Housing Rights: Ottawa Takes a Historic Step Forward
McIsaac, E. & Porter, B. (2019). Housing rights: Ottawa takes a historic step forward. Literary Review of Canada: A Journal of Ideas. Retrieved from https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2019/11/housing-rights/
In June 2019, five years after the Court of Appeal’s decision, Parliament adopted a new law that grants what the courts had denied Tanudjaja. The National Housing Strategy Act affirms, for the first time in Canadian law, that “the right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right . . . essential to the inherent dignity and well-being of the person and to building sustainable and inclusive communities.” While Ottawa has committed Canada to “the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing,” the legislation passed with little fanfare — surprising, as it represents a historic reclaiming of our international commitment to human rights.
