Delegates from Canada highlight land rights, safety for Indigenous women and girls at UN forum

Indigenous delegates from Canada did not mince words addressing the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York this week.

The theme of the 22nd session of the forum, which runs until April 28, is "Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change: a rights-based approach."

Judy Wilson, former Neskonlith Band chief and former secretary treasurer of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs addressed the forum Wednesday on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), saying provincial and federal laws have criminalized Indigenous land defenders protesting "the encroachment of extractive projects on their lands in the face of intensified global resource competition and the climate crisis."

"Canada's world-leading economy and position it holds today would not be possible without the wealth derived from First Nations lands and waters," she said.

The permanent forum is a high-level advisory body to the UN's Economic and Social Council with a mandate to deal with Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

Dozens of delegates from First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments and organizations have been in attendance, including AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald.

"As First Nations at this United Nations permanent forum, we're taking the microphone to amplify our priorities, decolonizing, de-carbonizing and calling out the system that undermine and harm Mother Earth, our mother tongue and matriarchy," she said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Calling for action on MMIWG

Aly Bear, vice-chief of the Federation of Indigenous Sovereign Nations, which represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan, called for the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls' 231 calls for justice to be implemented.

"We deserve to be valued. Traditionally, our women held high respect in our communities and it's that colonial violence and put us to the lowest of the hierarchy," said Bear.

"We are calling on levels of government to take this issue seriously because we need to put an end to it."

On Tuesday at the forum, representatives of the Ontario Native Women's Association (ONWA) urged UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples José Francisco Calí Tzay, who visited Canada last month, to recommend in his final report that Canada fully implement the national action plan on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ people.

"Women and children are at the forefront of action protecting our lands and ways of life and are facing violence for taking up their responsibilities," said Alana Robert, a member the organization's youth council.

"Indigenous women and girls are the forefront of defending Mother Earth and we must ensure their safety."

Federal minister says there's work to do

Calí Tzay told the forum Wednesday that the threats to the rights of Indigenous people have not improved since last year.

"The main areas of concern for this mandate is the development of mega projects in Indigenous territories including projects of conservation and green economy without the consent of Indigenous peoples," he said.

Cali said it leads to the displacement, dispossession, and criminalization of human rights defenders of Indigenous peoples and systemic racism and discrimination against Indigenous peoples.

Federal Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal, who addressed the forum on Tuesday on behalf of Canada, told CBC News that the government's message was "quite clear."

"Indigenous people, Indigenous nations of Canada and the world have to be involved in the frontlines of fighting climate change and we have to get rid of the racist superstructure that our countries have had in their relationship with the Indigenous nations," he said.

He pointed to the federal government's plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Canada as an important step forward. 

"There is a role and important responsibility for every minister, every government department in that document, in our march towards reconciliation," he said.

"I admit that there's a lot of work to do, and it's going to take a long time to get it right."