With one-quarter of Canadians struggling to put food on the table, Canada has recently received a D grade from Food Banks Canada for its performance in meeting the country’s food security needs.

According to a 2024 report by the federal government’s National Advisory Council on Poverty, poverty is also on the rise, and people who once thought they were financially secure are starting to feel the squeeze.

Canada is a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, recognizing the right to food, housing and an adequate standard of living.

As a social scientist, my research shows that Canada is struggling to realize these rights because decision-makers often lack the political will to act, and the judicial system still relies on an outdated approach that cannot hold these decision-makers accountable.

Human rights are indivisible, meaning they’re all equally important and interdependent: one right cannot be realized without realizing the others. To meet their commitments, signatory states have agreed to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and to use the “maximum available resources” at their disposal to progressively achieve them.

While Canada and other United Nations member states have endorsed social and economic rights, these rights have often been treated differently from their civil and political counterparts.

Civil and political rights are typically considered negative rights, which do not require the government to act or provide anything, but rather to protect or not interfere with people’s rights,........

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