Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot: Reconciliation in Canada
Center for Great Plains Studies
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10/04/2022
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Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot will speak at the Center for Great Plains Studies on reconciliation efforts in Canada as part of the Center’s year-long focus on reckoning and reconciliation in the Great Plains. This event is presented in partnership with the Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis, which represents Canada in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. The talk is titled “An Invitation to Boldness: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the Framework for Reconciliation in Canada.”
In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada issued an invitation to boldness, calling on all levels of government and civil society to fully implement the Declaration in Canada. By linking reconciliation exclusively to the implementation of the UNDRIP, the collective vision of what is possible has significantly expanded, and many sectors of Canadian government and society have embraced this opportunity for transformative thinking.
Lightfoot (Anishinaabe, Lake Superior Band) is Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics at the University of British Columbia, where she holds faculty appointments in Political Science and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs as well as an association with the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies. She serves as the Vice Chair and North American Member on the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) as well as Senior Advisor to the UBC President on Indigenous Affairs, where she is the lead on UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan and directs the Office of Indigenous Strategic Initiatives. She is currently President of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA). Her research focuses on Indigenous global politics, especially Indigenous rights and their implementation in global, national and regional contexts.
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- [00:00:13.170]Welcome. My name is Margaret Jacobs.
- [00:00:15.810]I'm the director of the Center for Great Plains Studies.
- [00:00:18.600]And welcome to this very special presentation in honor
- [00:00:23.520]of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.
- [00:00:27.690]This is the second annual National Day
- [00:00:30.210]for Truth and Reconciliation,
- [00:00:32.670]and we're just really delighted
- [00:00:34.470]to be able to celebrate this.
- [00:00:38.311]And I want to begin by acknowledging
- [00:00:40.170]that the University of Nebraska is a land-grant institution
- [00:00:44.760]with campuses and programs
- [00:00:46.380]on the past, present, and future homelands
- [00:00:49.410]of the Pawnee, Ponca, Oto-Missouria,
- [00:00:53.190]Omaha, Dakota, Lakota,
- [00:00:56.070]Kaw, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Peoples,
- [00:01:00.090]as well as those of the relocated Ho Chunk,
- [00:01:02.760]Sac and Fox, and Iowa Peoples.
- [00:01:06.210]The land we currently call Nebraska has always been
- [00:01:09.600]and will continue to be an Indigenous homeland.
- [00:01:13.950]Please take a moment to consider the legacies
- [00:01:16.290]of more than 150 years of displacement, violence,
- [00:01:21.030]settlement, and survival that bring us here today.
- [00:01:28.230]This acknowledgement and the centering of Indigenous peoples
- [00:01:31.020]is a start as we move forward together.
- [00:01:35.880]Today we are honored to have with us Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot,
- [00:01:39.060]a very distinguished scholar
- [00:01:41.100]from the University of British Columbia,
- [00:01:42.840]and you'll hear more about her in a little bit.
- [00:01:46.260]We're also really thrilled
- [00:01:47.700]to present this event in partnership with
- [00:01:50.040]the Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis,
- [00:01:54.180]which represents Canada in Nebraska, Iowa,
- [00:01:57.030]Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota,
- [00:01:59.640]and many thanks to Colin McLeod for being here today
- [00:02:03.600]from the Consulate office.
- [00:02:07.860]So I just, before we get started, I wanted to explain
- [00:02:10.500]that this event is one of many that we've had
- [00:02:13.320]in our Reckoning and Reconciliation
- [00:02:15.060]on the Great Plains Series
- [00:02:16.560]that we've been doing all year long.
- [00:02:19.410]The series is about probing
- [00:02:21.270]how residents of the Great Plains
- [00:02:22.980]can best reckon with the violence, conflict, and abuse
- [00:02:27.420]that has occurred in our region,
- [00:02:28.860]and move toward healing, justice, and reconciliation.
- [00:02:32.910]Our series invites us to remember and honor the painful past
- [00:02:38.310]and then to imagine and build new relationships
- [00:02:41.490]and communities based on respect and dignity for all.
- [00:02:46.890]Our series, and this conference today,
- [00:02:48.900]has reckoned with the past
- [00:02:51.450]while also highlighting the resilience of people,
- [00:02:54.330]cultures, and communities moving forward.
- [00:02:57.540]So I want to now introduce Dr. Gabriel Bruguier,
- [00:03:01.470]a Fellow at the Center for Great Plains Studies
- [00:03:04.050]and a representative
- [00:03:05.220]of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs,
- [00:03:08.250]and he's going to introduce our speaker.
- [00:03:10.530]Thank you very much.
- [00:03:12.905](audience applauding)
- [00:03:19.260]Good morning, everyone.
- [00:03:20.970]Judi gaiashkibos, the Executive Director
- [00:03:24.150]of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs,
- [00:03:27.000]was originally scheduled to introduce our speaker today,
- [00:03:29.820]but she had a scheduling conflict and asked me to introduce,
- [00:03:33.390]or offer the introduction in her stead,
- [00:03:35.910]and she sends her apologies and I'm very honored
- [00:03:39.721]to introduce our speaker today.
- [00:03:41.760]As Margaret said, I'm Gabriel Bruguier.
- [00:03:43.830]I'm an enrolled member of the Ihaƞktoƞwaƞ Oyate,
- [00:03:47.700]which is the Yankton Sioux Tribe.
- [00:03:50.130]I'm the education and outreach coordinator
- [00:03:52.110]at the Mid-America Transportation Center here at UNL,
- [00:03:55.410]and as she mentioned, the City of Lincoln Commissioner
- [00:03:58.140]on the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs.
- [00:04:01.350]Our speaker today, Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot,
- [00:04:03.570]is an Anishinaabe, Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe,
- [00:04:08.520]Keweenaw Bay Community, and is a Canada Research Chair
- [00:04:13.110]of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics
- [00:04:15.210]at the University of British Columbia,
- [00:04:17.640]where she holds faculty appointments in Political Science
- [00:04:20.520]and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs,
- [00:04:23.850]as well as an association
- [00:04:25.410]with the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies.
- [00:04:29.160]She serves as a vice chair and North American member
- [00:04:32.280]on the UN Expert Mechanism
- [00:04:34.620]on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
- [00:04:36.900]as well as Senior Advisor
- [00:04:38.610]to the UBC President on Indigenous Affairs,
- [00:04:43.530]where she is the lead on UBC's Indigenous Strategic Plan
- [00:04:47.700]and directs the Office of Indigenous Strategic Initiatives.
- [00:04:51.990]She is currently president
- [00:04:53.400]of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.
- [00:04:58.110]Her research focuses on Indigenous global politics,
- [00:05:01.770]especially Indigenous rights and their implementation
- [00:05:05.250]in global, national, and regional contexts.
- [00:05:09.720]Dr. Lightfoot's talk today is titled,
- [00:05:12.067]"An Invitation to Boldness:
- [00:05:14.790]UNDRIP as the Framework for Reconciliation in Canada."
