National Inuit Leader Again Calls on Canada to Change its Position on UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

May 20, 2009 – Ottawa, Ontario - With the opening of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on May 18, 2009, National Inuit leader Mary Simon once again calls on the Government of Canada to change its position on the September 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
“In April of this year the Government of Australia reversed its position on the Declaration and joined the majority of the world’s nations in affirming the rights of Indigenous peoples”, said Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Mary Simon. “It is time for Canada to re-join the international community by supporting positive and appropriate recognition of Indigenous rights. The UN General Assembly has already adopted the Declaration and made it a part of international law and policy. It is time for the Government of Canada to stop trying to turn back the clock and to move toward positive change.”
 
“Today only Canada, the United States, and New Zealand have not endorsed the declaration,” said Mary Simon, “The Obama administration in the United States is currently reviewing its position on this important statement. It is time for Canada to do the same.”
 
The Declaration is a human rights instrument that sets out the collective and related individual rights of the world’s indigenous peoples, including rights in relation to self-determination, lands and resources, culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues.
 
“The fact that Canada remains one of the few hold-outs in endorsing the fundamental rights of Aboriginal peoples, as identified in the Declaration, is unsustainable and unworthy.  Should Canada become the last country to oppose the Declaration, Canada will be viewed by the rest of the world as being a country that does not support human rights for Indigenous Peoples, and as standing in contempt of the expectations and opinions of a more enlightened world,” concluded Mary Simon.
 
President Simon noted that the Declaration has already been endorsed by a positive vote in the Canadian House of Commons.
 
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