Amnesty International Canada: Assuring human rights standards vital to the survival of Indigenous peoples worldwide

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5 June 2006

Open Letter: Canada key to assuring adoption of human rights standards vital to the survival of Indigenous peoples worldwide

Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

June 5, 2006

Dear Prime Minister:

We are deeply concerned by Canada’s recent silence on one of the most important human rights instruments before the United Nations.

The international community has worked for more than two decades to develop a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to guide states on measures needed to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples in the face of grave and persistent threats to their well-being, health and survival as distinct cultures.

Canada has played a vital role in this process, helping initiate dialogue among states and Indigenous peoples. The proposed final text for the Declaration that emerged from the Working Group earlier this year clearly reflects deeply felt Canadian values of respect for human rights, democratic government and harmonious relations across cultures.

It is disappointing and puzzling, therefore, that Canada has fallen silent at precisely the point when these much needed human rights standards are on the verge of becoming a reality.

Your government has been urged to support the Declaration by many Indigenous peoples and organizations, as well as human rights and social justice movements in Canada. These include the Assembly of First Nations, the Four Nations of Hobbema, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and the Grand Council of the Crees. Nor are these peoples and organizations alone in calling for the timely adoption of the Declaration.

Many of the states most actively involved in the Working Group process have clearly stated their support for the adoption of the proposed Declaration this year. Denmark, Finland, France, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Spain and The United Kingdom, among others have all called for adoption of the draft Declaration. Canada has not.

Last month, more than 100 Indigenous peoples’ organizations from around the world presented a statement to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues calling for adoption of the Declaration. The Permanent Forum itself adopted a recommendation calling for “the adoption without any amendments of the draft Declaration ... by the General Assembly during its sixty-first session, in 2006.” The Canadian delegation was silent.

The draft Declaration will be one of the first substantive items on the agenda of the new United Nations Human Rights Council. In running for a seat on this Council, Canada rightly highlighted the leadership role that it has played in the advancement of international human right standards and pledged to do more to address the gap in human rights protections that still exists for Indigenous peoples within Canada. But unlike other states, Canada did not make a commitment to advancing the draft Declaration.

This silence is damaging to Canada’s reputation as a global leader in the protection of human rights. And it is damaging to the cause of justice and rights protection for Indigenous peoples around the world.

Indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable and impoverished sectors of society – not only in Canada but in every region of the world. Deep rooted racism, discriminatory laws and a long history of marginalization and dispossession have robbed Indigenous peoples of control over their own lives and stripped their communities of the lands and resources without which their economies and ways of life cannot be sustained.

A Declaration alone cannot redress this legacy of impoverishment and discrimination. A few states have tried to claim that recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples will promote instability and undermine national interests. It is an absurd and cynical claim. The sad reality is that it will be the work of generations to come for Indigenous peoples to enjoy the basic rights that are guaranteed to all.

What the Declaration can accomplish is to send the vitally important message that Indigenous peoples can no longer be excluded from the human rights protections guaranteed for all, that their lives matter and that the international community agrees on the importance and necessity of the survival of their cultures and ways of life.

This is a message that Canada championed in the Working Group and should unreservedly continue to embrace. We urge the government of Canada to end its silence and once again demonstrate leadership by calling for the immediate adoption of this vitally important human rights instrument. It is only the first step. But it is a step that must not be delayed a moment longer.


Amnesty International Canada

Canadian Friends Service Committee

KAIROS - Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

La Ligue des droits et libertés

Rights and Democracy

For further information from Amnesty International, please contact:

John Tackaberry
Media Relations
613)744-7667 #236


Tags for this entry: Amnesty International Canada, Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights.

posted by Annamarie at 5:31 PM