- [00:05:19.590]So I'd like to ask you to please join me
- [00:05:21.960]in welcoming Dr. Lightfoot.
- [00:05:23.655](audience applauding)
- [00:05:31.770]Thank you very much, Gabe, for that very kind introduction
- [00:05:35.400]and Margaret also for kicking us off in a good way
- [00:05:40.320]and acknowledging all of the people of this territory,
- [00:05:43.770]so thank you so much.
- [00:05:45.540]And I am incredibly happy to be with you here this afternoon
- [00:05:50.610]and thank you so much for inviting me,
- [00:05:53.970]and many thanks to the Center for Great Plains Studies
- [00:05:58.890]and also the Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis
- [00:06:02.310]for hosting this event today.
- [00:06:04.590]And I want to give special thanks to Margaret and to Allison
- [00:06:08.070]who have done the logistics in bringing me here.
- [00:06:11.280]And I just flew in from Geneva last night
- [00:06:14.490]with a few disruptions to flights and delays,
- [00:06:17.190]so I am actually very happy to be here today
- [00:06:21.060]and glad that that all worked out.
- [00:06:22.950]And thanks so much for the very warm welcome.
- [00:06:30.840]As the introduction said, I am Anishinaabe,
- [00:06:34.260]some say Ojibwe, from the Great Lakes,
- [00:06:37.590]and Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe is the band of us,
- [00:06:43.080]Anishinaabe is a massive nation,
- [00:06:45.240]Ojibwe Lake Superior Band is the people
- [00:06:48.180]that are 360 degrees around the lake shore of Lake Superior,
- [00:06:52.800]and my home reserve is at Keweenaw Bay at Baraga, Michigan.
- [00:06:57.390]But I am a Minneapolis girl.
- [00:06:58.920]I grew up (chuckles)
- [00:07:00.570]almost entirely in the city of Minneapolis.
- [00:07:03.180]So when the Consulate General of Canada
- [00:07:05.880]reached out to me from Minneapolis,
- [00:07:07.590]I was very eager to talk to folks
- [00:07:10.950]who are working in my old hometown.
- [00:07:14.970]And so I have been professor
- [00:07:19.650]at the University of British Columbia since 2009
- [00:07:23.670]and I was recruited there, actually,
- [00:07:26.400]under the university's very first Aboriginal Strategic Plan,
- [00:07:30.060]we called it at that time.
- [00:07:31.770]And so they recruited me out of the University of Minnesota
- [00:07:35.310]out to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver,
- [00:07:38.460]where, along the way,
- [00:07:39.450]I picked up Canadian citizenship as well,
- [00:07:42.660]so I'm a dual national.
- [00:07:44.820]And at UBC, we call it for short, I wear a number of hats,
- [00:07:49.680]as was mentioned in the introduction.
- [00:07:52.800]And in my research capacity, I hold a Canada Research Chair
- [00:07:58.077]for Global Indigenous Rights and Politics,
- [00:08:00.630]and the focus of my academic work, primarily,
- [00:08:03.660]is the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People,
- [00:08:07.500]and especially its implementation, in practice,
- [00:08:11.490]how we move from principles to practices globally.
- [00:08:15.480]And I particularly enjoy working with a domestic
- [00:08:20.460]and international group of collaborators
- [00:08:24.180]that include Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics
- [00:08:27.480]from a number of countries
- [00:08:29.070]and also a number of Indigenous organizations
- [00:08:32.160]and human rights organizations in Canada.
- [00:08:35.400]And then, as was mentioned, since 2018,
- [00:08:38.970]I've been very privileged,
- [00:08:41.610]cord, sorry, (chuckles)
- [00:08:42.870]very privileged to serve as Senior Advisor
- [00:08:45.840]to the UBC President on Indigenous Affairs,
- [00:08:48.960]where I have been charged with the renewed,
- [00:08:51.480]the second version of the Indigenous Strategic Plan.
- [00:08:56.940]And just a quick moment, as I always do,
- [00:09:00.270]I want to acknowledge the people of the land
- [00:09:03.600]that the University of British Columbia is located on,
- [00:09:06.540]the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory
- [00:09:09.930]of the Musqueam people.
- [00:09:12.390]Their tie to that land is 10,000 years old.
- [00:09:15.930]They have been living in the same place, the same village,
- [00:09:19.140]the same site since the last ice age,
- [00:09:21.900]and so I want to acknowledge the care that they have taken
- [00:09:26.160]of that territory,
- [00:09:27.840]and mostly, I want to take a moment to acknowledge
- [00:09:30.900]the significant labor and care and emotional labor
- [00:09:35.070]they put into programming
- [00:09:37.050]at the University of British Columbia.
- [00:09:45.840]2021, I was named as the North American member
- [00:09:50.220]of the United Nations Expert Mechanism
- [00:09:53.070]on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- [00:09:55.590]That's a three-year term, renewable once. We shall see.
- [00:10:00.420]It's up to the Human Rights Council,
- [00:10:01.800]which is a very complicated place these days
- [00:10:04.080]due to global politics.
- [00:10:06.420]But I hold it for now and I'm currently the vice chair,
- [00:10:10.320]and that's why I just returned from Geneva last night.
- [00:10:12.960]We were at the Human Rights Council this week,
- [00:10:15.570]presenting the Expert Mechanism's report.
- [00:10:19.470]And because everything has an acronym, that's called EMRIP,
- [00:10:22.153](chuckles) which is not the most palatable of acronyms,
- [00:10:26.490]but it's what we have.
- [00:10:28.410]So the Expert Mechanism's mandate,
- [00:10:31.080]and this is why it was a good fit for me,
- [00:10:33.120]based on my my research as well,
- [00:10:35.760]it provides the Human Rights Council of the United Nations
- [00:10:39.570]with expertise and specific advice
- [00:10:42.540]on implementing the rights of Indigenous peoples.
- [00:10:45.660]And it does this by conducting thematic studies.
- [00:10:49.350]It does this by doing comprehensive reports
- [00:10:53.100]on particular aspects of interpretation
- [00:10:56.160]of the Declaration into practice.
- [00:10:59.910]It tries to clarify some key principles,
- [00:11:03.090]like self-determination
- [00:11:05.100]or free, prior, and informed consent.
- [00:11:07.890]We examine good practices
- [00:11:09.870]and try to disseminate good practices globally
- [00:11:13.650]in a broad array of areas.
- [00:11:15.720]And it can suggest particular measures
- [00:11:18.990]that states, member states and others
- [00:11:21.240]can take and adapt at their level,
- [00:11:23.190]whether that's provincial, national, regional,
- [00:11:26.100]on particular laws, policies, and programming.
- [00:11:30.420]We are currently in the final stage
- [00:11:33.180]of a country engagement with Canada
- [00:11:35.850]that we hope to happen in 2023,
- [00:11:39.210]which will actually be in my backyard of British Columbia,
- [00:11:43.230]and that's about all I can say at this point.
- [00:11:45.450]We're very close to finalizing
- [00:11:48.600]the terms of reference for that visit
- [00:11:51.720]and I very much hope that it proceeds in early 2023.
