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Eight THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA Jack Iwanicki The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), passed by the General Assembly fifty years ago, is an international document of immense importance. That importance could be developed and examined along a number of dimensions to gain an over all appreciation of its significance. I suggest considering it along the political, moral, educational, and legal dimensions. My plan for this chapter is to discuss briefly the first three dimensions, but then concentrate on the legal. More specifically, I plan to examine in detail cases that have come before the Supreme Court of Canada since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) was enacted, in which reference is made to the UDHR. My reasons for doing so will become apparent from the text. I will also include some references to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (ICCPR), and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 (CSSR). I mention the political, moral, and educational dimensions, however, because even a brief discussion of them shows that an adequate examination of the significance of the UDHR must include a detailed examination of all of them.1 When we consider the political dimension of the UDHR, we are looking at the influence of the UDHR on governments and their enactments. In Canada, we could review the Bill of Rights and the Charter and examine reliance on the UDHR in those documents. The framers of the Charter relied on the UDHR because of the similarity in the terminology of the documents especially sections 9 and 12of the Charter. These sections read as follows: "Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned"; "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile"; "Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel or unusual treatment or punishment"; and "No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."2 When we turn to the moral dimension, we are looking at the importance of the UDHR for the work of non-governmental agencies. One example, Amnesty International, will suffice to show the importance non-governmental agencies attach to the UDHR. In a recent issue of The Activist, Amnesty International Canada announced the launch of its "From Declaration to Dedication" campaign.3 Among the activities listed for the campaign was the launch on "Parliament Hill in Ottawa where Amnesty hosted a gathering of more than 35 non-governmental 128 Jack Iwanicki organizations (NGOs) and civic officials."4 A number of prominent citizens, including Marion Dewar, head of Oxfam Canada, and Lloyd Axworthy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed a campaign pledge to defend human rights. Other events held across Canada are listed, including candlelight processions and vigils, to bring to the attention of communities the importance of human rights, their abuse, and the protections set out in the UDHR. Other dimensions, like the educational, could be considered, for example the role played by UDHR in making people around the world aware of the provisions of the UDHR and the implications of them for communal life. I will return to this briefly later. To explore the legal dimension, I plan to examine cases that have come before the Supreme Court of Canada in which reference is made to the UDHR.5 When I first started this project, I expected to find frequent references to the UDHR. When I reviewed the reports6 1was surprised to discover that since the enactment of the Charter few cases refer to the UDHR. This need not be surprising since the UDHR is only a "standard-setting"7 document of the United Nations. By contrast, other documents, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (ICCPR), and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 (CSSR), address "implementation" as well as standards. Since these generally have their roots in the UDHR, I have included some in my discussion. I now turn to my main project, the examination of cases. The Supreme Court shows itself to be comfortable with reliance on international materials in Canada (Attorney General) v. Ward? Justice La Forest, on behalf of the Court, framed his discussion as follows: "This case raises for the first time in this court several fundamental issues respecting the definition of a 'Convention refugee...

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