.

Identify and protect domestic nationals and foreign nationals in Canada, who are vulnerable to human trafficking, including female immigrants aged 15-21.

To protect and meet the needs of trafficking victims, the Government of Canada has taken many steps, such as enabling immigration officers to issue short-term temporary resident permits to foreign national victims of human trafficking and providing interim federal health care for such victims. Furthermore, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will consider opportunities for improving current measures in this area. In deciding whether or not to impose or lift visa requirements, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will consider, among other factors, whether a country has been a significant source country for human trafficking.

In Canada, victims of trafficking are not required to testify against their trafficker to gain temporary or permanent resident status.
Since Citizenship and Immigration Canada began issuing Temporary Residents Permits (TRPs) to victims of trafficking in May 2006 to the end of December 2011 4, 178 TRPs were issued to 73 foreign nationals.

This number includes subsequent permits issued to the same victim to maintain legal status in Canada. Of these victims identified by CIC, 16 were males and 54 were females (including one under 18 years old). Three ( 3) others were minor dependents of adult victims. 54 of the victims suffered labour exploitation and 14 - sexual exploitation. One victim was subjected to both labour and sexual exploitation, and one reported another kind of abuse. Key source countries included Thailand (30), Moldova (10), the Philippines (9) and Mexico (6).

The Government will also provide support to victims and victim serving organizations through the Department of Justice Victims Fund, which allows provinces and territories and non-governmental organizations to request funding to enhance services for Canadian and foreign national victims. It also provides financial assistance to victims of human trafficking in specified circumstances.

The Victims Fund has supported trafficking in persons projects including, in partnership with Public Safety Canada's Contribution Program to Combat Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking, the development and delivery of a training curriculum and toolkit on human trafficking for first responders; the delivery of awareness raising sessions on services for trafficking victims; the delivery of a workshop on trafficking for service providers to increase skills and awareness; the delivery of training sessions to assist service providers in identifying trafficking victims; and community workshops to raise awareness of trafficking in persons.

Because women and girls are most often victims of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the Government will invest in initiatives to end violence against women and girls. For example, Status of Women Canada's programming priority area, "Ending violence against women and girls", includes project funding to support female victims of human trafficking.

Status of Women Canada is supporting the development of culturally specific services for immigrant and refugee women victims of violence and human trafficking at an Edmonton area shelter. The shelter, specifically for immigrant and refugee women, is the first of its kind in Canada and includes outreach services, workshops, a peer mentoring program, and liaison with key stakeholders and law enforcement, social services and immigration services.

Since 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada have taken steps to improve protections for temporary foreign workers and reinforce employer compliance with program requirements. In April 2011, regulatory changes were implemented to the broader Temporary Foreign Worker Program that, among other provisions, improves the assessment of job offer genuineness, and would deny program access to employers who do not abide by the terms of their job offers. In April 2010, regulatory and administrative changes to the Live-In Caregiver Program - a component of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program - were implemented to increase protections and program flexibility. Changes included live-in caregivers receiving employer-paid benefits (i.e., transportation to Canada, workplace safety insurance and medical coverage until they are eligible for provincial coverage). In addition, an enhanced mandatory employment contract now protects them with respect to hours or work, overtime and other leave entitlements.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada will work on amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations based on proposed legislative text that was tabled on April 26, 2012 as part of the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act that are expected to afford the departments greater authority to monitor employer compliance with program requirements, as well as stronger consequences in cases of non-compliance.

Furthermore, through better prevention and detection, the Government will implement measures to improve the protection of vulnerable foreign nationals, including female immigrants who arrive alone in Canada, from forced labour and sexual exploitation at an early stage. Canada Border Services Agency will undertake efforts to raise awareness with vulnerable foreign nationals at ports of entry. Also, in order to better protect vulnerable persons who are at risk of being trafficked into Canada to work in situations where they could be subject to exploitation, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada will explore options to prevent the sex trade from accessing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The Government of Canada will also work with provincial/territorial partners to ensure that foreign nationals entering Canada under the International Student Program are genuine and attending quality educational institutions throughout their period of stay.

To protect foreign nationals from labour exploitation, including through human trafficking, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada will enhance its information and awareness materials for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and will also improve internal detection and prevention protocols to identify high-risk employers and explore policy development for on-site employer visits. It will also explore improvements to employer monitoring in the Live-in Caregiver Program. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada will continue to monitor recent enhancements to the protection of live-in caregivers, while considering the need for further changes.

Detection, Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers
The Government of Canada will build on current efforts to bring traffickers to justice and to strengthen the criminal justice system's responses to this crime.
The Government of Canada is committed to combating and disrupting criminal organizations and others involved in the trafficking of people to Canada and within Canada. Canada has a comprehensive legal framework which facilitates the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases and contains measures that support the participation of vulnerable victims/witnesses in the criminal justice process 5.

The Government supports Private Member's Bill C-310, 'An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons)', which received all-party support at the House of Commons report stage on April 4, 2012. The Bill was introduced by Conservative Member of Parliament Joy Smith, and includes two amendments that will help combat human trafficking in Canada and abroad. The first amendment would provide a non-exhaustive list of factors that a court may take into consideration when determining whether the legal test of exploitation has been made out. Such factors include the use of threats of force or other forms of coercion and deception. The second amendment would enable the Canadian prosecution of Canadian citizens or permanent residents who commit any of our trafficking in persons offences abroad.

The investigation of criminal offences in Canada is undertaken at the federal, provincial or municipal level, and police officers and prosecutors have a range of tools available to them to bring traffickers to justice. Investigative techniques such as undercover operations or electronic surveillance are permitted in Canadian law and are invaluable tools in human trafficking investigations. Police can also draw on information collected by departments and agencies such as Canada's Financial Transaction and Reports Analysis Centre which can provide financial intelligence regarding possible money laundering by suspected human traffickers.

Since 2008, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Human Trafficking National Coordination Center has coordinated awareness raising sessions that have been provided to over 39,000 officials from law enforcement, government and non-government organizations and the public on human trafficking, Canada's laws and how to assist victims.

Action Highlights

Provide targeted human trafficking training and education for prosecutors and law enforcement

Establish a dedicated integrated investigative team composed of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency and local police with the mandate to conduct proactive human trafficking investigations

Enhance intelligence collection coordination and collaboration

Specific human trafficking offences in IRPA and the Criminal Code provide the basis for investigating and prosecuting this crime. Significant efforts have been pursued to train law enforcement and prosecutors on these new offences and on how to investigate and bring traffickers to justice.

Enforcement of human trafficking legislation will be strengthened through the creation of a dedicated integrated team, led by the RCMP, to undertake proactive human trafficking investigations. This will be the first integrated team in Canada to focus on all types of trafficking, and will be complemented and supported by the Canada Border Services Agency, and a criminal intelligence analyst. Municipal and/or provincial police forces will be invited to participate. This integrated team will work in close partnerships with victim service providers. This approach will enhance cooperative efforts of law enforcement agencies to better identify organizations and individuals involved in human trafficking, and assist victims. The location of the team will be based on current threat and risk assessment information.

The National Action Plan also includes a number of measures to increase awareness and training for enforcement officials and prosecutors. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will develop and coordinate specialized training for police officers through the Canadian Police College and will add human trafficking awareness to its cadet training curriculum. In addition, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will develop a victim-centred guidebook for investigators to assist them in working with victims and will finalise the on-line human trafficking course for all Canadian law enforcement.

In partnership with the provinces and territories, the Government of Canada will enhance the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking. In particular, an operational handbook on investigation and prosecution of human trafficking offences in Canada for police and prosecutors will be developed and distributed. Efforts will also promote and explore opportunities to work with the National Judicial Institute to promote education on human trafficking amongst the judiciary.

In order to improve operational collaboration and coordination, federal agencies such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Passport Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Human Resources and Skills Development will work to develop and enhance partnerships with law enforcement at the municipal, provincial, national and international levels to improve information and intelligence sharing so that traffickers can be detected, investigated and prosecuted.

Partnerships and Knowledge
The Government of Canada will strengthen its relationships with relevant stakeholders to facilitate the ongoing development of effective policies and tools, to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated approach; and work to improve its ability to collect, track and report on data related to human trafficking in order to enhance knowledge and adapt our response appropriately, both domestically and on the international stage.
Canada was among the first countries in the world to explicitly recognize and promote partnerships as the "fourth P", acknowledging that it is a necessary component of any successful anti-trafficking strategy.

Maintaining and developing strong partnerships both within and outside the federal government is critical; so too is a robust knowledge base informed by topical and relevant research into the nature and scope of human trafficking. The development of a logical and transparent framework to estimate the extent of this crime is critical to fully understanding the problem and to developing an effective and appropriate policy response. That is why the Government will continue to lead and support work on this issue.

Action Highlights

Enhance engagement and collaboration with civil society, including Aboriginal organizations, and all levels of government to support knowledge exchange, strengthen partnerships and inform policy responses

Partner with international organizations and foreign governments to increase capacity to prevent and combat human trafficking

Promote cooperation through applicable legal instruments and reciprocity

Use diplomatic engagement to promote regional and international partnerships and policies in areas of the world particularly vulnerable to human trafficking

Continue to promote coordination between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in cooperation with the UN, the IOM and other organizations and like-minded countries, on efforts to tackle human trafficking and protect vulnerable populations, especially women and children

Provide support to key countries to adopt appropriate legislation and to train justice and law enforcement officials to prevent, identify and stop human trafficking

Work through specialized anti-trafficking mechanisms such as the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, to contribute to international anti-trafficking efforts, to report on Canada's efforts to fight human trafficking and to coordinate actions with those of our international partners

Successfully combating this crime requires partnerships. By strengthening partnerships with civil society and other levels of government, overall efforts to respond to human trafficking in Canada will be greatly improved. The Government of Canada will engage stakeholders through online consultations and roundtables, and will invite human trafficking experts and stakeholders to present and discuss issues of concern with the Human Trafficking Taskforce. Other efforts will include federal, provincial and territorial collaboration to develop and disseminate an operational handbook for police and prosecutors in relation to human trafficking cases as well as continuing to develop partnerships through the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Human Trafficking Awareness Coordinators located across the country.