- [00:11:59.760]It's so appropriate that we talk today, September 30th,
- [00:12:03.810]the second National Day
- [00:12:05.700]of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada,
- [00:12:08.280]which is also Orange Shirt Day,
- [00:12:09.600]and I chose an orange-ish blazer.
- [00:12:12.300]It was the closest I could come up with.
- [00:12:14.910]This has been, Orange Shirt Day has been celebrated
- [00:12:17.490]or commemorated informally in Canada for quite some time,
- [00:12:21.150]and so this is the second year
- [00:12:23.430]that this is a statutory holiday in Canada
- [00:12:26.430]and also in the province of British Columbia.
- [00:12:29.760]So I'm very pleased to talk to you today
- [00:12:32.010]because the Declaration, reconciliation
- [00:12:36.030]are very tightly tied together in the Canadian context,
- [00:12:39.180]and so I want to spend my time with you today
- [00:12:42.270]discussing that particular set of connections.
- [00:12:48.720]And while we're going to, in our brief time together,
- [00:12:52.680]talk about the UN Declaration at a pretty high level,
- [00:12:56.130]but if you'd like to do more in-depth reading
- [00:12:58.500]on its genesis, its history, and its implications,
- [00:13:02.280]I refer you to my 2016 book,
- [00:13:04.320]which I see is also displayed out in the foyer,
- [00:13:09.007]"Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution."
- [00:13:12.360]And in this book, I explain how and why
- [00:13:16.650]the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People,
- [00:13:19.620]or UNDRIP for short,
- [00:13:21.450]is potentially transformative if implemented.
- [00:13:25.620]It's a potential paradigm shift of understanding
- [00:13:29.160]with deep and broad implications,
- [00:13:31.560]particularly for those of us
- [00:13:33.450]who live in settler colonial societies.
- [00:13:38.970]So three quick areas that we're going to cover.
- [00:13:42.960]Now, I normally teach entire semester-long courses
- [00:13:46.020]on the UN Declaration, so bear that in mind.
- [00:13:48.840]We'll have a very quick mini-course today.
- [00:13:51.870]And secondly, I want to talk
- [00:13:54.420]about the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- [00:13:57.870]and the critically important, game-changing role
- [00:14:02.670]it played in advancing the UN Declaration in Canada.
- [00:14:06.930]And then finally, again, a very quick snapshot.
- [00:14:10.230]We could spend an entire semester long-course
- [00:14:12.480]on this question as well.
- [00:14:14.670]What is the status of implementation since the TRC?
- [00:14:23.580]Talking about the UN Declaration,
- [00:14:27.240]we have to step all the way back.
- [00:14:29.250]For some of you, that's a really long way,
- [00:14:30.870]for some of us, not so far back: the 1960s.
- [00:14:35.790]All of the fundamental human rights instruments
- [00:14:38.400]in place at that time, and that was a very active period
- [00:14:41.760]for human rights instruments and conventions,
- [00:14:44.430]recognized and supported a set of basic human rights
- [00:14:48.630]for all of humankind.
- [00:14:51.060]And these rights were social, cultural, civic, political,
- [00:14:54.270]anti-discrimination, self-determination,
- [00:14:57.420]extremely comprehensive.
- [00:15:00.180]And they included that norm against racial discrimination,
- [00:15:03.450]which we're all still working on as a global community,
- [00:15:06.660]as well as the inherent right of all peoples
- [00:15:09.570]to self-determination.
- [00:15:11.550]And this formed the basis of the decolonization project
- [00:15:15.420]that occurred through the '60s, '70s, '80s around the world
- [00:15:19.620]that transformed our world map from a few empires
- [00:15:24.570]to a colorful array of independent nation states.
- [00:15:29.760]And even with the bulk of these instruments
- [00:15:32.370]for human rights and decolonization,
- [00:15:35.400]none of them reflected the Indigenous experience.
- [00:15:39.360]In fact, Indigenous peoples were largely absent,
- [00:15:44.040]but worse than that, there were several ways
- [00:15:47.070]that Indigenous peoples were actively excluded
- [00:15:51.300]from the human rights advances of the post-World War II era
- [00:15:55.110]through a set of particularly problematic,
- [00:15:57.780]discriminatory legal doctrines.
- [00:16:01.170]So first of all, Indigenous peoples were excluded
- [00:16:05.340]from decolonization on a global level
- [00:16:08.250]by what is referred to as the Salt Water,
- [00:16:10.350]or sometimes the Blue Water, thesis.
- [00:16:14.760]In the 1950s and '60s,
- [00:16:16.860]when discussions were occurring globally on eligibility
- [00:16:20.400]for the right of self-determination and decolonization,
- [00:16:24.270]the leading imperial powers were deciding
- [00:16:27.480]which peoples would be eligible for decolonization.
- [00:16:32.100]The little country of Belgium,
- [00:16:33.810]which held actually a huge territory
- [00:16:37.320]in the middle of Africa, many times its own size,
- [00:16:40.590]tabled one proposal during that time,
- [00:16:43.590]which said that all imperial powers should decolonize.
- [00:16:48.570]If they were going to be giving up
- [00:16:49.890]their colonial territories,
- [00:16:51.450]that should apply to all imperial powers,
- [00:16:53.910]and they included the settler states of Canada, Australia,
- [00:16:57.390]New Zealand, and the United States.
- [00:17:01.320]But that group of nations teamed up
- [00:17:04.020]with a very unlikely ally at the time.
- [00:17:05.910]Remember, 1960s, Cold War, height of the Cold War:
- [00:17:09.600]the Soviet Union.
- [00:17:11.340]They all felt otherwise,
- [00:17:13.260]and there were not many things at that period of time
- [00:17:15.780]that the United States and the Soviet Union
- [00:17:17.730]found they could agree on, but this is one that they did.
- [00:17:21.600]So together they came up with the Salt Water thesis,
- [00:17:25.560]which said that only colonies located over salt water,
- [00:17:29.700]or over blue water, would be eligible for decolonization.
- [00:17:36.330]So this coalition prevailed, and with a magic wand,
- [00:17:39.390]this self-determination thesis
- [00:17:41.760]drove the decolonization project.
- [00:17:44.790]So Indigenous peoples in all of the settler countries
- [00:17:47.640]were left ineligible for decolonization
- [00:17:50.610]in that global project
- [00:17:52.140]and relegated to a second-class, discriminatory status.
- [00:17:59.130]Then there's a second legal doctrine
- [00:18:01.320]that created an unequal system
- [00:18:03.570]where Indigenous peoples are concerned,
- [00:18:05.370]and it's often referred to as the Doctrine of Discovery.
- [00:18:09.510]Now, this is a set
- [00:18:12.120]of actual international legal principles.
- [00:18:15.390]It's not a written doctrine in any comprehensive way.
