'Do I ghost her again?': Quebec minister's office ignores questions on housing as a human right
The office of Quebec Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau prefers to openly ignore journalists' requests.
This is according to an email obtained by The Canadian Press. The Minister's office was asked about the recognition of the right to housing as a fundamental individual right.
Invited once again to respond a week after an initial request, the press attaché forwarded to The Canadian Press an email that was presumably intended for a colleague: "Shall I ghost her again? If not, general response that doesn't reply to say that housing is a priority for our government?"
It didn't take long for the opposition to react at the end of the day.
"Here's what France-Élaine Duranceau thinks about the right to housing in Quebec," wrote MNA Joël Arseneau on X, formerly Twitter.
"We suspected as much, the reality is even more tragic," he said.
The Canadian Press asked each province if it agreed with the federal housing advocate that housing is a human right, and if it intended to pass legislation guaranteeing it.
As of Friday afternoon, Minister Duranceau's office had still not responded to The Canadian Press' request.
As more and more Canadians struggle to find affordable housing, the country's smallest province is the only one that could benefit from legislation recognizing housing as a fundamental individual right.
Prince Edward Island responded with a link to its Residential Tenancies Act, the first line of which acknowledges that Canada has signed a UN treaty affirming housing as a human right - although critics point out that there's nothing in the provincial legislation to support this right afterwards.
Most provinces did not respond directly to questions, listing a long list of initiatives launched to address the simmering housing crisis.
In Manitoba, the response was that the government recognized "Canada's rights-based approach to housing," and Newfoundland and Labrador indicated that it agreed with federal and international laws recognizing housing as an individual right.
In her report on homeless encampments published on Feb. 13, the Federal Housing Advocate urged each province to recognize in law "the human right to adequate housing as defined by international law."
Marie-Josée Houle wondered in an interview if the provinces simply didn't understand what it would mean to explicitly state that they consider housing a human right.
Houle says that, according to the bilateral agreement they all signed as part of the National Housing Strategy in 2018, this would mean that the provinces would adopt a "human rights-based approach to housing."
For the housing advocate, this means meeting and listening to homeless people and trying to find them housing that meets their needs, rather than deciding what's best for them without their input and forcing them into interim measures, such as shelters, where they don't want to go.
This also includes providing heat, electricity and toilets to people living in homeless encampments if adequate housing is not available, Houle argues.
"Essentially, it's a commitment based on the recognition that homelessness is a systemic problem and that people are homeless because governments at all levels have failed them," she says.
And to the provinces, she says: "We need all the players at the table."
Dale Whitmore, of the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, argues that the provinces could take a simple first step towards recognizing and respecting housing as a human right by adding a clause to their tenancy legislation stipulating that eviction should be an absolute last resort.
For Whitmore, it is essential that the provinces not only follow Houle's recommendations and adopt legislation that recognizes housing as a human right, but also that they subsequently defend this right. He points out that while Prince Edward Island's Tenancy Act recognizes this right, it offers nothing to enforce it.
"We need regulations that keep rents affordable and protect tenants from rents that are too high," he says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 26, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.