Carney government must ‘Build Canada Just’ with new majority mandate, Amnesty International says
Press Release
April 28, 2026
Human rights must be at the centre of the Canadian government’s efforts to “Build Canada Strong” as it responds to the U.S.’s economic attacks and a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, Amnesty International Canada urged upon the release of its 2025/26 Human Rights Agenda.
Published on Tuesday, the Human Rights Agenda (HRA) examines Canada’s performance in 2025 on Amnesty International Canada’s priority areas of work. In addition, the HRA lays out urgent recommendations on how Canada must address the injustices Amnesty has identified, creating a blueprint for government leaders to follow to respect Canadians’ constitutional rights and live up to Canada’s human rights obligations under international law.
“Our political leaders are correct: the challenges Canada faces today call for big ideas, broad collaboration and bold, decisive action,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “But we cannot create a stronger, more united Canada by taking shortcuts on human rights. To ‘Build Canada Strong,’ we must ‘Build Canada Just.’”
Breathtaking attacks on Indigenous rights in 2025
Nivyabandi highlighted recently passed major project bills that threaten the rights and territory of Indigenous Peoples as examples of staking Canada’s economic future on a dangerous foundation. In 2025, British Columbia, Ontario, and the Parliament of Canada passed legislation aimed at fast-tracking the approval and construction of mining and infrastructure mega-projects by slashing environmental reviews and community consultation.
‘Canada’s longest, most important relationship is not with the United States; it’s with the Indigenous Peoples who have existed here for millennia. Yet, in 2025, governments across Canada set that relationship back by pushing an aggressive program of economic nationalism that bulldozes Indigenous rights.’
—Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada
These policies, Amnesty warns in the HRA, undermine Indigenous Nations’ right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) over building projects that affect their territories. By extension, they risk violating Canada’s duties under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples along with other international human rights obligations.
“Canada’s longest, most important relationship is not with the United States; it’s with the Indigenous Peoples who have existed here for millennia,” Nivyabandi said. “Yet, in 2025, governments across Canada set that relationship back by pushing an aggressive program of economic nationalism that bulldozes Indigenous rights.
“We must not let fear, short-term gains, and corporate interests drive us to repeat disastrous ruptures of Canada’s colonial past. We owe it to future generations — and to ourselves — to strengthen our partnerships with Indigenous Peoples: to work together toward a future grounded in a sense of shared destiny and an unyielding respect for human rights.”
‘A dangerous normalization’ of the notwithstanding clause
Along with a backslide on Indigenous rights, last year saw Canada chip away at refugee rights, efforts to combat climate change, and, in pockets of the country, the rights of transgender and other 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Moreover, the HRA raises the alarm about “a dangerous normalization” of the use of the notwithstanding clause to shield legislation that threatens Canadians’ Charter rights from being struck down in court.
For example, in October 2025, Alberta invoked the notwithstanding clause to prop up a bill the provincial government used to strong-arm 51,000 striking teachers back to work. Later in the fall, the Government of Alberta invoked the notwithstanding clause again to protect three bills that constrain the rights and freedoms of 2SLGBTQIA+ Albertans — including an education bill that requires parental consent for a student’s gender-affirming name and pronouns to be respected at school. In recent years, legislators in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Quebec have also used, or threatened to use, the notwithstanding clause to safeguard policies that imperil residents’ rights.
“When a government uses the notwithstanding clause, it sends the message that it can pick and choose which rights — and whose rights — it will respect,” Nivyabandi said. “That is wrong and dangerous. It is not how human rights work, and we must push back when legislators use the notwithstanding clause to entrench injustice or to skirt their obligations under constitutional and international law.”
The use of the notwithstanding clause, the bulldozing of Indigenous rights, and the railroading through Parliament of legislation that erodes refugee rights signal a decline of human rights and the rule of law, mirroring a disturbing global trend identified in Amnesty International’s latest annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights 2025/26.
However, Amnesty’s global annual report points to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s call for like-minded states to build alliances in defence of shared interests and values as an opportunity to seize at a time when the rules-based international order is in deep crisis.
“Today, more than ever, states must meet this global moment with political courage, not by turning inward or by treating human rights as optional when they become inconvenient,” said Nivyabandi. “Canada can lead the path toward a better, safer world by leaning on our best traditions of global cooperation and championing universal human rights, both at home and abroad.”
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