- [00:18:18.810]And it originated in the 15th, 16th century
- [00:18:22.080]in a set of papal bulls, in the Vatican,
- [00:18:25.230]that justified European, particularly Christian,
- [00:18:29.310]discovery, claim, and exertion
- [00:18:33.090]of underlying sovereignty over any and all non-European,
- [00:18:37.890]non-Christian lands and peoples that they could encounter.
- [00:18:42.030]So the Doctrine of Discovery, since that time,
- [00:18:44.760]has enabled a two-tier system
- [00:18:46.680]of sovereignty and self-determination rights,
- [00:18:50.730]one set of right for Europeans
- [00:18:53.100]and another set of rights for those who were discovered
- [00:18:56.190]and conquered, subjugated under European power.
- [00:19:01.650]So the Doctrine of Discovery,
- [00:19:03.540]which was actually what we could call
- [00:19:06.210]the first set of international law,
- [00:19:10.620]is, unfortunately, still in some form of existence
- [00:19:13.680]in our contemporary era.
- [00:19:16.530]The most recent citation in a high court
- [00:19:18.600]was the United States Supreme Court in 2005
- [00:19:22.890]in the Sherrill case.
- [00:19:26.610]It's slowly, slowly being rolled back.
- [00:19:32.220]Now we're gonna do quick movement forward,
- [00:19:35.460]and it's important, really key
- [00:19:37.560]to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
- [00:19:40.710]to understand that what eventually became this UN document
- [00:19:45.330]started with meetings of Elders and Knowledge Keepers
- [00:19:49.200]sitting around in council in the 1970s.
- [00:19:54.180]Two grassroots groups in particular
- [00:19:56.160]began to organize themselves in the 1970s,
- [00:19:59.250]one on either side of the Canadian-US border.
- [00:20:03.840]The International Indian Treaty Council,
- [00:20:06.660]it's the closest here,
- [00:20:08.100]was founded in 1974 at Standing Rock, South Dakota,
- [00:20:11.640]which may be a familiar location to folks
- [00:20:13.920]following the pipeline issue of a few years ago.
- [00:20:17.910]And they produced at that '74 meeting
- [00:20:20.910]an initial Declaration of Principles,
- [00:20:23.430]which they eventually brought to the global level.
- [00:20:25.980]And there is about a 75, 80% similarity
- [00:20:30.150]between what was in that original Declaration of Principles
- [00:20:33.000]and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People,
- [00:20:36.180]or UNDRIP, that we have in front of us today.
- [00:20:38.820]And at almost the same time, a group was also founded
- [00:20:43.020]on the northern side of the border.
- [00:20:44.730]George Manuel in British Columbia convened
- [00:20:47.730]the World Council of Indigenous Peoples almost simultaneous.
- [00:20:51.660]They also produced a Declaration of Principles,
- [00:20:54.270]which, when married with the Treaty Council's version,
- [00:20:56.910]essentially makes up the bulk of the UN Declaration today.
- [00:21:02.130]Fast forward 40 years,
- [00:21:04.770]not an easy 40 years, but 40 years later,
- [00:21:07.500]what became the UN Declaration
- [00:21:09.900]passed the UN General Assembly,
- [00:21:12.510]and in fact, this month, just a couple weeks ago,
- [00:21:15.300]we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the UN Declaration.
- [00:21:22.230]While it's now written in human rights language, technical,
- [00:21:25.950]it still reflects the essence of what those Elders
- [00:21:29.160]and organizers and activists wrote in the 1970s.
- [00:21:34.350]When it passed the General Assembly in 2007,
- [00:21:37.860]there were 143 countries that hit the green button
- [00:21:41.070]and voted yes, there were 11 abstentions,
- [00:21:45.120]and there were four countries on that day who voted no:
- [00:21:48.540]Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada.
- [00:21:54.360]In the couple of years that followed,
- [00:21:56.760]each of those countries, each of those four,
- [00:21:59.220]one by one issued statements
- [00:22:01.980]that they would no longer oppose
- [00:22:03.570]but they had changed their position to support.
- [00:22:06.120]So by 2010, this was a global consensus document
- [00:22:10.110]with no opposition in the General Assembly.
- [00:22:16.800]So what, in a nutshell,
- [00:22:18.510]is this UN Declaration and what does it do?
- [00:22:22.080]So it's important to understand
- [00:22:23.760]that it's a human rights declaration and, as such,
- [00:22:26.760]it's an articulation of the bare minimum standards
- [00:22:30.210]of Indigenous peoples' rights around the world,
- [00:22:33.090]in all contexts.
- [00:22:34.230]It's a general platform.
- [00:22:36.900]It was negotiated article by article,
- [00:22:39.900]sometimes word by word,
- [00:22:42.240]and in the case of an S, letter by letter, over 40 years.
- [00:22:48.150]It's the first human rights document in history
- [00:22:51.210]to include the rights' holders in its drafting
- [00:22:54.360]and in its negotiation,
- [00:22:56.820]and that required a number of structural shifts
- [00:23:00.390]in the United Nations' work, which is also in the book,
- [00:23:03.360]and we could talk for hours and hours about that.
- [00:23:07.080]As a human rights declaration, it is very similar
- [00:23:10.440]to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- [00:23:14.490]in that it represents this global consensus document.
- [00:23:18.480]It includes both individual rights
- [00:23:21.330]and rights of collectives or groups.
- [00:23:25.020]As the UN states, this declaration established
- [00:23:28.830]a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival,
- [00:23:32.760]the dignity, and the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples
- [00:23:35.490]of the world.
- [00:23:40.920]It's an articulation, essentially,
- [00:23:42.720]of what Indigenous wellbeing, dignity looks like,
- [00:23:47.250]both individual and collectively.
- [00:23:50.550]It is at heart a remedial document,
- [00:23:53.820]intended to correct those discriminatory legal exclusions
- [00:23:57.930]and centuries of the marginalization, discrimination,
- [00:24:01.590]and dispossession that those principles enabled.
- [00:24:06.450]It's also a guide for all of us, a roadmap,
- [00:24:09.810]of what good relations can look like
- [00:24:11.790]and should look like between Indigenous peoples,
- [00:24:14.250]non-Indigenous peoples, Indigenous peoples and states.
- [00:24:17.610]And it can be used, should be used,
- [00:24:19.770]to guide policy development, negotiations, even litigation.
- [00:24:27.810]And when we think about implementation of the UNDRIP,
- [00:24:31.440]we often think in terms of its technical,
- [00:24:33.450]legal, and legislative uptake,
- [00:24:36.360]and this is certainly a crucial area.
- [00:24:38.670]But even though the Declaration is not binding
- [00:24:41.940]in the same manner as legislation or court rulings,
- [00:24:45.240]treaties, or international conventions,
- [00:24:47.760]it does have diverse legal and social effects,
- [00:24:51.450]and that's what we want to discuss today.
- [00:24:54.000]Now, courts, both domestically and internationally,
- [00:24:57.360]may, and are, in an increasing way,
- [00:25:00.540]using it as an interpretive lens
- [00:25:02.910]on Indigenous people's rights
- [00:25:04.440]and other associated Crown obligations.