Reliable data are required to identify victims, ascertain the needs of survivors, and maximize the impact of public awareness campaigns. This National Action Plan will use existing partnerships to collect data on the extent and origins of human trafficking to better identify and track trends on human trafficking in Canada. Furthermore, the Government will provide disaggregated data on the Temporary Resident Permits issued to foreign national victims of human trafficking. The Government will also share aggregated data regarding specifics on offenders and victims of human trafficking on request.

Canada has been a leader in international anti-trafficking efforts across the globe and through its participation in international fora. Canadian experts work with international organizations, including the United Nations and the Organization of American States, to contribute to the global fight against trafficking, consistent with our commitments under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Canada also advocates that countries, that are not parties to this Trafficking Protocol, take steps to sign and/or ratify it as soon as possible, as it is the primary international legal framework for cooperation and action on this issue.

The National Action Plan consolidates Canada's international efforts which include sharing our experience with partner countries and contributing to capacity building initiatives aimed at preventing and combating human trafficking abroad. To this end, the Government of Canada will continue to promote the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program in the Americas to international organizations, non-governmental organizations and countries to support projects in source and transit countries to combat human trafficking with a focus on organized crime networks, institutional capacity in the justice sector, and help for women and children.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program provides funding to states and organizations to enhance international capacity to prevent and respond to threats posed by international criminal activity, including human trafficking. Since 2009, the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program has supported projects aimed specifically at combating trafficking in persons, implemented by international partners such as:

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Enhancing capacity of national authorities to detect false travel documents and prevent human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the mesoamerican region (Central America and Mexico)

Improving border management by building the capacities of migration and law enforcement officers to counter human trafficking, migrant smuggling and transnational security threats (Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru)

Training judges and prosecutors on human trafficking (Peru)

Workshop to improve trafficking legislation (El Salvador)

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Strengthening capacity to combat human trafficking in the Sub-Andean Region of Peru and Ecuador

Global Programme for Strengthening the Capacities of Member States to Prevent and Combat Organized and Serious Crimes - OCN (Central American Network of Anti-Organized Crime/Narcotic prosecution Units)

Strengthening the capacity to combat human trafficking in Latin America

Combating trafficking in persons in columbia

Organization of American States (OAS) - Caribbean Training Institutes of Foreign Affairs on Human Trafficking, Especially Women and Children (Consular Training)

International Bureau for Children's Rights - Training Public Defenders & Enhancing child protection (Peru)

Canada Border Services Agency- Enhancing border security through workshops on travel document integrity; migrant smuggling and human trafficking and risk management (Colombia)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force provides policy, programming, and operational tools (including civilian deployment) for crisis response, stabilization and reconstruction efforts in acutely fragile or conflict-affected countries, and manages the Global Peace and Security Fund in 2011-2012 for programming in stabilization, security and justice system reform, and international peace operations globally. Since 2006, the Global Peace and Security Fund has provided funding to combat human trafficking, primarily in the Americas, through strengthening the institutional capacity of states and peace operations to address this issue:

UNICEF - reinforcing justice and security institutions to combat trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in Guatemala

IOM - capacity building in overall migration management and law enforcement, including human trafficking issues, in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

OAS - Anti-trafficking in persons train-the-trainers program for peace operations personnel from the Americas (13 countries)

Annex A:
Canadian Trafficking Legislation

Criminal Code of Canada (Section 279.01-279.04)

Section 279.01 (Trafficking in persons) states:

(1) Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence and liable

(a) to imprisonment for life if they kidnap, commit an aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault against, or cause death to, the victim during the commission of the offence;

or

(b) to imprisonment for a term of not more than fourteen years in any other case.

(2) No consent to the activity that forms the subject-matter of a charge under subsection (1) is valid.

Section 279.011 (Trafficking of a person under the age of eighteen years) states:

(1) Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person under the age of eighteen years, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person under the age of eighteen years, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence and liable

(a) to imprisonment for life and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of six years if they kidnap, commit an aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault against, or cause death to, the victim during the commission of the offence;

or

(b) to imprisonment for a term of not more than fourteen years and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of five years, in any other case.

(2) No consent to the activity that forms the subject-matter of a charge under subsection (1) is valid.

Section 279.02 (Material benefit) states:

Every person who receives a financial or other material benefit, knowing that it results from the commission of an offence under subsection 279.01(1) and 279.011(1), is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than ten years.

Section 279.03 (Withholding or destroying documents) states:

Every person who, for the purpose of committing or facilitating an offence under subsection 279.01(1) and 279.011(1), conceals, removes, withholds or destroys any travel document that belongs to another person or any document that establishes or purports to establish another person's identity or immigration status is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years, whether or not the document is of Canadian origin or is authentic.

Section 279.04 (Exploitation) states:

For the purposes of sections 279.01 to 279.03, a person exploits another person if they

(a) cause them to provide, or offer to provide, labour or a service by engaging in conduct that, in all the circumstances, could reasonably be expected to cause the other person to believe that their safety or the safety of a person known to them would be threatened if they failed to provide, or offer to provide, the labour or service;

or

(b) cause them, by means of deception or the use or threat of force or of any other form of coercion, to have an organ or tissue removed.

It is also important to recognize that various laws of general application can apply to respond to trafficking including but not necessarily limited to kidnapping (subsection 279(1)), forcible confinement (subsection 279(2)), aggravated sexual assault (section 273), extortion (section 346) and the organized crime (sections 467.11-467.13) and prostitution-related offences (see in particular section 212).

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Section 118)

Section 118 states:

(1) No person shall knowingly organize the coming into Canada of one or more persons by means of abduction, fraud, deception or use or threat of force or coercion.

Definition of "organize"

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), "organize", with respect to persons, includes their recruitment or transportation and, after their entry into Canada, the receipt or harbouring of those persons.

Annex B:
Selective Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts to Date

Prevention

Partnering with the Canadian Crime Stoppers Association to launch a national awareness campaign that includes the use of Crime Stoppers' national tip-line for the public to anonymously report suspected cases of human trafficking.

"I'm Not for Sale" awareness campaign by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The campaign toolkit includes two types of posters, one intended for the public and one that targets potential victims. It includes a training video, police officer handbook, pamphlet, victim assistance guidelines, fact sheets and information on how to report suspected cases of trafficking. [ http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ht-tp/publications/index-eng.htm ]

Supporting the Government of British Columbia to develop and launch a standardized online training for front-line service providers and first responders who may come into contact with victims.

Funding and support for two regional, one national and one international prevention and awareness roundtable to improve general understanding of the crime of human trafficking and to inform the development of comprehensive human trafficking prevention strategies.

In response to the ongoing vulnerability of Aboriginal and immigrant women to human traffickers, Status of Women Canada collaborated with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to deliver training on human trafficking to officials in law enforcement, the justice system, and border and immigration services.

Funding the People's Law School to develop plain-language awareness materials on human trafficking.

Funding the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to raise awareness and develop recommendations on the issue of human trafficking and sexual exploitation among First Nations communities.

Supporting three foundational Public Health Agency of Canada health promotion programs that target vulnerable children and their families to produce positive health outcomes (e.g., Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities; Community Action Program for Children; Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program).

Funding to Ekklesia Inner-City Ministries (Project 417), a Toronto-based charitable organization to organize a 2-day human trafficking awareness event at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto in the summer of 2011.

Protection and Assistance for Victims

Development and implementation of policy regarding the provision of temporary immigration status for foreign nationals who may be victims of trafficking and are without legal status in Canada.

Such persons may be issued an initial temporary resident permit, free of charge, for a period of up to 180 days which provides a period of reflection to help them escape the influence of their traffickers, begin to recover from their ordeal and consider their options.

Long term permits may be issued for up to three years in certain cases.

This permit grants access to emergency health services through Canada's Interim Federal Health Program which provides immediate medical care.

Victims can apply for work permits.

Implementing Royal Canadian Mounted Police victim assistance guidelines for its officers, which provides guidelines and procedures to ensure that the basic needs of victims are met and that protection is provided throughout human trafficking investigations including linking them to available resources in their community.

Supporting community-based projects including the Canadian Council for Refugees in hosting a national roundtable on improving services and protection for victims of trafficking.

Funding community organizations to develop training programs and to acquire specialized resources in order to improve responses for victims of trafficking.

"Victims Matter" awareness campaign aimed at victims of crime, their families and those who support them. [ http://www.victimsmatter.gc.ca ]

Detection, Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers

Establishment (2005) of the RCMP's Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre and six regional human trafficking awareness coordinators to provide national leadership and a focal point for law enforcement in their efforts to address human trafficking.

Since 2008, the provision of training and awareness workshops and sessions to more than 39,000 law enforcement, border and immigration officers, prosecutors, government agencies, non-government organizations and members of the public across Canada.

Release of "Human Trafficking in Canada: a Threat Assessment" in 2010 in order to provide strategic guidance for Canadian law enforcement while identifying challenges facing investigators in responding to this crime. [ http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ht-tp/publications/index-eng.htm ]

Development and implementation of a comprehensive policies and procedures manual for Border Services Officers.

Development of comprehensive policy and procedures for Royal Canadian Mounted Police members to support human trafficking investigations.

Awareness raising sessions on human trafficking for forced labour delivered to labour inspectors and officials in 5 jurisdictions.

Working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to strengthen worldwide capacity to investigate and prosecute human trafficking through three specific projects:

Development of an anti-human trafficking manual for criminal justice practitioners.

Development of model anti-trafficking law.

Development of a needs assessment toolkit on criminal justice responses to human trafficking.

Working with the Organization of American States to provide training on how to develop anti-trafficking laws to a meeting of law enforcement officers and parliamentarians, including Ministers, in the English-speaking Caribbean and Haiti.

Strengthened the capacity of police officers and border officials to detect, investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases by conducting human trafficking training in 12 West African countries, Mexico and Cambodia.

Contributing to the Financial Action Task Force typology report about Money Laundering Vulnerabilities Arising from the Trafficking of Human Beings.

Funding for the National Police Support Centre for Missing Persons and the National tip website for Missing Persons to ensure that law enforcement and the justice system meet the needs of Aboriginal women.

Partnerships and Knowledge: Domestic and International

Domestic:

Partnership between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ottawa Police Service in the organization of a national conference on human trafficking in order to advance local responses for prevention, better assist victims, improve prosecution efforts, and to strengthen relationships between law enforcement and community groups.

Released a feasibility study on developing a national data collection framework on trafficking in Canada.

Supporting research to assess whether any increase in human trafficking occurred as a result of the 2010 Winter Games, which will in turn assist in the development of prevention strategies in relation to similar events hosted by Canada in the future.

