OTTAWA—More than 170 civil society groups, politicians, academics and activists are urging the Trudeau government to enshrine the “right to housing” in Canadian law.

In an open letter to the prime minister, the groups argue that upcoming legislation to enact the Liberal government’s 10-year, $40-billion national housing strategy must “explicitly recognize the right to housing as recognized in international law.” This would ensure future governments can’t scale back or cancel programs to reduce homelessness and ensure impoverished Canadians have adequate places to live, leaders of a range of groups told a news conference Tuesday on Parliament Hill.

Signatories to the letter include former Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, author and activist Naomi Klein, former Toronto mayor and Ontario Senator Art Eggleton, former Liberal cabinet minister Claudette Bradshaw, as well as organizations including Amnesty International, the Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.

The government “should put in place legal, legislative requirements to ensure that future governments — no matter which party, no matter who is in power — are required to maintain those programs and those supports,” said Jeff Morrison, executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association.

“We’re seeing this as an ongoing accountability mechanism to hold the federal government’s feet to the fire.”

Leilani Farha, the United Nations special rapporteur for housing, said the upcoming law should also include mechanisms through which Canadians can “have accountability” from government to ensure their rights to adequate housing are being met.

The Liberal government’s pointperson on housing, Toronto MP Adam Vaughan, has said the government is wary of enacting the right to housing in law because of concerns it could provoke individuals to go to court to seek housing. Instead, the government is committing to the “progressive realization of housing rights” through policies to reduce homelessness by 50 per cent over 10 years, build new social housing and repair crumbling public housing in places like Toronto.

Morrison said Tuesday that the idea is to avoid individual litigation by enshrining a “collective right” that would apply to groups of people, such as the homeless.

Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, added that the Liberal government’s housing plan is a welcome departure from a “disappointing past,” in which Ottawa — during the deficit slashing era of the 1990s — reduced spending on social housing and left programs under provincial and municipal jurisdiction. Alongside their push to ramp up federal spending again, Neve and other leaders said Tuesday they believe the Liberals are still open to the idea of enshrining the right to housing in law.

“This is a watershed moment for Canada,” Neve said. “If we don’t go the full distance... then this is a missed opportunity.”

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