- [00:25:07.320]And so far, in Canada, my research team has identified
- [00:25:11.580]98 Canadian court cases that cite the Declaration,
- [00:25:15.720]and the list is growing.
- [00:25:18.570]Domestic and regional courts around the world
- [00:25:20.610]are moving in a similar fashion, not only in countries,
- [00:25:24.090]sister countries like New Zealand and Australia,
- [00:25:26.760]but also Belize, Kenya, and Malaysia.
- [00:25:31.410]Governments and others may use the Declaration
- [00:25:33.780]to guide policy, law, development, decision-making.
- [00:25:38.190]Obvious examples here, which we'll discuss,
- [00:25:40.560]include BC's legislation, the Declaration Act,
- [00:25:44.100]and Action Plan, both at the federal and provincial level.
- [00:25:48.960]New Zealand is also working
- [00:25:50.580]on an implementation action plan.
- [00:25:54.750]From the UN perspective, what's very exciting
- [00:25:57.270]is that the international treaty bodies,
- [00:25:59.220]like the Commission for,
- [00:26:02.340]or the Committee on the Elimination
- [00:26:04.560]of Racial Discrimination, or CERD,
- [00:26:06.660]and the Human Rights Commission are increasingly,
- [00:26:09.480]sometimes exponentially increasing
- [00:26:11.880]their use of the UN Declaration as an interpretive lens
- [00:26:15.000]in their legally binding work.
- [00:26:17.670]And then finally, there's this tremendously broad area
- [00:26:21.570]of what us academics call norm socialization.
- [00:26:25.800]And in regular language, this means that the principles
- [00:26:29.100]of the UN Declaration become normal and expected practice
- [00:26:32.880]in our day-to-day lives.
- [00:26:34.890]In other words, we just come to live and breathe
- [00:26:38.550]the Declaration as norm.
- [00:26:44.400]So how do we understand, in a simple way,
- [00:26:47.220]what the Declaration means?
- [00:26:49.500]What are its principles?
- [00:26:51.000]It's made up of 46 articles
- [00:26:53.070]and a set of very human rights technical language
- [00:26:56.520]in the preambular paragraphs,
- [00:26:58.440]and I find that many people talk about the Declaration
- [00:27:01.230]and few people have actually sat down and read it.
- [00:27:03.120]It only takes about 10 minutes, I promise you,
- [00:27:05.760]and if you haven't read it, please do so.
- [00:27:09.270]Prof. James Anaya, who is a former UN special rapporteur
- [00:27:12.750]on the rights of Indigenous peoples,
- [00:27:14.580]sketched out a five-point list,
- [00:27:16.980]five fingers for five points,
- [00:27:19.260]just so that we can understand
- [00:27:20.430]the core principles of the Declaration.
- [00:27:23.100]Protection of Indigenous territory.
- [00:27:25.260]Indigenous self-government.
- [00:27:27.090]Self-government of Indigenous communities
- [00:27:29.760]on the basis of harmony and equilibrium, sustainability.
- [00:27:34.080]Fourth is free, prior, and informed consent
- [00:27:36.810]and decision-making.
- [00:27:38.100]And then fifth, which is incredibly important
- [00:27:41.280]when we talk about the Canadian context,
- [00:27:43.530]the institutional redesign of the state and its relations
- [00:27:47.130]to align with the principles of the UN Declaration.
- [00:27:54.690]The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,
- [00:27:58.230]or the TRC.
- [00:28:02.970]It emerged as part of the Indian Residential Schools
- [00:28:06.750]Settlement Agreement of 2006.
- [00:28:10.170]This was the largest class action lawsuit
- [00:28:13.320]in Canadian history.
- [00:28:16.080]86,000 Indigenous individuals joined together
- [00:28:20.070]to sue the government of Canada
- [00:28:21.630]over the Indian residential school system that operated
- [00:28:24.990]between 1879 and 1996.
- [00:28:31.770]The settlement was announced in 2006
- [00:28:34.137]and it had various components.
- [00:28:36.780]It had a Common Experience Payment,
- [00:28:39.390]blanket compensation for anyone
- [00:28:41.130]who had attended a residential school.
- [00:28:43.860]There was an Independent Assessment Process
- [00:28:46.410]designed to compensate those
- [00:28:48.600]who experienced particular abuses.
- [00:28:51.900]There were Health and Healing Services.
- [00:28:54.150]There was a Commemoration Fund,
- [00:28:56.160]and critically, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
- [00:29:01.050]The TRC was established in June of 2008
- [00:29:05.100]with a five-year mandate.
- [00:29:07.282]It was an independent body and unique in the world
- [00:29:10.350]for its primary focus on Indigenous children.
- [00:29:14.850]The mandate was to do two things,
- [00:29:17.700]reveal the truth about residential schools in Canada,
- [00:29:21.330]and then, secondly,
- [00:29:23.040]guide and inspire a process of truth and healing,
- [00:29:27.120]leading towards a new relationship based on inclusion,
- [00:29:31.860]mutual understanding, and respect.
- [00:29:38.100]The three original commissioners, appointed in 2008,
- [00:29:42.030]the commission had a rough start
- [00:29:43.860]and there were a few stops and starts,
- [00:29:46.080]so they resigned in October, 2008,
- [00:29:49.080]and then, in 2009, these commissioners were appointed.
- [00:29:52.920]Justice Murray Sinclair,
- [00:29:55.200]Anishinaabe from Manitoba, Chair of the Commission,
- [00:29:59.670]Dr. Marie Wilson,
- [00:30:01.380]and Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild of Alberta.
- [00:30:09.810]The TRC.
- [00:30:12.750]Seven national events were held during its mandate
- [00:30:17.520]all over the country, Winnipeg, Inuvik, Halifax,
- [00:30:20.520]Saskatoon, Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton,
- [00:30:24.060]between 2010 and 2014.
- [00:30:27.540]Estimates are that 155,000 people
- [00:30:30.690]attended and participated in these events.
- [00:30:34.320]9,000 survivors of Indian residential schools
- [00:30:37.440]registered to attend.
- [00:30:39.630]And then there were some regional events
- [00:30:41.520]and community events, Victoria, Whitehorse,
- [00:30:44.640]all in total, 238 days of local hearings
- [00:30:48.960]on 77 communities.
- [00:30:54.060]The national events included witnessing,
- [00:30:58.740]traditional knowledge and practice ceremony, sacred fires.
- [00:31:04.290]Each event tried to have
- [00:31:08.760]a standard set of events
- [00:31:10.830]but also adapting to the local cultures and peoples
- [00:31:14.250]of the places where they were visiting.
- [00:31:17.940]All of the statements collected
- [00:31:19.380]are part of the Permanent Collection
- [00:31:20.970]at the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation,
- [00:31:23.460]which was also established.
- [00:31:28.320]And then finally, at the end of the TRC,
- [00:31:32.010]the commissioners issued a final report
- [00:31:34.830]with their recommendations.
