Housing, Human Rights and Public Health: What’s Law Got to Do With It?

Housing, Human Rights and Public Health

What’s Law Got to Do With It?

Friday, November 3, 2023, from 11:00 to 12:30 p.m.

Hybrid - 2001 McGill College Avenue, Room 1201 (12th floor) or Via ZOOM

Speakers:

Lara Khoury
Full Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University

Alana Klein
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University

Moderated by:

Pearl Eliadis
Associate Professor (professional), Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University

Abstract:
Housing in Canada is in crisis. A flurry of multiple— and often conflicting —program and policy solutions are proposed, literally on a daily basis, by politicians, policy makers, the private sector and civil society. But underpinning all these interventions and our capacity to prioritize them, is a fundamental imperative: that until the legal basis of the right to adequate housing is recognized and justiciable, none of these initiatives will have the resilience or legitimacy needed to ensure sustainable and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. This seminar will discuss how Canadian law approaches the justiciability of socio-economic rights and will discuss the varied legal tools that are generally available to decision-makers as well as civil society to promote favourable public health outcomes.

Cohosted by the Dept. of Equity, Ethics and Policy; McGill Research Group on Health and Law; the Quebec Homelessness Prevention Policy Collaborative; and McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.