International:

Established in December 2009, the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program enhances the capacity of key beneficiary States, government entities and international organizations through the provision of transfer payment assistance to projects designed to prevent and respond to threats posed by international criminal activity, including human trafficking.

Since 2009, the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program has provided funding to combat human trafficking in the Americas to strengthen prevention, protection and prosecution efforts.

Canada's Counter-terrorism Capacity Building Programme also contributed funds in 2008 to document fraud prevention work that indirectly contributed to combating human trafficking in 33 OAS Member States.

Since 2009 the Anti-Crime Capacity Building/Counter-terrorism Capacity Building programs have also contributed some funds to capacity building programs with indirect links to helping prevent trafficking in persons - namely through focusing on migrant smuggling and fraud prevention in South East Asia and the Americas.

Through the Global Peace and Security Fund, Canada has continued to develop and propose projects to promote international norms and in-country capacities to prevent and respond to human trafficking of women and girls for sexual purposes such as forced prostitution and enslavement in situations of armed conflict and state fragility, and/or human trafficking insofar as it is linked to state fragility and/or armed conflict or post-conflict more generally.
Since 2006, the Global Peace and Security Fund has provided funds to combat human trafficking in the Americas.

Canada also works directly with partner countries and organisations in regions of the world that are most affected by human trafficking. For example, Canada has been an active partner in advancing the rights of vulnerable populations and targeting human traffickers and others who benefit financially from undocumented and unprotected migrants on the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These partners, such as the United Nations, the International Organizations for Migration, and like-minded countries are working with local authorities with respect to related issues such as child sex tourism, the protection of women and children and the regularization of migrants to safeguard their rights.

At the UN, with other international and regional organizations and bilaterally with key states, Canada promoted policies and norms to prevent and respond to human trafficking of women and girls for sexual purposes such as forced prostitution and enslavement in situations of armed conflict and state fragility.

Supporting the International Labour Organization (ILO) in a technical assistance project entitled Eliminating Forced Labour and Trafficking in Jordan, which aimed at strengthening government enforcement capacity to identify, investigate and prosecute offences for forced labour and contributed to the development of a National Strategy against Trafficking in Persons.

Engaging in international fora such as: the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Regional Conference on Migration where Canada has supported and promoted the importance of civil society engagement in responding to human trafficking.

Participating in the INTERPOL Task Force on Human Trafficking.

The INTERPOL Task Force on Human Trafficking is the only international mechanism that promotes communication on various issues within the international law enforcement community.

Regular meetings between participating countries afford an opportunity to share and gather intelligence on new human trafficking trends globally and share best practices.

Annex C:
Action Items Chart

Appendix 1:
Abbreviations

AANDC

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada

APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

CBSA

Canada Border Services Agency

CIC

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

CIDA

Canadian International Development Agency

CISC

Criminal Intelligence Service Canada

DFAIT

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

PPTC

Passport Canada

DND

Department of National Defence

FINTRAC

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada

HRSDC (Labour Program)

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - Labour Program

HRSDC (TFWP)

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - Temporary Foreign Worker Program

ILO

International Labour Organization

IOM

International Organization for Migration

JUS

Department of Justice

OAS

Organization of American States

OSCE

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

PHAC

Public Health Agency of Canada

PPSC

Public Prosecution Service of Canada

PS

Public Safety Canada

RCMP

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

RCM

Regional Conference on Migration

StatCan

Statistics Canada

SWC

Status of Women Canada

End Notes

1 A number of studies to estimate the number of persons trafficked in a year have been undertaken, both by international organizations and national governments [ http://www.ungift.org/docs/ungift/pdf/knowledge/ebook.pdf ]. Estimates of the number of victims vary depending on the methodology employed in the studies. For instance, the International Labour Organization estimates that between 1995 and 2004, on average, each year, worldwide, at minimum, 2.45 million people are discovered to be living in a situation of having been trafficked. [ http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/-declaration/documents/publication/wcms_081882.pdf ]

2 [ http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_081882.pdf ]

3 The Executive Summary, including its key findings can be accessed at: [ http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ht-tp/publications/2013/proj-safekeeping-eng.htm ]

4 Note on data: The numbers are subject to change, as final data for 2011 are still being gathered. It is important to note that these data do not include the number of trafficking victims who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Furthermore, data limitations do not permit a breakdown of the number of victims of trafficking who may have chosen to pursue other immigration options, such as applying for refugee protection or permanent residence for humanitarian and compassionate reasons. Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Victims of Trafficking in Persons Case Monitoring as of April 12, 2012.

5 Private Member's Bill C-310, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons), introduced on October 3, 2011, seeks to enhance the Criminal Code trafficking provisions by clarifying the meaning of exploitation for the purpose of human trafficking and by adding an extra-territorial clause that enables the Canadian prosecution of human trafficking related offences outside of Canada.

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Human trafficking or trafficking in persons is often described as a modern day form of slavery. It involves the recruitment, transportation, and/or harbouring of persons typically for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour in a variety of industries.

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APTN News

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In recent months, human trafficking has made headlines in Canada as governments announce new legislation and new money to fight it.

But sexual exploitation is not a new problem.

"It's been going on since the whole history of Nova Scotia," says a peer outreach worker with the YWCA in Halifax. "People just don't want to look at it."

We're not revealing this outreach worker's identity so we don't jeopardize her work with people at-risk, victims, and survivors of sexual exploitation.

"I go around the neighborhood as much as I can, doing work to talk about the real fear of getting trafficked, how easy it is to happen, the different ways that it can happen," she says.

She knows firsthand. It happened to her at age 13.

"I heard once, if you can't find the person, be the person," she says. "When I was 13, I couldn't find that person. So for me, I want to be that person. So that other kids don't have to experience some of the horrors and traumas that I have."

As a Cree, Mi'kmaw and African Nova Scotian, she brings her culture and life experience to her role with the YWCA's NSTAY program - Nova Scotia Transition and Advocacy for Youth.

Her clients range from as young as nine, to age 12, up to women in their 40s.

"People, when they hear about sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, they think Philippines, they think all these other exotic places or different countries, when that industry is so big here in Canada," she tells APTN Investigates.

"But they don't see it. You don't want to know that this is going on right here, because then you've got to wonder if your father or your brother or your uncle is the client."

She says sex traffickers can be a peer, another woman, a person in a position of power, a pimp.

"And then there's the boyfriend," she says. "Everybody wants to be loved. We don't dream any differently than anybody else. So, he becomes that Prince Charming, for whatever reason, in this sea of craziness."

The Hollywood version of sex trafficking can happen. The victim is drugged, abducted, and forced into sex work. It's called guerilla pimping.

But the trafficker's biggest weapon is manipulation.

"They look for people with vulnerabilities or weaknesses and they exploit those. It's part of what they call the grooming and recruiting process," says RCMP Cpl. David Lane, who heads the inter-agency Nova Scotia Human Trafficking Unit.

He says it's important people recognize the red flags.

"Some of the indicators would be that their daughter met Prince Charming, a new boyfriend that she's totally in love with, who treats her better than anyone before."

Lane gets calls from concerned parents and describes a common scenario; a new boyfriend, bearing gifts, a new look, a change in behavior. Their daughter becomes difficult to reach, and moves away.

"None of that would seem that it's a crime but it's a lot of the steps of the grooming process."

Lane says trafficking is a hidden epidemic but one happening in plain sight.

"These traffickers are traveling with their victims in public, especially pre-Covid, in the airports, train stations, the bus stations. They're getting stopped by police," says Lane. "So it's really a crime that's happening in the open, I guess is the biggest surprise to most people."

Sex trafficking is different than sex work. It's exploitative and takes away the victim's choice through manipulation, force, coercion, and threats.

It's a complex crime to investigate. Victims may be fearful for their safety. Or they may think the trafficker is their boyfriend.

And trafficking doesn't respect borders.

"I would say that's one of our top issues, the multi-jurisdictional aspect of human trafficking," says Lane. "Someone's in Halifax today. We start a file and then they're in New Brunswick or Quebec the next day."

A recent report from the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking focused on highway corridors, including the TransCanada highway, and the 401 in Ontario.

The report concludes, "What is clear is that a key mechanism of exploitation employed by sex traffickers is leveraging the isolation of the victim, and their unfamiliarity with their environment, in order to profit."

Human trafficking is big business. Globally, it's a $150 billion dollar-a-year industry.

In North America, two-thirds of human trafficking involves sexual exploitation. In Canada, 97 per cent of victims are women and girls.

Since 2016, the provincial Human Trafficking Unit has engaged in a campaign to raise awareness.

"It's not something that we can arrest our way out of," says Lane. "The best human trafficking case is the one that doesn't happen."

For the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association (NSNWA), prevention and education are key.

" A lot of people don't understand that whole concept of human trafficking. Our own communities don't understand it," says Karen Bernard, director of the Jane Paul Centre in Sydney, Cape Breton.

The centre serves Mi'kmaw women-at-risk and is run by the NSNWA.

In February, 2021, the Mi'kmaw association received $386,000 in federal funding to develop a three-year project; the Nova Scotia Indigenous Human Trafficking Prevention strategy.

" What it's going to do is increase the awareness of human trafficking and improve the quality of our indigenous people within this province specifically," says Bernard.

In 2018, Nova Scotia made headlines for its high rates of trafficking relative to the rest of Canada.

Bernard says trafficking is hardly a new issue. For Indigenous women, it's tangled with the history of colonialism.

"The young girl, Pocahontas, if that was her real name, was taken away. Again, you know, glorified in Disney movies," says Bernard. "Nobody realizes she was, I believe, 12 at the time. This child was put into a child marriage. She was kidnaped. She was exported. She was taken away from our country.

"And this is where my whole piece comes from, regards to grooming our people right across the country, grooming our people for human trafficking, and this is where it began."

Bernard says that pattern continued with residential schools and the Sixties Scoop.

"Our children are exported from their homes. They are taken in exchange," she says. "All those factors that created this whole allowance to let our people believe that we are worth less than what we are."

Bernard says that cycle continues today with Indigenous over-representation in the child welfare and the criminal justice systems, both of which make people vulnerable to trafficking.

Last year, the Nova Scotia government invested $1.4 Million dollars for prevention and awareness of human trafficking.

In 2019, the federal government launched National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, committing $57 million over 5 years.