- [00:31:38.700]And I have to mention this,
- [00:31:40.410]the apology from the Prime Minister of Canada,
- [00:31:44.280]not technically part of the settlement agreement,
- [00:31:47.640]not technically part of the TRC,
- [00:31:49.410]but definitely associated with it in people's minds,
- [00:31:53.670]was the apology presented by,
- [00:31:57.210]or offered, I should say,
- [00:31:58.740]by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008.
- [00:32:03.240]It developed out of conversations
- [00:32:05.730]with some Indigenous leadership
- [00:32:08.190]and the government at the time.
- [00:32:10.710]So the apology text was negotiated
- [00:32:13.140]and agreed with Indigenous partners before it was delivered.
- [00:32:22.740]Then, in June, 2015,
- [00:32:25.520]the TRC announced the release of its Summary Report,
- [00:32:29.010]which included 94 Calls to Action.
- [00:32:32.520]And these 94 calls, which were intended
- [00:32:35.610]to form the blueprint for reconciliation into the future,
- [00:32:39.570]call upon all layers of government,
- [00:32:41.460]federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal,
- [00:32:45.330]to make fundamental changes in their policies,
- [00:32:49.260]in their programs, in order to repair the harm
- [00:32:52.320]caused by residential schools.
- [00:32:54.720]And in total, 12 of those 94 calls
- [00:32:58.770]specifically mentioned implementing the UN Declaration
- [00:33:02.700]on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- [00:33:05.460]This is significant because from the time, in 2010,
- [00:33:10.020]when Canada announced its support for the UN Declaration
- [00:33:13.260]was kind of lackluster, to be quite honest,
- [00:33:16.170]and it didn't have a lot of uptake.
- [00:33:17.790]And I think, had it not been for the TRC,
- [00:33:21.420]we may have seen the Declaration discourse in Canada
- [00:33:24.480]just kind of fall off into the distance.
- [00:33:27.840]But the TRC, with this set of actions,
- [00:33:32.820]and particularly Call 43,
- [00:33:37.440]I call this the game-changer.
- [00:33:39.390]It took the Declaration from a document
- [00:33:41.640]that was ready to fall off into obscurity
- [00:33:44.340]to actually something that has formed the central principle
- [00:33:47.760]of reconciliation in Canada.
- [00:33:51.210]And in those Calls to Action, the 94, the TRC, in my view,
- [00:33:56.400]offered a particular invitation to boldness
- [00:34:00.420]that has ignited energy and a pathway
- [00:34:04.410]of profound change in Canada
- [00:34:06.660]with broader potential implications
- [00:34:10.050]for others around the world.
- [00:34:14.130]The TRC, by tying the concept of reconciliation
- [00:34:19.140]directly and intrinsically to the UN Declaration,
- [00:34:23.520]is a paradigm shift
- [00:34:26.190]and it has challenged all of us to rethink
- [00:34:29.190]how we do business in government, in industry,
- [00:34:32.520]and in society.
- [00:34:34.320]How do we throw off that whole legacy of colonialism?
- [00:34:38.640]The TRC's core message in this final report
- [00:34:41.220]and Calls to Action was crystal clear.
- [00:34:45.600]The colonial system was the root cause
- [00:34:48.390]of the residential schools
- [00:34:50.640]and implementation of the UN Declaration
- [00:34:53.520]was the appropriate antidote, the remedy.
- [00:34:58.530]The antidote, the remedy, however, (chuckles)
- [00:35:01.830]because of so many systems and structures
- [00:35:04.050]based in that colonial experience and framework,
- [00:35:07.260]requires large-scale incremental policy response,
- [00:35:12.630]because it requires significant systemic change
- [00:35:15.810]in governance and civil society.
- [00:35:22.890]So the UN Declaration, in a moment, went from near obscurity
- [00:35:27.450]to a central principle of the 2015 election,
- [00:35:31.920]the federal election, which was announced just weeks
- [00:35:34.530]after the TRC issued its report.
- [00:35:39.450]Liberal Party leader, Justin Trudeau,
- [00:35:41.310]who's been Prime Minister now for some time,
- [00:35:43.560]noted an urgent need for renewed relationship
- [00:35:47.220]between the federal government
- [00:35:48.450]and Indigenous peoples in Canada,
- [00:35:50.910]one built on trust, recognition, and respect for rights
- [00:35:55.170]and a commitment that the status quo must end.
- [00:36:00.630]The full Liberal Party platform that year,
- [00:36:02.657]and in the follow-up elections,
- [00:36:04.440]has included a pledge and actions
- [00:36:08.130]to implement the 94 Calls to Action,
- [00:36:10.860]including adoption and implementation of the UN Declaration.
- [00:36:19.590]Shortly after being elected, May, 2016,
- [00:36:23.520]Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and,
- [00:36:27.570]title at the time,
- [00:36:28.440]Aboriginal Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett
- [00:36:31.110]went to New York to the UN
- [00:36:33.570]to address the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
- [00:36:38.280]And when Jody Wilson-Raybould spoke at the opening ceremony,
- [00:36:42.570]she gave a special statement on Canada's new position
- [00:36:45.660]on the Declaration, on the Indian Act,
- [00:36:48.210]on reconciliation, and on free, prior, and informed consent,
- [00:36:52.350]and she indicated the need for Canada to reform the ways
- [00:36:55.560]it conducts business with Indigenous peoples
- [00:36:58.920]and talked about the central role
- [00:37:01.020]that the UN Declaration would play.
- [00:37:04.020]The very next day, in the session of the Permanent Forum,
- [00:37:07.050]Minister Carolyn Bennett addressed
- [00:37:09.900]the UN Permanent Forum deliberations.
- [00:37:13.890]She stated, again, crystal clear, unequivocally,
- [00:37:18.390]that her purpose in speaking that day
- [00:37:20.700]was to address Canada's position on the Declaration
- [00:37:24.750]and she announced that Canada would hereafter
- [00:37:27.030]be a full supporter of the Declaration
- [00:37:29.730]without any qualification.
- [00:37:31.590]Now, that was important
- [00:37:32.550]because the statement of support in 2010,
- [00:37:35.790]of support for the Declaration,
- [00:37:37.230]had included a number of caveats, exclusions, and footnotes,
- [00:37:41.700]and this statement committed to full implementation.
- [00:37:48.660]The first attempt at a legislative pathway, federally,
- [00:37:52.020]to implementing the Declaration had a very rough ride.
- [00:37:56.550]It was introduced in April, 2016
- [00:38:00.600]as a private member's bill
- [00:38:02.250]by Cree NDP Member of Parliament Romeo Saganash,
- [00:38:06.720]and the goal here was to begin to ensure
- [00:38:10.830]more collaboration and accountability
- [00:38:13.140]for the UN Declaration implementation at the federal level.
- [00:38:17.940]After a few presentations in Parliament,
- [00:38:20.340]it did pass the House of Commons on its third reading
- [00:38:23.700]in June, 2018,
- [00:38:26.340]but it then progressed to the Senate
- [00:38:28.020]where it died on the order paper.
- [00:38:29.820]In other words, the Senate ceased their function that year
- [00:38:34.410]without action on that legislation.
