APTN National News
OTTAWA–The Canadian government said Friday it had endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The government has long been urged by First Nations leaders across the country to sign the document. The Conservative government admitted its refusal to endorse it had harmed its relationship with First Nations people.
Canada’s UN ambassador John McNee met with the president of the UN General Assembly Friday to indicate Canada’s decision to formally endorse the declaration.
“We understand and respect the importance of this (declaration) to Indigenous peoples in Canada and worldwide,” said Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan, in a statement. “Canada has endorsed the declaration to further reconcile and strengthen our relationship with Aboriginal peoples in Canada.”
Assembly of First Nations national Chief Shawn Atleo said he welcomed the government’s announcement.
“Today marks an important shift in our relationship and now the real work begins,” said Atleo. “Endorsing the declaration is the opportunity to look forward and re-set the relationship between First Nations and the Crown so it is consistent with the Treaties and other agreements with First Nations upon which this country was founded.”
The government had initially voted against the document, along with the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, saying it infringed on Canadian laws.
“We are not prepared to sign on to this non-binding document because it is inconsistent with our Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the National Defence Act, Supreme Court rulings, policies under which we negotiate treaties, and does not account for third-party interests,” said Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan, in 2009, when he was a parliamentary secretary.
Canada now says it is “confident” it can “interpret the principles expressed in the declaration” without infringing on the Constitution or the country’s laws.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada’s decision to change its position on the declaration signalled its commitment to “promoting and protecting” the rights of Indigenous peoples.
“Canada’s active involvement abroad, coupled with its productive partnership with Aboriginal Canadians is having a real impact in advancing Indigenous rights and abroad,” said Cannon, in a statement.
NDP Aboriginal affairs critic Jean Crowder said it was about time the government acted on the declaration.
“With each day that went by without that recognition, Aboriginal peoples questioned whether or not the Prime Minister’s residential school apology truly meant anything,” said Crowder.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in 2008 for the Indian residential schools policy and for the way Aboriginal children were treated at these schools.
An interview with Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan will air Friday evening at 6 p.m. ET on APTN National News
treatise are international contracts between two sovereign nation. the united nation world court is the proper course of action to follow when a dispute occurs between sovereign nation.
When a state arrogates unto itself the power to deny to a group of individuals the existence of their humanity, it gives itself absolute power to do as it wants with those individuals. When a state is able through its laws to say that certain human beings are not persons under the law, it removes those persons from the civil and human rights protections extended to those it does recognize as persons under its laws. The result is that the human beings without these protections are treated as animals, as objects of experimentation, as receptacles for abuse–ln short, as disposable objects. Canada created such laws, and because its courts and citizens viewed Indians as primitive savages, its actions were sanctioned by its legal system and supported by its citizenry.[The unjust Society, pg xv]n
All that was said about the reasons why the government wouldn’t sign especially about treaties, we all know when a treaty is signed it is always the same people that gain and the same people that loose. Now this is going to change big time. DIA is going down the road. They (Gov’t) have to start up another bureaucratic system of their “own”. Department Of Serving Europeans” so they get their own DOSE
This is incredible ” Policies under which we negotiate treaties” (JD) It is known very well when there is a treaty mentioned that always the same people gain and the same people lose. This is the end of DIA and now they have the start their “own Department of Serving Europeans” so they get their own DOSEnCan’t wait for the next week to see what happens.
What does this mean for the indigenous people of Canada? Is domestic soveriegnty on the horizon or is Stephen Harper and his senate trying to aviod the embarassment of being the last country to recognize the indigenous rights of the first people? I recall Barack Obama making a statement prior to this that he was going to be engaging the United States to recognize the rights of the indigenous peoples. How these two men will deal with this concept is still yet to be revealed! The treatie of Utrecht and Paris are still older documents than the Canadian Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Most will only go as far as the Royal Proclamation, but take a couple steps past that and recognize our inherent rights that came with our possession of this great country of Canada. Then visit the Treaties of Westphalia and how treaties should have been made. Our treaties are not treaties, because treaties are negotiated by two parties. In our history, treaty documents were carried to our territories written by the bureaucrats of Canada and whose to say that they went through the proper parliamentary procedures in their preparation.
Didn’t anyone tell @StephenHarper he’s supposed to be a racist redneck? Hmmm, wonder what other misconceptions are garbage?