OTTAWA, Mar 11 (Lifesitenews.com) As Ottawa battles over the tax-discrimination against stay-at-home parents in Canada, the UN is also debating the issue in a case brought before them by a Canadian wife and mother. While pro-family advocates urge tax fairness for stay-at-home parents, pro-family leaders are more than a little uneasy at the message being implied by an appeal to the international body.
Almost without exception, the track record of UN intervention in Canadian domestic affairs has reflected an anti-family bias, sometimes militantly so. This case could set a dangerous precedent for pro-family forces, especially if the UN rules in favour of Beverely Smith.
“Canada is a sovereign country and we don’t want the UN to make decisions for us concerning our internal politics,” said Mary Ellen Douglas, president of Campaign Life Coalition Ontario. Pro-life forces have been warning Canadians for years that the undemocratic process by which Canada is represented at the UN and signs on to UN treaties threatens Canadian sovereignty and democracy.
As an example of this risk, Kathleen Mahoney, a Professor of Law at the University of Calgary (and recently appointed by the Chretien government as chairman of the board of directors of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development), argued in the BC Supreme Court last month that the Canadian Charter of Rights is superceded by the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
For the LifeSite story on Mahoney see:
United Alternative Convention Final Resolutions