- [00:38:40.110]Undeterred, British Columbia moved in 2019
- [00:38:44.520]and co-developed legislation
- [00:38:47.880]to implement the Declaration provincially,
- [00:38:50.790]co-developed with Indigenous leaders
- [00:38:52.890]and partners in the province.
- [00:38:56.550]It establishes a process to work together
- [00:38:59.280]with Indigenous peoples on the implementation plan
- [00:39:01.800]in the province, sets priorities and joint timetables.
- [00:39:05.940]Its elements are a review of laws, policies,
- [00:39:10.110]and regulations in the province
- [00:39:12.240]to ensure that they align with the Declaration,
- [00:39:15.360]identify needed changes,
- [00:39:17.100]and then establish a collaborative working path forward
- [00:39:20.670]as well as reporting.
- [00:39:23.190]It was introduced in October, 2019
- [00:39:26.940]and it passed unanimously in November, 2019,
- [00:39:31.440]just over a month later.
- [00:39:32.940]No Senate requirement in the province,
- [00:39:35.130]so once that was passed with the Legislative Assembly,
- [00:39:38.940]it was law.
- [00:39:42.900]During the pandemic, federal legislation,
- [00:39:46.500]this time as a government bill, was introduced in 2020
- [00:39:51.300]and passed the House of Commons and the Senate in 2021.
- [00:39:55.740]And this is a picture of the Zoom call
- [00:39:58.230]where the Members of Parliament
- [00:40:00.180]had to hold up (laughs) a green check or a red X
- [00:40:05.670]if they were supporting or voting against,
- [00:40:08.700]and so that passed during Zoom times.
- [00:40:13.680]So the UN Declaration Act in Canada, the 2021 Act,
- [00:40:17.670]has several key elements.
- [00:40:20.160]It is, first of all,
- [00:40:21.570]intended to create a national action plan,
- [00:40:24.150]as in the TRC Calls to Actions.
- [00:40:28.590]It is to review with Indigenous peoples
- [00:40:31.110]all federal laws for consistency with the Declaration.
- [00:40:36.420]By implication, then, it's a target list of changes
- [00:40:39.150]that need to come.
- [00:40:41.040]And then annual reporting to Parliament, which,
- [00:40:46.560]the reporting mechanism is to be developed
- [00:40:48.900]with Indigenous peoples.
- [00:40:50.970]This is very similar to the BC provincial legislation.
- [00:40:54.030]The core elements are very much the same.
- [00:41:01.050]And then municipalities are also getting involved.
- [00:41:04.200]So in the last year,
- [00:41:06.090]the City of Vancouver developed an UNDRIP task force
- [00:41:09.720]together with the local nations,
- [00:41:12.240]Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh,
- [00:41:14.700]on whose land the city of Vancouver sits,
- [00:41:17.610]and they are together drawing up, as we speak,
- [00:41:20.760]an implementation action plan for the UN Declaration
- [00:41:25.320]in the City of Vancouver.
- [00:41:27.030]And the First Nations Leadership Council
- [00:41:29.370]of British Columbia,
- [00:41:30.300]which is made up of three very large,
- [00:41:32.880]prominent political Indigenous organizations,
- [00:41:35.670]is supporting that process as well.
- [00:41:38.520]Very exciting.
- [00:41:41.940]At the university level,
- [00:41:43.770]we took a bold step a couple of years ago,
- [00:41:47.010]and in my role as senior advisor at UBC,
- [00:41:50.550]we put the UN Declaration into practice
- [00:41:53.430]with our new 2020-launched Indigenous Strategic Plan,
- [00:41:57.360]and this is the first university plan
- [00:42:00.750]among post-secondaries in Canada
- [00:42:02.550]to place the UN Declaration at its center.
- [00:42:06.660]It's been historic, it's been pathbreaking,
- [00:42:09.960]it's been difficult,
- [00:42:11.430]but I want to applaud UBC for making this commitment.
- [00:42:18.690]Just a quick snapshot.
- [00:42:21.300]As I mentioned,
- [00:42:22.133]this is the second Indigenous Strategic Framework at UBC.
- [00:42:25.770]The first one was launched just about the same time
- [00:42:29.670]as the UN Declaration, just shortly thereafter.
- [00:42:32.580]But all of these shifts, the TRC Calls to Action,
- [00:42:35.640]the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry
- [00:42:39.180]also talked about implementing the Declaration.
- [00:42:42.270]Then we had uptake by the UBC Board of Governors,
- [00:42:46.320]culminating in the September, 2020 launch
- [00:42:49.560]of the new Indigenous Strategic Plan.
- [00:42:53.730]Very quickly, we developed the plan
- [00:42:57.840]through a robust and extensive in-depth consultation process
- [00:43:03.150]from 2018 to 2020
- [00:43:06.030]that involved Indigenous, non-Indigenous faculty,
- [00:43:09.390]Indigenous, non-Indigenous staff,
- [00:43:11.280]and Indigenous and non-Indigenous students,
- [00:43:13.560]as well as the local First Nations communities.
- [00:43:17.430]In total, 2,500 people contributed and engaged
- [00:43:22.440]to produce what is this plan.
- [00:43:25.140]The number on the bottom, 15,000 individual comments,
- [00:43:28.680]inputs, and suggestions.
- [00:43:30.360]So we had to hire a new team to collate, code,
- [00:43:33.930]and culminate all of this into the action plan.
- [00:43:39.060]We've also developed in the last couple of years
- [00:43:41.730]an Implementation Governance Model and Support Model
- [00:43:44.970]and Advisory Model that also is based
- [00:43:48.780]in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- [00:43:52.170]So it spreads responsibility and accountability
- [00:43:55.950]to all corners and all sectors of UBC,
- [00:43:59.910]and has put together a plan where each portfolio,
- [00:44:04.650]each faculty, each department creates their own plan
- [00:44:08.100]and then is evaluated on that plan moving forward.
- [00:44:16.200]So just a few key takeaways
- [00:44:18.690]on the university's Indigenous Strategic Plan, or ISP.
- [00:44:23.730]You can find all the toolkits, information, history,
- [00:44:27.570]process, on the website isp.ubc.ca.
- [00:44:33.540]But what's important to take away
- [00:44:35.370]is that the guiding network,
- [00:44:37.740]which is Indigenous governance
- [00:44:39.390]based with a collective approach, is in place.
- [00:44:42.840]Faculties and units all over the campus
- [00:44:45.630]are engaging with the plan
- [00:44:47.610]and creating their own action plans.
- [00:44:50.910]We've helped them by creating a set of resources and toolkit
- [00:44:54.600]so that they can do their work in collaboration,
- [00:44:58.080]and then we've also launched and just announced
- [00:45:00.420]the first year of the Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Fund,
- [00:45:03.780]which is project-based support for faculty,
- [00:45:07.380]student, staff-led projects
- [00:45:09.000]that advance particular aspects of this plan,
- [00:45:12.060]and I'm happy to talk about any of this work later on.
