I guess I'd just like to remind everybody at the table that Canada cannot ratify these covenants unless every province and territory agrees to uphold the rights within. That happened in 1976. That binds our provinces and our territories equally to the commitments made within that International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
It's a companion document to the civil and political rights. It was never meant to be one having more power or more jurisdiction over the other. They were to be equal documents. Social and economic rights have been lagging behind. It's time that they were brought up as equal and as valuable to civil and political rights within our courts. Is it going to take time? It probably will. Every one of our provinces and territories have a legal obligation to uphold these rights.
That's why it's important that money be given to the court challenges program to be able to allow litigation in those areas. There's $5 million to start this program. I'm hoping it is only a beginning for the future of the program and access to justice in this country, because $5 million is a drop in the bucket of the millions, billions, and trillions of dollars that we spend on other things in this country. Let's bring equality equal, and let's not put a limit and a price on it. This is a beginning, and I hope it's just a beginning and that we're not going to stay stagnant at $5 million for 10 years.