Nothing for Indigenous people in Canada to celebrate on 10th anniversary of UN rights declaration
Nothing for Indigenous people in Canada to celebrate on 10th anniversary of UN rights declaration
Ten years ago this week — on Sept. 13, 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN’s General Assembly (although Canada did not officially adopt it until last year).
But in my opinion, for grassroots Indigenous peoples in Canada, there is nothing to celebrate on the 10th anniversary of the UNDRIP — not until Canada speaks to its assertion of sovereignty and claim to underlying title to the land, which they take as a given and do not question.
On behalf of the Algonquin First Nations of Barriere Lake, Timiskaming and Wolf Lake, whose rights are being ignored and denied by the Trudeau government, I traveled recently to Geneva, Switzerland to appear before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), where the government of Canada was scheduled to appear on Aug. 14 and 15 to report on, among other matters, their treatment of Indigenous peoples.
There was a large contingent of Indigenous representatives in Geneva to provide information to CERD members about Canada’s violation of Indigenous land rights so the CERD members could question Canada about its efforts to eliminate racially discriminatory land claims and self-government policies used against Indigenous peoples in negotiations.
Ten years ago this week — on Sept. 13, 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN’s General Assembly (although Canada did not officially adopt it until last year).But in my opinion, for grassroots Indigenous peoples in Canada, there is nothing to celebrate on the 10th anniversary of the UNDRIP — not until Canada speaks to its assertion of sovereignty and claim to underlying title to the land, which they take as a given and do not question. Read more