If you need help or know someone who does, call the national toll-free hotline 1-833-900-1010 or go online at www.canadianhumantraffickinghotline.ca.

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Human trafficking industry happening in plain sight in Canada say experts

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In recent months, human trafficking has made headlines in Canada as governments announce new legislation and new money to fight it. But sexual exploitation is not a new problem. "It's been going on since the whole history of Nova Scotia," says a peer outreach worker with the YWCA in Halifax.

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YouTube

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The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Child labour is defined as the regular employment of boys and girls under the age of 15 or 16. Attitudes toward child labour have altered dramatically since the late 18th century, when it was generally assumed that children should contribute to the family economy from about age seven. By the beginning of the 20th century most provinces had enacted labour legislation to restrict the employment of children.

History

Prior to the 19th century, children were often seen as economic assets to families. In most cases, this meant assisting parents, but it could also entail paid employment outside the home. Such activity might include the acquisition of skills useful in adulthood, possibly such as a formal apprenticeship. Child labour made an important contribution to Aboriginal culture and to the societies of New France and early English Canada. However, during the 19th and early 20th centuries most Canadian children became economic liabilities to their families. Boys' and girls' time was increasingly taken up securing a formal education. By 1911 about 40 per cent of Canadian children aged five to nine, and 50 per cent of 10-to19-year-olds were in school. As the percentage of children attending school increased, the proportion of boys aged 14-19 who were gainfully employed dropped from 68 per cent in 1921 to 40 per cent in 1961.

Industrialization and urbanization in the mid-19th century opened up more opportunities of paid employment for children who were not in school. The proportion of urban residents grew from about 17 per cent at Confederation in 1867 to over one-third by 1901, and to almost one-half by 1921. In major urban centres, children could find employment in Montréal textile mills, Hamilton businesses, mines in Cape Breton and British Columbia, and small manufacturing enterprises in the Maritimes. Still, many jobs for children were considered "dead end" - poorly paid, menial positions without any opportunity for advancement. Some positions, such as those of messenger boy and newspaper vendor, did not lead to adult employment. Moreover, most children holding jobs came from working-class backgrounds.

Early Reform

Social reformers of this era were concerned with child labour and were intent on improving Canadian society. As well as supporting compulsory schooling and measures to combat juvenile delinquency, reformers sought to ban child labour. The first wave of provincial legislation regulating child labour in factories and mines began to pass in the 1870s and 1880s. But the prohibition of child labour did not come until the 20th century.

Several conditions combined to restrict and eventually end child labour in Canada. By the beginning of the 20th century most provinces had enacted labour laws to restrict the employment of children. Legislation restricting child employment in mines was enacted in Nova Scotia in 1873, and British Columbia in 1877. By 1929 children under 14 had been legally excluded from factory and mine employment in most provinces.

From the early 1870s to the mid-1920s all the provinces enacted legislation requiring school attendance. Sanctions were imposed on families that did not comply. In 1891, Ontario legislation required compulsory school attendance for eight-to-14-year-old children. In 1921, the Adolescent School Attendance Act increased the age of compulsory attendance in urban areas to 16. Following compulsory attendance, provinces gradually restricted child employment by the age of the child and by requiring students to pass through minimum grade levels. Although exemptions were common, legislation was designed so that compulsory education and labour restrictions were mutually supportive.

Depression and War

During the Great Depression, many adults sought jobs formerly done largely by children. During the Second World War, however, many children entered the workforce, defying school-attendance legislation. Since the war, it has been argued, women replaced children as part-time contributors to family income.

Child labour persisted into the 20th century in less visible forms. Between Confederation and the mid-1920s, about 80,000 British children, most under 14, were brought to Canada by humanitarian organizations wishing to give them a new start away from their working-class backgrounds. Most were apprenticed to rural families, and in general, became child labourers rather than adopted children. Growing sensitivity to their fate led to the prohibition of child immigration in 1925.

Conventions and Treaties

In 1926, the International Labour Organization (ILO) established a convention that defined slavery as "...the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised...." and identified child labour. By 1930 the convention was broadened to specifically define forced labour. Convention 29, the Forced Labour Convention (1930), supplemented the convention to include the abolition of slavery, the slave trade, and institutions and practices similar to slavery or forced labour. Canada helped develop the convention but was one of only nine countries that did not ratify it. It wasn't until 1959 that Canada ratified ILO Convention 105, the Abolition of Forced Labour, which specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labour as a means of political coercion.

In 2000 Canada ratified the international Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work treaty, which opposes the worst forms of child labour such as trafficking, recruitment of child soldiers and prostitution. As of 2013, Canada still has yet to ratify ILO Convention 138, which aims to establish a minimum age of 17 for working children.

Legacy

Today in Canada, work outside school hours is generally allowed. However, for children under 16, school attendance is compulsory and employment is restricted. The legislation governing minimum age, number of working hours per day and the time of day that a youth may work varies between the provinces and territories. Some provinces require parental permission for a minor to be employed. Legislation also exists to protect minors from working under dangerous or hazardous conditions, such as in the mining industry, manufacturing, construction, forestry, and where liquor is sold or kept for sale.

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Child labour is defined as the regular employment of boys and girls under the age of 15 or 16. Attitudes toward child labour have altered dramatically since the late 18th century, when it was generally assumed that children should contribute to the family economy from about age seven.

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Government of Canada

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There are few images more heart-rending than that of a girl or boy who is forced to work or is denied the opportunity to go to school.

Despite increasing global recognition of the rights of the child, there are currently approximately 168 million children between the ages 5 and 17 who are engaged in child labour.

This accounts for almost 11% of the child population as a whole.

Children in hazardous work make up almost half of all child labourers numbering 85 million (55 million boys and 30 million girls) and this number is used as an estimate of the number of children in "the worst forms of child labour."

Canada efforts to stop child labour exploitation

The promotion and protection of human rights is an integral part of Canadian efforts abroad. Under Canadian law (the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act), all Canadian official development assistance must be consistent with international standards of human rights.

Labour provisions of Canada's recent Free Trade Agreements include a commitment to abolish child labour.

Canada has supported UN resolutions on rights of the child including:

the urgent need to protect children from violence in all forms

exploitation and child labour

We helped draft the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child and ratified it in 2000.

Canada considers the worst forms of child labour to be a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No.182).

Children's rights and business principles

The Government of Canada welcomed the Canadian release of the Children's Rights and Business Principles. We also encourage Canadian companies to integrate the Principles into their business practices as a tool for guiding the actions they can take to:

respect and support children's rights

contribute to the elimination of child labour

Working with partners to combat child labour internationally

In addition to advocating these issues among the international community, Canada works in collaboration with our international partners, including other donors and the ILO to combat child labour internationally.

The Government of Canada contributed to The Roadmap for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, adopted at the Global Child Labour Conference in May 2010.

Reducing poverty through development aid and cooperation is central to Canada's efforts to prevent and reduce child labour.

Global Affairs Canada funds projects which promote affordable access to primary education, child protection, good governance, and improvements in the status of women-all of which reinforce the well-being of children.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Canada supports the ratification and implementation of international standards that:

protect children from economic exploitation

from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous

or to interfere with the child's education,

or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development

ILO Conventions

The International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour urges governments to take immediate and effective measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency to include:

1. all forms of slavery or slave-like practices, such as the human trafficking of children, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

2. the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

3. the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for production and trafficking of drugs; and

4. work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment is one of the eight ILO "fundamental" Conventions that are considered core to promoting decent work. Convention 138 aims to ensure that children do not leave school to start working too young by setting the age at which children can be employed or work".

International human rights standards

Canada has ratified the following international human rights treaties relevant to child labour including the worst forms of child labour:

Related links

Government of Canada:

International sites:

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There are few images more heart-rending than that of a girl or boy who is forced to work or is denied the opportunity to go to school. Despite increasing global recognition of the rights of the child, there are currently approximately 168 million children between the ages 5 and 17 who are engaged in child labour.

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Save the Children

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Today there are an estimated 218 million children who work, including 152 million who are engaged in harmful work - work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and interferes with their education. Economic exploitation and hazardous work are key violations of children's rights and Save the Children has worked for decades to protect children from these situations. To address the issue of children and work we use a holistic, child-centred approach that focuses on child protection, economic strengthening, health and education and to create opportunities for girls and boys to become healthy, educated, and empowered citizens.

Harmful work makes it difficult for a child to attend school, or limits their attendance, including those employed in largely unseen domestic work. Many children engaged in harmful work experience its worst forms - including slavery, forced and bonded work, child trafficking, illicit activities, and involvement in armed conflict and sexual exploitation (including online). Boys and girls are affected differently by child labour. Estimates show that more boys are involved in harmful work than girls, especially in the manual work sector and are often involved in the types of work that present physical hazards. More girls often work in informal and hidden occupations such as domestic work and in the services sector. They are also pulled out of school earlier than boys, and are more likely to face sexual exploitation and slavery.

Save the Children recognises that many children and youth are working across the globe. Work is viewed in its broader sense, as all economic activities undertaken by children and youth. It includes all kinds of productive or domestic work, paid or unpaid, in their own family's home or external to the home, in rural and urban contexts.

Save the Children advocates for protection from harmful and exploitative work for children and youth, while also acknowledging the role of children and youth as economic actors, who can secure benefits from being economically active through dignified work.

In defining harmful work , Save the Children applies key principles articulated in international standards, including Article 32a of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO Conventions 182[1] and other international standards aimed at protecting children from exploitation. Within the broad category of harmful work, there are different degrees and types of harm, ranging from physical, psychological and emotional harm, to harm to health, development and education.

Dignified work is work that respects the rights of children. This requires that it is decent and safe work; it exists concomitantly with other rights (eg education, by allowing time for schooling); it enlarges upon learning by imparting knowledge and technical skills but also social, cultural, political and life skills (eg resilience, self-esteem), and instills a positive mindset and responsibility towards society.

The topic of children and work is thus complex. By situating children and work on a spectrum, with harmful and worst forms of labour on one end, and positive and beneficial work on the other, depending on the conditions, work can have both harmful and positive effects on a child's well-being, growth and development. Three broad categories of work that require different responses to protect children's rights, are mapped below on two axes, reflecting the levels of both harm and benefits faced by children in a particular situation [OL4] .

