Final Report of the Canadian Non-Governmental Participation Group (CNGPG) for Habitat

Publisher:  Habitat Participation, Ottawa, Canada
Year Published:  1976  
Pages:  26pp  
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX151

Review of the history and formation of the CNGPG for Habitat and its performance during the conference. Printed in both English and French.

Abstract:  This report reviews the history and formation of the CNGPG for Habitat. It deals with how they dealt with their role as the monitoring team and how the programme functioned during Habitat. It also includes recommendations they made. The team reports that Habitat was a government conference which most Canadians could not attend and knew little about. They said that the media lacked interest in Habitat and the tendency was to publicize an event rather than a process. The monitoring team judged the government information program as concentrating nearly exclusively on the United Nations Conference rather than on the situation of those who have settlement problems across Canada. They recommended that a programme to inform must therefore be directly related to processes that involve. The report stresses that the public continues to fail to participate in areas of the private sector where major decisions effecting our human settlements and lifestyle are made. The team also said the Canadian government delegation lacked clear policy directions which hampered it in responding positively to recommendations made by NGO's. In regard to the programme for International Co-operation, NGO's were never given access to the Canadian Government position. A cloak of secrecy carried on through Habitat. The team was not satisfied with the final resolution that covered profits from private land speculation. Concerning the right to housing, Barney Danson, Minister of State for Urban Affairs differed with the NGO assessment of the seriousness of the situation. The NGOs saw the situation as being so critical that it should be considered a social utility. Danson believes that the present system, where housing is left largely in private hands, works quite well.