Canada's UN Comeuppance

"The continued subversion of the UN human rights system -- whereby thugs, murderers and rapists purport to judge the human rights record of a liberal democracy -- undermines the founding principles and credibility of the United Nations.
"The UN squandered a golden opportunity to contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights in Canada. It's the foxes guarding the chickens, with the world's worst tyrannies abusing a legitimate process ... to deflect attention from their own sordid practices."
Hillel Neuer, UN Watch

The United Kingdom, one of several, made reference to the social/existential plight of First Nations communities living in isolated regions of the country in their preferred ancestral geographies, in reservations where employment is as scarce as nutritional foods having to be shipped in at great expense over long distances, where, unsurprisingly, potable water is a problem, and health professionals would prefer not to locate themselves, and where education for the young is tragically substandard, and youth suicide distressingly prevalent.

An instant response clarifying how easy it is to change all of this, and that the Government of Canada would immediately implement workable solutions, and install all the infrastructure of cities at those remote locations would certainly have gone far to clarify the official response and satisfy the demands of Canada's interlocutors, particularly the past-colonial mother country, Britain.

For its part, Estonia, part of the former USSR, with a blighted WWII past, and a history of active racism, asked Canada to repeal a section of the Criminal Code giving permission to Canadian parents, in effect, the right under law to discipline errant children by spanking them. For its part, that bastion of human rights, Montenegro, asked for an accounting of Canada's efforts in battling human trafficking. Montenegro: Principal human rights problems included police mistreatment of suspects in detention; substandard prison conditions; police impunity; lengthy pretrial detention; inefficient trials; intimidation of journalists; mistreatment of refugees; widespread reports of government corruption; denial of public access to information; discrimination against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination against persons with disabilities; discrimination against ethnic minorities, particularly Roma; intolerance based on sexual identity; and infringement on the rights of workers. U.S. State Department

And the Netherlands, which labours under an Islamist immigrant undercurrent destabilizing their society, expressed its concern about charitable status regulations that might interfere with non-governmental organizations' capacity to carry out their noble human rights activities. All of this a virtual appetizer to the main course of condemnations by the countries of the world truly outstanding in their human rights performance.

The delegation from North Korea stated its concerns: "We have serious concerns about continued violations of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, torture and other ill-treatment, racism and xenophobia", and they weren't addressing their great good friends in Iran, but rather Canada, and doubtless chuckling evilly all the while.

Iran was vindictively irate about "violations of human rights by Canadian government", inclusive of "child sexual exploitation and trafficking, the right to food, discriminatory law and regulation against indigenous people and minority groups including Muslim, Arab and African communities", an argument that went very far in delighting the Organization of Muslim Cooperation, happy enough to overlook Iran's dismal human rights atrocities.

China, with its vast pool of emigrants who have settled successfully in Canada, establishing communities within the country's largest cities, sending its youth to post-secondary institutions in numbers exceeding any other ethnic group, and establishing careers in medicine, biology, environmental science, musical performance and more, expressed its dismay over "widespread racial discrimination in Canada".

Russia expressed its alarm over Canada's "police actions of torture and cruelty against peaceful demonstrators", and no one in that august gathering fell off their seats, gripping their sides with laughter, while Pakistan uttered its dismay with relation to Canada's "increased poverty and unemployment rate among immigrant communities", and Egypt bemoaned "racial profiling in law-enforcement action"; Cuba bringing up the rear with "racism and xenophobia" in Canada.

It is truly amazing just how well the world at large knows Canada and all its unfortunate and shameful failings as a society. And now that Canadians know that we have failed in so many indices of human development and social relations, perhaps we will be spurred to action - a mass migration, leaving this country for other destinations of greater human potential, like Russia, China, Egypt, Cuba, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea.

We're coooooooming!