Bruce has played a leading role in the promotion and implementation of economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights in Canada and internationally. He is the Director of the Social Rights Advocacy Centre, has published many articles and book chapters, co-directed a major ten-year research project, and has been retained as a consultant by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He sat on the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 2016-2019.
Bruce was instrumental in developing federal legislation to entrench the right to housing in the National Housing Strategy Act (NHSA) (2019) and works actively with the National Right to Housing Network to ensure its implementation.
He has co-ordinated thirteen interventions by the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues at the Supreme Court of Canada and represented the claimant at the UN in Nell Toussaint v Canada, a precedent-setting case on the right to life and access to health care. He co-ordinated the successful Charter challenge to establish the rights of charities to advocate for changes to law and policy in Canada Without Poverty v Canada.
Bruce represented NGOs in negotiating the historic complaints procedure for violations of ESC rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2008. He was a founding member of ESCR-Net and sits on the Steering Committee of its Strategic Litigation Working Group.
As a Maytree Fellow, Bruce is dedicated to enhancing the capacity of marginalized communities to claim social rights and to developing an inclusive human rights practice in Canada that bridges social policy and human rights.