Save the Children's focus on children and work needs to ensure that we work to reduce harm, while at the same time ensure that we can enhance benefits, through education and livelihoods, so that children can fully exercise their rights and develop to their full potential into healthy, educated and empowered citizens.

What we do? To support working boys and girls, Save the Children implements an integrated, multi-thematic approach which addresses the child's holistic experience:

Child Protection - as reduction of harm

Education and Child Poverty - as the means to enhance benefits

Child Rights Governance as it relates to child-friendly policies and child participation (including child-led movements) as well as the Child Rights and Business Principles, and to

UNCRC Article 32 outlines the right to be protected from economic exploitation and from hazardous and harmful forms of work.
ILO Convention 182 advocates for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

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Today there are an estimated 218 million children who work, including 152 million who are engaged in harmful work - work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and interferes with their education. Economic exploitation and hazardous work are key violations of children's rights and Save the Children has worked for decades to protect children from these situations.

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News Wire

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World Vision welcomes the report and urges the Government of to immediately take the next critical steps by formally committing to working with civil society, trade unions, investors, and the private sector to design the right supply chain legislation for Canada.

"This report reconfirms that it's time for the Government of Canada to introduce legislation to address the risk of child and forced labour in our supply chains," says Michael Messenger, President of World Vision Canada. "After hearing children around the world, I can say with conviction that child labour is also a Canadian issue. There are at least 1,200 Canadian companies importing up to $34-billion in goods that may have been made by child or forced labourers overseas. It has to stop. Consumers, companies and governments should all play a part in addressing Canadian links to this global problem. O ther countries are already taking action, Canada needs to commit to federal supply chain legislation or risk falling behind on promoting responsible business and human rights including the protection of children from exploitation and harm."
FAST FACTS

Canadian imports of "risky products" now total $34B, a 31% increase over the past five years.

91% of Canadians agree that the Canadian government should require companies to publicly report on who makes their products and what they are doing to reduce child labour in their supply chains

Canada risks falling behind in the global fight to eliminate child and forced labour in supply chains. Four significant jurisdictions, the UK, California, the Netherlands and France, have all passed legislation to address modern slavery and/or child labour in their supply chains

MEDIA RESOURCES
A Call to Action: Ending the Use of All Forms of Child Labour in Supply Chains: HERE
No Child for Sale digital media kit with photos, stories and reports on child labour: HERE
Background information on child labour in Canadian supply chains: HERE
World Vision is a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization working to create lasting change in the lives of children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Inspired by our Christian values, World Vision is dedicated to working with the world's most vulnerable people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.
SOURCE World Vision Canada

For further information: Brett Tarver (647-825-2712) or [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.worldvision.ca

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Taking Action On Canada's Child Labour Problem

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World Vision welcomes the report and urges the Government of to immediately take the next critical steps by formally committing to working with civil society, trade unions, investors, and the private sector to design the right supply chain legislation for Canada.

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Unicef

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Economic hardship exacts a toll on millions of families worldwide - and in some places, it comes at the price of a child's safety.

Roughly 160 million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of 2020, with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19. This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide. Almost half of them are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health and development.

Children may be driven into work for various reasons. Most often, child labour occurs when families face financial challenges or uncertainty - whether due to poverty, sudden illness of a caregiver, or job loss of a primary wage earner.

The consequences are staggering. Child labour can result in extreme bodily and mental harm, and even death. It can lead to slavery and sexual or economic exploitation. And in nearly every case, it cuts children off from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights.

Migrant and refugee children - many of whom have been uprooted by conflict, disaster or poverty - also risk being forced into work and even trafficked, especially if they are migrating alone or taking irregular routes with their families.

Trafficked children are often subjected to violence, abuse and other human rights violations. For girls, the threat of sexual exploitation looms large, while boys may be exploited by armed forces or groups.

Whatever the cause, child labour compounds social inequality and discrimination. Unlike activities that help children develop, such as contributing to light housework or taking on a job during school holidays, child labour limits access to education and harms a child's physical, mental and social growth. Especially for girls, the "triple burden" of school, work and household chores heightens their risk of falling behind, making them even more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

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Nearly 1 in 10 children are subjected to child labour worldwide, with some forced into hazardous work through trafficking

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YouTube

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Public Safety (2)

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Introduction

Organized crime affects Canadians' basic rights to peace, order and good government. Although the effects of illicit activities are not always obvious, all Canadians, through one form or another, feel them through victimization, higher insurance rates, fewer tax dollars to support social programs, and the eventual undermining of Canadian institutions and consumers. No community is immune from the effects of organized crime.

As stated on the website of the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, "since organized criminals seek out countries known to have less effective regulatory and enforcement systems, any jurisdiction that does not have adequate defences is at risk and may cause risk to other countries. As perhaps never before, the policies and enforcement capabilities of any one country have direct consequences globally." Governments therefore have a responsibility to work collaboratively, both domestically and internationally, to address this phenomenon.

Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Governments continue to work together to find solutions to this pervasive problem. This continued commitment to work together, including with the law enforcement community, and associated partners is strong. A key component in these efforts is the National Coordinating Committee on Organized Crime (NCC), an FPT entity.

This report provides a brief overview of the scope of serious and organized crime in Canada, highlights governments' collective response to this problem, discusses where action should focus, and identifies strategies and approaches recommended by the NCC to reduce its harms. It is not intended to describe every action that FPT Governments have taken or are taking to fight organized crime; instead, it provides an update of recent successes and future objectives.

Scope of Organized Crime in Canada

The Criminal Code of Canada defines a criminal organization as a group, however organized, that:

(a) is composed of three or more persons in or outside Canada; and,

(b) has as one of its main purposes or main activities the facilitation or commission of one or more serious offences that, if committed, would likely result in the direct or indirect receipt of a material benefit, including a financial benefit, by the group or by any of the persons who constitute the group.

In the 1990s, organized crime was characterized primarily, but not exclusively, by outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), the illicit drug trade and associated turf wars. Today, organized crime activities have expanded beyond these "traditional" activities to include migrant smuggling, trafficking in humans and firearms, marihuana grow operations, identity theft, sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, the production and smuggling of counterfeit goods and money, motor vehicle theft, and more.

Another notable characteristic of today's organized crime groups is the shift from mainly ethnic based groups to multicultural criminal organizations. CISC reports that although ethnic and cultural heritage remains an influencing principle within the organized crime environment, the growing number of multi-ethnic groups is based on criminal capabilities rather than ethnicity. Similarly, the structure of organized crime groups is much more flexible today than in the past. Hierarchical groups continue to exist, most notably through OMGs. Law enforcement, however, is identifying groups that are based on temporary alliances requiring particular skills to complete a specific criminal enterprise. Once the criminal venture is completed, these individuals may or may not continue to work together.

In recent years, organized crime groups have become more complex and sophisticated, as have new types of crime. These groups are increasingly using new and evolving technology to commit crime and to communicate with other criminal groups. For example, communications devices are frequently used to target sensitive personal and financial information in order to conduct identity theft and mass marketing fraud. Organized crime groups are also expanding into legitimate business activities, as well as branching out into new markets in Canada.

Building a Collective Response: National & Regional Coordination

National Coordinating Committee on Organized Crime

Following a recommendation made at the National Forum on Organized Crime in 1997, the NCC was created. The NCC, a body composed of FPT government officials, prosecutors, and representatives from the law enforcement community was created to identify key issues for action. Within the NCC, there are five Regional Coordinating Committees (RCCs), which ensure that local concerns and perspectives are brought to the table. The NCC has three main responsibilities:

to identify issues and policy priorities related to the problem of organized crime;

to advise FPT Deputy Ministers on the development, coordination and implementation of policies, legislation and programs aimed at combating organized crime; and,

to encourage coordination of anti-organized crime activities among various players at the regional and local level.

National Agenda to Combat Organized Crime

In 2000, FPT Ministers responsible for Justice endorsed the National Agenda to Combat Organized Crime. The National Agenda recognizes that the fight against organized crime is a national priority that requires all levels of government, the law enforcement community and other partners to work together. The National Agenda identifies four main pillars to be addressed:

national and regional coordination;

legislative and regulatory tools;

research and analysis; and,

communications and public education.

The NCC is responsible for assisting in the development and implementation of the National Agenda in order to better combat organized crime.

2006 Overview

In 2006, the NCC continued to build on the four pillars that form the basis of the National Agenda. These pillars assist in meeting the ultimate objectives of:

1. preventing and reducing organized crime; and

2. preventing and reducing the harms caused by organized crime

Governance

During 2006 there was significant debate surrounding the governance of the NCC and consideration as to how it may be strengthened. The NCC is unique in that it is the only body, among the many bodies in Canada that address organized crime, which brings together both police and policy makers to discuss issues of common interest. Several measures were identified to enhance governance of the NCC:

The NCC Executive and plenary bodies should be combined into one main body instead of two, which would take responsibility for strategically advising Deputy Ministers on serious and organized crime. It should work to set the National Strategy agenda and analyze action plans and implementation strategies, as well as focus on information-sharing and priority-issues discussions;

Funding should be provided to the RCCs to support meetings;

The NCC Secretariat should be strengthened to allow for better communication and information flow between RCCs and the NCC; and,

In addition to the co-chairmanship by the RCMP and Public Safety Canada, NCC membership should include members of the FPT ADM Committee on Policing Issues, selected representatives from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), a representative from each of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC), Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Public Prosecution Service of Canada, and the Criminal Law Policy Section within the Department of Justice. The total membership would be approximately 25, including Co-Chairs.

These new measures would facilitate national cooperation as closer links are established with local agencies and other FPT bodies that are involved in addressing the complexities of organized crime.

Public Education

Efforts continued to be directed at enhancing public education through the development of a national communications strategy to educate Canadians about organized crime. Public opinion research shows that the average Canadian believes that organized crime is serious and that it is present in their community, but that it does not affect them personally. The objectives of national communications efforts will include educating Canadians about the reality of organized crime and its reach, scope and effects on daily lives; promoting FPT actions, cooperation, operational efforts and successes; and increasing cohesion with other groups to build a unified approach to public communication.

Furthermore, it was agreed that the work of the NCC and its partnerships across the country should be highlighted as an addendum to CISC's annual report. Towards this end, the NCC Secretariat is exploring the option of streamlining the two publications on organized crime.

