Canadian government isolated as
Declaration moves ahead
By Gale Courey Toensing
Story Published: Sep 22, 2009
TORONTO – A new report released on
the eve of the second anniversary of the adoption of the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples shows that
it is increasingly honored, celebrated and implemented around the
world, while Canada continues to balk at embracing its human rights
principles.
After more than two decades of negotiation and debate, the
Declaration was adopted by the
U.N. General
Assembly Sept.13, 2007, in a historic vote by a majority of 143
states in favor to four against, with 11 abstentions.
Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand – all countries whose
sizeable indigenous populations claim large areas of land – were the
only four countries that voted no.
Australia has since reversed its decision, and New Zealand and the
U.S. have indicated that they are reviewing their positions.
The new report was written by Paul Joffe, a Montreal lawyer and
expert on international human rights. Joffe worked in Canada and
internationally with indigenous peoples and human rights
organizations on indigenous issues during the 20 years of drafting
the Declaration. He is also involved in the ongoing standard setting
process at the
Organization of American States in preparing the
Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
While the U.N. Declaration makes a universal and broad statement of
rights, the American Declaration will address the particular needs
of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
The U.N. Declaration affirms minimum human rights standards
necessary for the “survival, dignity and well-being of the
indigenous peoples of the world,” who number some 370 million in
more than 70 countries. These include the right of
self-determination, protections from discrimination and genocide,
and recognition of rights to lands, territories and resources that
are essential to the identity, health and livelihood of indigenous
peoples. The Declaration explicitly requires that all provisions are
to be balanced with other rights protections and interpreted in
accordance with principles of justice, democracy,
non-discrimination, good governance and respect for the human rights
of all.
Although Canada played an active role in building international
support for the human rights instrument, Conservative Party Prime
Minister Stephen Harper’s minority government continues to denounce
the Declaration as “unworkable.” Harper, who was a close ally of
former U.S. President George Bush, maintains this position, despite
a resolution by the Canadian parliament in April 2008 calling on the
executive branch to endorse it and “fully implement the standards
contained therein.”
Joffe’s report was supported and endorsed in a joint press release
by the Assembly of
First Nations,
Amnesty International Canada,
Canadian Friends
Service Committee (Quakers),
Chiefs
of Ontario,
Ermineskin Cree Nation,
First Nations Summit,
Grand Council of the
Crees (Eeyou Istchee),
Louis Bull Cree
Nation, International Organization of Indigenous Resource
Development, Inuit
Tapiriit Kanatami,
Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada), Montana Cree Nation,
Native Women’s
Association of Canada,
Quebec Native
Women,
Samson Cree Nation, and
World Federalist Movement – Canada. The full report is posted at
the Friends
Web site.
The report shows that in the two years since the adoption of the
Declaration, governments, U.N, agencies, regional and national
courts, and human rights bodies have increasingly turned to it for
guidance in implementing measures to protect the rights of
indigenous peoples.
“These major advances highlight the unreasonableness of Canada’s
position on the Declaration,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General of
Amnesty International Canada. “The Harper government has said that
the U.N. Declaration is unworkable. Clearly, the international
community and most countries strongly disagree.”
The report’s findings include:
• While Canada opposes the Declaration, implementation is taking
place domestically with the leadership of indigenous peoples and in
partnership with civil society.
The Declaration is becoming an integral part of human rights
education and is used in presentations and materials shared across
the country. Indigenous peoples are emphasizing the Declaration’s
standards in discourse with government and corporations. Academic
institutions are including it in curricula, and trade unions are
educating members.
• The Declaration doesn’t create new rights; it elaborates on
indigenous peoples’ inherent rights, which throughout history have
not been respected.
• Greenland recently negotiated with Denmark significantly enhanced
self-government, which its prime minister described “as a de facto
implementation of the Declaration and. ... hopefully an inspiration
to others.”
• The Supreme Court of Belize relied in part on the Declaration in
an October 2007 case that affirmed the land and resource rights of
the Maya people.
• The
Inter-American Court of Human Rights used the Declaration and
other legal standards in its November 2007 ruling on the land rights
of the Saramaka people in Suriname.
Joffe’s report also addresses the Canadian government’s “erroneous”
claim that its vote against the Declaration means it does not apply
in Canada.
“This appears to be the first time that Canada has vigorously
opposed a human rights instrument adopted by the General Assembly.
In its December 2007 report,
Amnesty
International cautions that Canada’s position ‘attempts to set a
very dangerous precedent for U.N. human rights protection,’” Joffee
said.
“The proposition that governments can opt out. … by simply voting
against a declaration, resolution or other similar document, even
when an overwhelming majority of states have supported the new
standards, dramatically undercuts the integrity of the international
human rights system,” reads the Amnesty report. “It is impossible to
recall a similar example of Canada taking such a harmful position on
the basic principles of global human rights protection.”
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo said the
Declaration is “the best available tool to address the longstanding
human rights violations facing indigenous peoples worldwide.”
He called on the Canadian government “to follow the example of other
governments and institutions around the world and support its
implementation.”
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