The right to health care | Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution

ID:	HARP-135
Title:	The right to health care
Source:	Health Law Journal, v.9 2001 pg 205-222
Parties:
Dispute Resolution Organ:
Year:	2001
Pages:	0
Author(s):
Keywords:	Canada, economic, social, and cultural rights, human rights, social security, health, health care, standard of living
Abstract:	In an atmosphere of heightened public concern over the erosion of the public health care system in Canada, establishing a right to health care has taken on an urgent quality for Canadian legal scholars and human rights activists. This contemporary public fervour has pushed Canadians into a philosophical battle over the right to health care that has been waged internationally for quite some time.(f.#3) The existence of a human right to health care continues to be a topic of heated debate among academics despite the fact that such a right has been recognized in several international instruments, most notably the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights.(f.#4) But a human right, even one supported by international law, is not a legal right–it is not justiciable, and thus cannot be used as a tool by Canadian citizens who want to be proactive in improving and maintaining the quality of their public health care. While an overview of the philosophical debate between libertarians and economic theorists on one hand, and egalitarian theorists on the other, is an appropriate starting point for an attempt to locate a legal right to health care in Canada, it is Canadian health law jurisprudence that will ultimately furnish human rights activists with the tools they seek. Under the Canada Health Act,(f.#5) the Canadian Federal Government has undertaken to provide Canadians with universal, free health care. The task for Canadian health care activists is to engage existing constitutional apparatus in the struggle to influence health care resource allocation decisions. Sections 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms(f.#6) appear to be promising constitutional tools available for use in enforcing positive, socio-economic rights to health care in Canada.
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