Data and Evaluation

In an effort to strengthen the data and evaluation pillar of the National Agenda, salient evaluation findings on current anti-organized crime initiatives were brought forward to the NCC. Key findings were presented from recently evaluated initiatives, including the Measures to Combat Organized Crime (MCOC), First Nations Organized Crime (FNOC), Integrated Market Enforcement Teams (IMETs), and Integrated Proceeds of Crime (IPOC). The performance information gathered to date has been limited to federal partners. To move forward, information from provincial/territorial partners will be necessary in order to provide a truly national picture. In recognition of this fact, the NCC Executive has acknowledged the need to enhance information-sharing and adequate resourcing, at both the federal and provincial/territorial levels, in order to strengthen organized crime-related performance measurement and evaluation.

Several key data sources for identifying the extent of organized crime were explored. One such source is the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR), Version 2.2, which includes new variables on organized crime, including street gangs, hate-motivated crime, cybercrime and geo-coding. One of the two major police records management systems (RMS) was able to implement the new survey for January 2005. The first data from this survey were released on February 6, 2007 for the two police services able to provide an entire year of 2005 data: Ottawa and London. The other major vendor of RMS is expected to incorporate these new fields during 2007. As a result, the majority of police services should be collecting

Currently, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics has developed a pilot Survey of Fraud Against Businesses and administered it to 600 establishments. The analysis of the pilot data is ongoing and the intention is to conduct a national survey in early 2008. The project is designed to survey small, medium and large business establishments for the purpose of collecting data on the number of incidents of various types of fraud experienced in a 12-month reference period. The Centre is exploring means to secure additional funds to undertake a Canada-wide survey of individindividuals to provide a more fulsome picture of the extent of fraud in Canada and its victims.

Furthermore, the paucity of data on the incidence of fraud in Canada continues to be a challenge for policy makers and law enforcement. With this in mind, funds were sought and obtained from the federal Policy Research Initiative (PRI) to sponsor a business fraud survey that the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics has recently undertaken. A second phase of the project is currently being developed to undertake a Canada-wide survey of individuals to provide a more fulsome picture of the extent of fraud in Canada and its victims.

International Efforts

The NCC Executive recognizes that organized crime needs to be addressed both domestically and internationally. The NCC has the ability to provide to FPT partners an opportunity to inform and share information on the links between domestic and international policy. At present, there are a number of multilateral instruments and fora that deal with organized crime generally, outlined below:

Canada-U.S. Cross Border Crime Forum (CBCF)

This annual Canada-U.S. forum is co-led by the Canadian Ministers of Public Safety and Justice and the U.S. Attorney-General and the Secretary for Homeland Security.

It brings together law enforcement and justice officials to advance several cross-border issues, of which combating organized crime is a central focus.

Canada and the U.S. conduct bi-annual joint threat assessments on organized crime in North America and identify priority targets for joint investigation.

The CBCF also issues threat assessments on several issues, many of which are tied to organized crime, including organized crime threat assessment, firearms trafficking, trafficking in persons, drug smuggling and mass-marketing fraud.

CICAD

The Government of Canada contributes $1M annually to CICAD, a large portion of which is used to fund both supply and demand reduction projects in support of CICAD's mandate. In 2006/2007, Canadian funding was directed towards:

Organized crime investigations training in Mexico, Panama, and Trinidad on the control of synthetic drugs, undercover training, and investigative techniques;

RCMP and CBSA led border/customs training seminars for Caribbean countries, on airport drug Investigation and interdiction;

RCMP and CSC led substance abuse programming for incarcerated offenders offered in Central America and the Dominican Republic;

Online addictions studies in the Caribbean;

Evaluation of substance abuse prevention programs;

Training under the International Observer Attachment Program (IAOP);

Port security and the private seminars in Guatemala and Colombia; and,

Border/customs control training program in Venezuela, on container profiling.

G-8 Lyon-Roma Group

The G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers are supported by a group of experts, called the G8 Lyon-Roma Anti-Crime and Terrorism Group (LRACT).

This year, the German Presidency has indicated that it will ensure continuity with the work undertaken by the United Kingdom (2005) and Russian (2006) Presidency in the following areas of relevance to law enforcement: identify the barriers and constraints to G8 countries sharing DNA data, and develop an action plan to remove these barriers; develop international best practices to enhance cooperation between the telephone industry and law enforcement industry; and assess the challenges of Anti-terrorist Security in the Subway and Railroads.

The German Presidency has also asked that this G8 group of experts looks at initiating new projects in the areas of synthetic drugs, Intellectual Property Rights, as well as human trafficking and smuggling.

Going forward, it is anticipated that additional global treaties may soon be in place in order to address specific sub-sectors of organized crime, including cybercrime, economic crime, money laundering, the sale of organs, mutual legal assistance and extradition, and kidnapping. The NCC can play an important role through the sharing of knowledge from concrete and practical experience; assisting in the identification of appropriate needs and responses; identifying obstacles to cooperation; acting as a source of expertise for training and sharing of best practices; and being a key partner in the effective implementation of international agreements.

Legislative and Regulatory Tools

In 2005, additional efforts were made to strengthen the legislative response to organized crime, through the coming into force of Bill C-53, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Proceeds of Crime) and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act. Bill C-53 received Royal Assent on November 25, 2005, and built upon existing legislative provisions to target proceeds of crime in relation to criminal organization offences and certain offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. In essence, Bill C-53 created a reverse onus by which the offender must prove that property is not proceeds of crime.

Recent legislative reforms relating to DNA and firearms could aid in efforts to counter organized crime. In May 2005, Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the DNA Identification Act and the National Defence Act received Royal Assent. Bill C-13 adds 172 additional Criminal Code offences to the list of those for which a National DNA Data Bank order can be made, and DNA profiles derived from crime scenes can be entered in the Data Bank. The list of primary designated offences expands to include secondary ones, such as robbery and break and enter. However, before Bill C-13 can be brought fully into force, the current Government Bill, Bill C-18, An Act to amend Certain Acts in Relation to DNA Identification, a corrective bill, must be proclaimed.

In May 2006, the Government transferred responsibility for the Firearms Act and Regulations from the Canada Firearms Centre to the RCMP. This move is expected to make it easier for police services across Canada to co-ordinate gun control activities with other crime control measures.

To enhance the capacity of law enforcement to fight gun crime, the Government is supporting the Investments to Combat the Criminal Use of Firearms Initiative to improve the national collection, analysis and sharing of firearms-related intelligence and information. As this data becomes more available, it will assist in addressing the smuggling and trafficking of firearms.

In May 2006, Bill C-10, an Act to amend the Criminal Code ( minimum penalties for offences involving firearms) received first reading in the House of Commons. The primary objectives of Bill C-10 are to increase mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for individuals who commit serious or repeat firearm offences, and to create the new offences of breaking and entering to steal a firearm, and robbery to steal a firearm.

In November 2006, Bill C-35, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (reverse onus in bail hearings for firearm-related offences), was tabled. It proposes a "reverse onus" in bail hearings for certain offences involving firearms.

Commonly referred to as "law enforcement justification (LEJ) provisions", sections 25.1 to 25.4 of the Criminal Code are applied when designated law enforcement officers commit what would otherwise be considered offences while carrying out investigative or enforcement activities. The provisions provide those designated with a limited justification defence, provided that their conduct is reasonable and proportional under the circumstances. While used by law enforcement officials in a number of investigative and enforcement situations, LEJ provisions are particularly helpful for organized crime investigations. In order to ensure that the provisions are appropriately applied, section 25.3 of the Criminal Code requires that reports on the use of provisions be published annually. The RCMP's annual report for 2006 is available online. As an additional accountability measure, a mandatory Parliamentary Review of the use of provisions is currently underway.

The NCC is also considering initiatives to better protect domestic witnesses through witness protection programs and to strengthen court processes through initiatives aimed at facilitating the management of complex cases. The RCMP has developed a discussion paper exploring the possibility of creating a national witness protection program in Canada. The discussion paper was presented to the NCC in 2006 and circulated for discussion and comment among federal-provincial-territorial partners. The RCMP is currently analyzing comments received in order to determine next steps on this issue and to ascertain the level of support to move forward.

The Province of Quebec shared its recently developed action plan to address intimidation with the NCC. This action plan includes the establishment of an intimidation follow-up committee comprised of key partners involved in the fight against organized crime, including criminal justice personnel.

The Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce recently completed the five-year mandatory review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. Its recommendations are generally consistent with the findings of the different evaluations and audits of Canada's money laundering regime. These findings formed the basis for Bill C-25, An Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and the Income Tax Act and to make a consequential amendment to another Act. Bill C-25 received Royal Assent on December 14, 2006. This enactment amends the PCMLTFA to enhance the client identification, record-keeping and reporting measures applicable to financial institutions and intermediaries. It establishes a registration regime for money services businesses and foreign exchange dealers and creates a new offence for not registering. It allows FINTRAC to disclose additional information to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and permits FINTRAC to exchange compliance-related information with its foreign counterparts. It also permits the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to enter into agreements to share enforcement information in relation to the cross-border currency reporting regime with other border administrations.

Key Sub-Sector Strategies and Priorities

FPT governments have identified types of serious and organized criminal activity that are particularly pervasive - and particularly destructive - in Canada. The NCC has served as a key forum for the sharing of information and participating in the development of policies and programs to address these issues.

Illicit Drugs

Marihuana grow operations (MGOs), as well as trafficking and consumption of marihuana is increasing across Canada. Efforts to address MGOs continue to tax all drug enforcement resources across the country. Data indicates that the problem is particularly serious in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, although recent major seizures in rural parts of the Maritime Provinces indicate that the problem is by no means localized to specific regions. Furthermore, synthetic drug production and trafficking in Canada have reached unprecedented levels, which according to the RCMP, is primarily the result of increased involvement of major organized crime networks. Organized crime is involved in the importation of chemical ingredients for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, particularly ecstasy and methamphetamine, which are then distributed across Canada, the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, Pacific Rim countries such as Japan and Australia.

Cocaine and heroin continue to be in demand in Canada. As there is no domestic source, organized crime groups capable of wholesale distribution work within their networks to smuggle these drugs to Canada either directly from source countries or through transit countries.

FPT Ministers responsible for Justice, in October 2003, endorsed a report prepared by the NCC Working Group on MGOs, which identified recommendations broadly promoting national and regional coordination, policy and legislation, research, as well as public education and awareness related to MGOs. Much progress has been made on these key recommendations. For example, in the summer of 2005, the NCC Working Group on MGOs worked with the Coordinating Committee of Senior Officials (CCSO), law enforcement and other key stakeholders to build on these recommendations and develop a national strategy to address the proliferation of marihuana and synthetic drug production and distribution operations. In November 2005, FPT Ministers approved in principle the proposed strategy, "A National Strategy to Combat Marihuana and Synthetic Drug Production Operations". The Government of Canada is working towards the implementation of a New National Anti-Drug Strategy with an emphasis on dissuading young people from using illicit drugs and contributing to safer communities. Budget 2007 set aside $63.8M over two years to focus on three priority areas, to: combat illicit drug production and distribution ($21.6M); prevent illicit drug use ($10M/2 years); and, treat and rehabilitate those with illicit drug dependencies ($32.2M/ 2 years). Dedicated resources to support increased law enforcement activities will proactively target illicit drug producers and traffickers, as well as the organized crime elements behind them, including gangs.

Funding will enhance the capacity of the criminal justice system to investigate, interdict and prosecute offenders. The Government is also committed to ensuring that strong and adequate penalties are in place for serious drug crimes.

This will build on investments announced "under the renewed Canada Drug Strategy under the renewed Canada Drug Strategy (CDS, 2003), where the RCMP established dedicated MGO and clan lab enforcement teams. These teams currently share best practices and work directly with provincial and municipal police forces across the country. The teams, each assisted by an RCMP coordinator, are increasingly intelligence-led and designed to target organized crime at the highest level. The MGO Coordinator has established partnerships with organizations such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to develop a database to keep track of residential properties suspected of being used as MGOs, and with local power companies to improve efforts to locate and disrupt power supply to MGOs. The Clan Lab Coordinator works closely with industries that use precursor chemicals, in order to reduce the diversion of these chemicals to the illegitimate market for use in producing synthetic drugs.

In August 2005, methamphetamine was moved from Schedule III to Schedule I in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), thereby increasing maximum penalties for possession of methamphetamine from three to seven years; and for trafficking, importing or exporting methamphetamine, increasing maximum penalties from ten years to life imprisonment.

Furthermore, in November 2005, the Precursor Control Regulations were amended to strengthen the domestic controls over precursors sold in Canada. In January 2006, six new substances were added to the list of Class "A" precursors. Four of the six new precursor chemicals could be used in the production of methamphetamine. They are now controlled and subject to licensing requirements.

There are also a number of public education campaigns underway to inform youth of the dangers associated with marihuana use and harms to the communities caused by MGOs. An educational package for youth regarding the harms of methamphetamines is also being developed by Health Canada in consultation with CDS partners.

Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime

Money laundering is the process by which "dirty money", generated by criminal activities, such as drug trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and extortion, is converted into assets that cannot be easily traced back to their illegal origins. Through laundering money, serious and other organized criminals are able to operate and expand their criminal empires and otherwise benefit from the proceeds of criminal activity. The potential damage that money laundering can cause to business and civil society demands a clear, strategic and timely response.

The Integrated Proceeds of Crime (IPOC) Initiative, established in 1996, works towards the objectives of identifying, seizing, restraining and forfeiting illicit and unreported wealth accumulated through organized criminal activity, thereby removing the financial incentive for engaging in criminal activities. By targeting their illicit profits and, in turn, their incentive to operate, the IPOC Initiative targets the core of what motivates criminal organizations, making it a fundamental component of the overall fight against organized crime in Canada. In addition to playing an integral role in Canada's Organized Crime Strategy it also plays a key role in protecting the integrity of the Canadian economy. The IPOC Initiative brings together the skills, knowledge and abilities of a diverse group of experts including law enforcement officers, lawyers from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (then, Department of Justice), forensic accountants and property managers from Public Works and Government Services Canada, Regional Intelligence Officers from the Canada Border Services Agency, as well as Tax Agents from the Canada Revenue Agency. The integration of the partner agencies facilitates a coordinated approach towards combating organized crime.

FINTRAC is a vital part of Canada's response to the problem of money laundering. FINTRAC is an independent, "arms-length", agency of the Government of Canada that collects, analyzes, assesses and discloses information to the law enforcement community and others to assist in detecting, preventing and deterring money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities in Canada and abroad. By providing financial intelligence and ensuring compliance, FINTRAC has been key to the National Agenda and an important partner for the NCC.

An NCC working group on Money Laundering, which is chaired by FINTRAC, is currently developing ways to improve tracking and feedback on financial intelligence case disclosures made by FINTRAC, thus allowing for the enhancement of those disclosures. In addition, the working group is developing best practices in relation to the voluntary provision of information by law enforcement in support of FINTRAC's money laundering analysis.

Economic Crime

Fraud

PhoneBusters and Reporting Economic Crime Online (RECOL) are two national initiatives that aim to combat fraudulent activities in Canada. Established in January 1993, PhoneBusters is a national anti-fraud call centre jointly operated by the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP. PhoneBusters is a central body in Canada for the collection of information on telemarketing, advanced fee fraud letters (e.g., Nigerian letters) and identity theft complaints. The data collected at PhoneBusters is a valuable tool in evaluating the effects of various types of fraud on the public. This information works to educate the public and provide accurate information to inform policy development to prevent similar crimes from taking place in the future.

RECOL is a web-based crime-reporting system that allows Canadians to make complaints regarding suspected identity theft, fraudulent letter or telemarketing scams, and other white-collar crimes. Private information submitted to RECOL is only received by those agencies specifically selected by the person filing the complaint. Personal information provided to the RCMP is protected under the Government of Canada's Privacy Act. Disclosure of such data is strictly governed under voluntary consent. RECOL also provides public education through the dissemination of crime prevention information, and collects baseline data on fraud, with a view to identifying crime trends and compiling statistical information.

Other important initiatives aimed at combating fraudulent activities in Canada include the Competition Bureau's Information Centre (an independent law enforcement agency that investigates anti-competitive business and consumer practices and promotes compliance with the laws under its jurisdiction), and a number of multi-agency law enforcement task forces across Canada that partner with U.S law enforcement agencies, including Project Emptor (Vancouver); Project COLT (Montreal); the Vancouver Strategic Alliance; the Toronto Strategic Partnership; Atlantic Strategic Partnerships; and the Alberta Law Enforcement Partnership.

Efforts are being made to further a national fraud strategy, which may include the establishment of a Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (a national reporting centre), improve information sharing among law enforcement, produce more complete intelligence, and centralize fraud complaint information. The merging of RECOL and PhoneBusters would form the basis for the creation of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. The NCC indicated support for the development of a national fraud strategy in May 2005.

In September 2005, The National Mass Marketing Fraud (NMMF) Strategy Working Group was established with an objective to create a national strategy to combat MMF in Canada. The NMMF Working Group has shaped a national strategy, which sets out a multi-faceted blueprint for action to dismantle, disrupt and neutralize Canadian-based MMF operators and their fraudulent activities. The national strategy is comprised of four pillars: (1) more vigorous law enforcement, (2) raising awareness, (3) tougher sanctions and targeted legislation and (4) national harmonized data collection. The strategy is being led by a number of federal and provincial organizations, including the Department of Justice, and is co-chaired by the Competition Bureau and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

Canada continues to work at the international level to address the threat of economic fraud and identity-related crime. Recently, Canada worked with the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to draft a report outlining the results of the study on fraud and the criminal misuse and falsification of identity. Of particular importance, the report concludes that developments in information, communications and commercial technologies are a strong influence on rapidly increasing occurrence rates for both fraud and ID crime and within each offence, increases in the rates of transnational offences. The Commission has also called for the development of materials to assist UN Member States in preventing and combating economic fraud and identity related-crime based on the report, and Canada remains committed to this project.

At the Cross-Border Crime Forum in November 2006, Canada and the U.S. jointly released the Report on Phishing, a follow up to the Identity Theft Report released at the Cross-Border Crime Forum in October 2004. The report was prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Public Safety Canada, with contributions from the many agencies and individual participants in the Canada-U.S. Working Group on Cross-Border Mass Marketing. The report provides information to the American and Canadian public on the latest phishing schemes, as well as information to law enforcement and government policy makers. The report defines phishing and how it is committed, emerging trends and threats, and efforts to combat phishing and raise public awareness in both Canada and the U.S.

Counterfeit Goods

Intellectual property (IP) crime occurs across Canada and is expanding rapidly around the world. Interpol estimates that 5-7% of global trade is comprised of counterfeit goods. Canada's losses from IP offences are believed to total billions of dollars annually. The low risk of apprehension, low penalties, and high profits make IP crime attractive to serious and organized criminals by providing a source of funding for other illicit activities. CISC notes that multiple criminal groups are involved in the manufacturing, importation and distribution of counterfeit products across Canada.

A wide variety of commodities are fraudulently produced and sold, including circuit breakers, automobile parts, food and beauty products, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, CDs, and toys. IP infringing goods can pose threats to public health and safety and cause economic loss to industry and government. Canada is facing increasing international pressure from trading partners, including the United States, to increase enforcement of IP rights. As part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), Canada has committed to work with the U.S. and Mexico toward the development of a tri-lateral action plan on IP Enforcement. To this end, SPP partners have met twice in Washington to discuss shared IP enforcement issues, particularly at border crossings, as well as best practices and lessons learned. At the federal level, an interdepartmental working group is in the process of developing a national strategy, addressing prevention, detection, enforcement and public awareness of counterfeit goods offences, as well the possibility of amending existing legislation in order to allow for more rigorous enforcement of such offences, especially at the Canadian border. As an emerging and growing organized crime issue, addressing IP crime will be a challenge for all levels of government. As the development of a federal IP strategy progresses, cooperation and collaboration among FPT officials under the NCC, will become increasingly important.

Counterfeit Currency

Counterfeiting currency is a serious and growing crime that can have a significant impact on the stability of Canada's economy. The RCMP Bureau for Counterfeit and Document Examinations (BCDE) has reported a 535% increase in suspect counterfeit banknote submissions between 1992 and 2004. According to research conducted by the Bank of Canada, Canada now places first amongst G-10 countries in terms of measured vulnerability of domestic banknotes to counterfeiting.

In response to this increasing threat, Budget 2006 allocated $9 million over two years (and ongoing) to the implementation of the National Counterfeit Enforcement Strategy (NCES). Specifically, funding will target the creation of integrated counterfeit enforcement teams (ICETs) in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal respectively. These ICETS will have all a mandate to conduct intelligence-led counterfeit currency investigations, emphasizing on those involving organized crime groups.

Human Trafficking

According to the United Nations (UN), human trafficking and migrant smuggling are two of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. Globally, they are the third largest source of revenue for organized crime, after drugs and arms trafficking. The UN has estimated that over 700,000 persons are trafficked annually while some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) put the number at over 1 million each year. Canada continues to be a destination and transit country for human trafficking.

Significant efforts have been made to address human trafficking both internationally and domestically. Canada is party to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. This Protocol requires States parties to criminalize human trafficking and develop comprehensive policies and programs to address this issue. In terms of legislation, human trafficking and smuggling are prohibited under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and carry a maximum penalty of a $1 million fine and/or life imprisonment. These provisions apply only to cross-border trafficking and do not address domestic human trafficking. However, Bill C-49, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons), which came into force upon receiving Royal Assent on November 25, 2005, addresses both domestic and cross-border human trafficking. It creates three new indictable offences which specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, receiving a financial or other material benefit from the trafficking of a person, or the withholding or destruction of a person's travel or identification documents, for the purpose of committing a trafficking offence.

In May 2006, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) released new guidelines for immigration officers which allow trafficking victims to receive a temporary resident permit (TRP) that allows them to stay in Canada for up to 120 days and receive health-care benefits under the Interim Federal Health Program. This includes essential and emergency health services for the treatment and prevention of serious medical conditions and the treatment of emergency dental conditions. Trauma counselling is also included.

Municipal, provincial and federal law enforcement, depending on which authority has jurisdiction in a given case, investigates all cases of trafficking either under the Criminal Code of Canada or the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

For its part, the RCMP has established the Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre. It serves as a focal point for facilitating human trafficking investigations and helping to protect victims. The Centre works through an extensive network of partnerships with domestic and international agencies; coordinates information; develops protocols to help victims; offers specialized training to law enforcement; and, through a team of analysts across the country, gathers and shares relevant intelligence that will ultimately help law enforcement at home and abroad coordinate their approach.

Human trafficking has a strong Canada-United States cross border component. Canadian and U.S. officials have jointly developed the 2006 U.S.-Canada Binational Assessment of Trafficking in Persons, which outlines the nature and scope of this problem, and identifies measures being taken by both countries to address it. The release of the joint assessment also fulfils a commitment made in the Security and Prosperity Partnership. More importantly, it is intended to promote increased coordination in responding to this issue.

The Standing Committee on the Status of Women is currently conducting a study on human trafficking and the Committee's Report is expected in early 2007.

Motor Vehicle Theft

The Reporting of Exported Goods Regulations were amended in 2005 to require the reporting of Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) in relation to conveyances being permanently exported from Canada. These amendments will allow the CBSA to verify compliance by examining containers that have been reported for export and are suspected, based on reasonable grounds, of failing to comply with the requirement to provide VINs. The CBSA is currently drafting policies to compliment the regulatory amendments and assist CBSA officers in the identification of stolen vehicles that are reported upon export.

Street Gangs

Street gangs are very much a part of the organized crime landscape in Canada. CISC reports that over 300 street gangs have been identified in Canada, with an estimated 11,000 gang members and associates operating across the country. The majority of street gangs are primarily involved in crimes such as street-level drug trafficking, prostitution and theft. Some are more sophisticated and are capable of higher-level criminal activities within a criminal market and with an expanded geographical scope, such as importation or production of illicit commodities. Street gangs pose a significant public safety threat through their high propensity for violence, which tends to be spontaneous and opportunistic. Law enforcement notes a recent increase in gang-related violence being reported across the country, requiring a constant allocation of police resources.

In 2005, the City of Toronto experienced an unprecedented escalation in gun-related crime. In the past, strict enforcement models had provided only temporary relief. While enforcement is a necessary, fundamental police response to violence, the Service recognized a community oriented approach was needed to establish lasting solutions. In response to this violence, the Toronto Police Service, in January 2006, introduced the Toronto Anti Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS).

The strategy, developed within the principles of community policing/mobilization, was driven at the local divisional level where officers, dedicated to specific neighbourhoods for extended periods, were the principle neighbourhood contact and source of information from which enforcement and community mobilization initiatives were developed. They built trust and strengthened community partnerships, and assisted in finding solutions to reduce crime and disorder.

While locally driven, the strategy incorporated a rapid response and specialist component to augment the local neighbourhood initiatives. The rapid response team, composed of 54 uniformed officers, helps provide the high visibility presence needed to reassure and calm affected communities, and the special teams, consisting of investigative officers working primarily undercover, worked to remove high-risk criminals and gather intelligence. It must be emphasized, however, that the uniform rapid-response teams and the investigative component are just part of the larger more comprehensive strategy. For example, 200 officers were returned to frontline uniform duty from non-uniform functions, and the Service accelerated the hiring of an additional 250 officers, increasing our uniform presence in our communities most affected by violent crime. Also, the Community Mobilization Unit (a specialist research and development unit) works with the divisional neighbourhood officers, and the local community, to identify and offer programs, contacts and resources required to help communities create the capacity to improve their own safety. In this way, the TAVIS helped reduce violence in the city. In 2006, murders declined almost 14%, shooting murders declined by 44.2% and shooting occurrences, in general fell 15.9% from 2005 levels.

Conclusion

According to CISC, organized crime in Canada will continue to pose serious economic, health and public safety threats through involvement in the array of criminal activities identified in this report and more. In particular, the illicit drug trade will continue to provide organized crime groups with their largest source of illicit earnings. Although FPT governments have made considerable progress to date in combating serious and organized crime in Canada, there is much that still needs to be done, including developing a strategic approach to illicit drugs and street gangs, implementing a coordinated and effective national fraud strategy, strengthening the witness protection program and facilitating the management of complex cases. No one jurisdiction or country can combat organized crime on its own. Continued national and international cooperation is critical to addressing this

1. 1
Nathanson Centre website, http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/default.htm

2. 2
The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) consists of a Central Bureau in Ottawa that liaises with and collects information and intelligence from ten provincial bureaus that serve all of Canada's provinces and territories.

3. 3
Criminal Code of Canada, section 467.1(1).

4. 14
United States-Canada Bi-National Assessment of Trafficking in Persons

5. 15
2006 Canada-US Organized Crime Threat Assessment

6. 16
United States-Canada Bi-National Assessment of Trafficking in Persons

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Working Together to Combat Organized Crime

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Organized crime affects Canadians' basic rights to peace, order and good government. Although the effects of illicit activities are not always obvious, all Canadians, through one form or another, feel them through victimization, higher insurance rates, fewer tax dollars to support social programs, and the eventual undermining of Canadian institutions and consumers.

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Public Safety (1)

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The Canada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF) is a joint Ministerial forum hosted by Public Safety Canada, Justice Canada, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It brings together senior law enforcement and justice officials from various organizations in Canada and the U.S.

Through regular Ministerial, senior official and working level meetings, the CBCF addresses transnational crime issues such as organized crime, counter-terrorism, smuggling, economic crime and other emerging cross-border threats. It also focuses on resolving obstacles and impediments - primarily with regard to policy, regulations and legislation - faced by law enforcement and justice officials who work on cross-border crime issues.

Initiatives

Created in 1997 with an operational focus, it originally tackled smuggling across the eastern regions of both countries. To keep pace with sophisticated criminal elements that have emerged and new technologies that have been developed, the CBCF has evolved to include other initiatives involving a wide number of jurisdictions from each country. These initiatives include joint targeting and assessments of potential threats, public advisories and new and innovative law enforcement collaboration models. As a result, the CBCF has improved cooperation and information sharing between the two countries, which is a priority for both Canada and the U.S. in the global fight against organized crime and terrorism.

Key Canadian participants

Key American participants

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canada-united states cross-border crime forum

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Canada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum

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The Canada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF) is a joint Ministerial forum hosted by Public Safety Canada, Justice Canada, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It brings together senior law enforcement and justice officials from various organizations in Canada and the U.S.

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Government of Canada

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Through the Canadian drugs and substances strategy we support and put into practice evidence-based prevention initiatives with the goals of:

increasing awareness and knowledge about the risks of problematic substance use

reducing the desire and willingness to obtain and use drugs

Prevention activities under the Canadian drugs and substances strategy

We are:

Updating the Canadian Guidelines for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, with the goal of maximizing the benefits of opioid therapy for chronic non-cancer pain, while reducing the risk of harm.

developing public awareness materials and hosting awareness sessions for:

parents

professionals

school-age youth

other audiences, including members of First Nations communities

providing drug and alcohol prevention services in most First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada

proposing regulatory changes to:

give more information to patients, including:

information handouts with prescription opioids

warning stickers for prescription opioids

require producers to put risk management plans in place for opioids

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Prevention: Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy

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Through the Canadian drugs and substances strategy we support and put into practice evidence-based prevention initiatives with the goals of: increasing awareness and knowledge about the risks of problematic substance use reducing the desire and willingness to obtain and use drugs We are: Updating the Canadian Guidelines for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, with the goal of maximizing the benefits of opioid therapy for chronic non-cancer pain, while reducing the risk of harm.

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UNODC

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United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime

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Global heroin flows from Asian points of origin

In 2008, global heroin seizures reached a record level of 73.7 metric tons. Most of the heroin was seized in the Near and Middle East and South-West Asia (39 per cent of the global total), South-East Europe (24 per cent) and Western and Central Europe (10 per cent). The global increase in heroin seizures over the period 2006-2008 was driven mainly by continued burgeoning seizures in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey. In 2008, those two countries accounted for more than half of global heroin seizures and registered, for the third consecutive year, the highest and second highest seizures worldwide, respectively.

In 2007 and 2008, cocaine was used by some 16 to 17 million people worldwide, similar to the number of global opiate users. North America accounted for more than 40 per cent of global cocaine consumption (the total was estimated at around 470 tons), while the 27 European Union and four European Free Trade Association countries accounted for more than a quarter of total consumption. These two regions account for more than 80 per cent of the total value of the global cocaine market, which was estimated at $88 billion in 2008.

For the North American market, cocaine is typically transported from Colombia to Mexico or Central America by sea and then onwards by land to the United States and Canada. Cocaine is trafficked to Europe mostly by sea, often in container shipments. Colombia remains the main source of the cocaine found in Europe, but direct shipments from Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia are far more common than in the United States market.