- [00:45:16.920]So where we'll close for today
- [00:45:20.160]is understanding that in Canada, at this moment,
- [00:45:24.870]the UN Declaration has significant legs,
- [00:45:29.490]federally, provincially, municipally,
- [00:45:32.460]even in a public sector institution.
- [00:45:36.030]It's increasingly accepted as the framework
- [00:45:38.970]for good relations
- [00:45:40.380]between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,
- [00:45:42.750]and Indigenous peoples and governments,
- [00:45:45.180]and for meaningful reconciliation at all levels
- [00:45:48.360]and all layers of society.
- [00:45:52.410]And the TRC in 2015 called the UNDRIP
- [00:45:56.017]"the framework for reconciliation in Canada,"
- [00:45:59.220]and they did this for good reason.
- [00:46:02.700]The roadmap of the UN Declaration already existed.
- [00:46:06.000]It came from Indigenous peoples.
- [00:46:07.890]It was already negotiated
- [00:46:10.350]and it was a very good roadmap to follow.
- [00:46:14.730]So I will leave you
- [00:46:16.620]on this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
- [00:46:19.860]with five easy principles that I've developed.
- [00:46:23.160]I'm not a lawyer like James Anaya.
- [00:46:25.140]So I've developed five guiding principles
- [00:46:28.740]for how we can all advance the Declaration
- [00:46:31.290]in our day-to-day life.
- [00:46:34.440]We can acknowledge and support
- [00:46:35.880]Indigenous self-determination.
- [00:46:38.850]We operate in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
- [00:46:42.930]Always be reciprocal. When you take, give back.
- [00:46:49.830]Keep collaboration, co-development, co-governance
- [00:46:53.970]as guiding principles for relationships wherever possible,
- [00:46:59.340]and understand that, like all human relationships,
- [00:47:03.000]they're grounded in an ongoing, lifelong negotiation.
- [00:47:08.040]And so with that,
- [00:47:12.120]I'm going to say chi-miigwech.
- [00:47:14.040]Thank you for sharing
- [00:47:15.420]this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation with me.
- [00:47:19.080]It's a pleasure,
- [00:47:20.280]and I think we have a bit of time for some questions,
- [00:47:25.260]about 10 minutes for some questions,
- [00:47:26.880]so thank you very much.
- [00:47:29.163](audience applauding)
- [00:47:35.910]Thank you so much.
- [00:47:36.743]I actually had a question.
- [00:47:37.710]Do you know of any other post-secondary institutions
- [00:47:39.840]in Canada that are following UBC's lead
- [00:47:43.410]on implementing UNDRIP at that level?
- [00:47:49.800]Hmm, what can I say?
- [00:47:52.410]Almost all post-secondaries
- [00:47:53.880]have an Indigenous strategic plan.
- [00:47:57.300]Some of them predated UBC's,
- [00:48:00.480]so they're in mid-stage or mature,
- [00:48:03.990]and will need a refresher.
- [00:48:08.370]No one else has yet produced a new plan
- [00:48:11.340]that's grounded in the UN Declaration,
- [00:48:13.050]so we were pathbreaking that way.
- [00:48:15.810]They are all interested in doing so,
- [00:48:17.700]now that they have seen it done,
- [00:48:20.640]as are institutions across New Zealand and Australia.
- [00:48:24.420]And actually, the day that we launched, it was Zoom time,
- [00:48:28.410]so we launched virtually
- [00:48:30.180]instead of having an in-person event,
- [00:48:32.610]so there were a few of us
- [00:48:33.990]in front of the Reconciliation Poll,
- [00:48:36.300]live-streaming to an audience.
- [00:48:37.890]We had 17 different countries participate.
- [00:48:41.640]So the world is watching.
- [00:48:43.680]We had, 'cause can see where they're Zooming in from,
- [00:48:47.010]so we could see the other institutions across Canada
- [00:48:49.800]and in 17 other countries that were watching.
- [00:48:53.010]So Australia, New Zealand, all the Nordics,
- [00:48:56.490]we had some European, US universities watching.
- [00:49:00.300]It was stunning, so there's a lot of interest,
- [00:49:04.500]a lot of early discussions,
- [00:49:06.180]and a lot of questions to me about strategy.
- [00:49:10.710]So I think you'll see much more of that
- [00:49:13.050]in the next five to 10 years.
- [00:49:17.250]Also, once we see that the sky doesn't fall,
- [00:49:21.900]and I think that was one of the key takeaways
- [00:49:25.650]from the passage of the BC legislation,
- [00:49:29.220]one of the Indigenous leaders,
- [00:49:31.800]in her remarks following passage of the legislation,
- [00:49:35.400]said, and this was wonderful,
- [00:49:38.107]"Wait, do you hear that?
- [00:49:41.730]The sky didn't fall."
- [00:49:43.481](audience members chuckling)
- [00:49:44.314]So I think once we take away that fear
- [00:49:46.680]and that resistance in the larger society,
- [00:49:49.170]this is gonna become more and more possible,
- [00:49:51.840]which is why I put back the five principles.
- [00:49:54.780]These are not earth-shattering.
- [00:49:57.390]They're just good behavior and they're respectful behavior.
- [00:50:00.450]And once people see that this can be done
- [00:50:02.730]and this is a good way to do business,
- [00:50:04.320]I think it's gonna have much more uptake in the near future.
- [00:50:12.270]Thank you so much
- [00:50:13.103]for the talk this afternoon.
- [00:50:16.020]Just because I don't know,
- [00:50:17.400]does the Canadian public education
- [00:50:20.670]include curriculum
- [00:50:24.330]on the Native communities
- [00:50:26.580]or Indigenous communities in Canada?
- [00:50:29.010]And do students kind of grow up with that knowledge
- [00:50:33.600]as they move into secondary or post-secondary education?
- [00:50:37.500]Happy to speak to that,
- [00:50:39.060]particularly from the British Columbia context.
- [00:50:40.860]Each province is different because education
- [00:50:43.530]is a provincial obligation.
- [00:50:46.230]But from British Columbia,
- [00:50:47.340]so I started teaching there in 2009,
- [00:50:50.670]and I can tell you, at that time,
- [00:50:52.560]the students coming out of the BC school system had,
- [00:50:57.120]grade four and grade 10 were the two touchpoints
- [00:51:00.540]that they had ever had any Indigenous content
- [00:51:03.210]in their curriculum.
- [00:51:04.950]So students came, at that point, to university
- [00:51:07.770]pretty unprepared, by and large,
- [00:51:10.710]even the Indigenous students,
- [00:51:11.970]because the school system is, the curriculum was the same.
- [00:51:16.110]10 years later, I had noticed significant shifts
- [00:51:20.940]in the young people that were coming in,
- [00:51:24.000]and I haven't been in the classroom
- [00:51:26.310]for a couple years now with undergrads
- [00:51:28.050]because of the other jobs that I'm doing,
- [00:51:30.900]but my colleagues also tell me that since the TRC,
- [00:51:36.300]there's so much more in the K-12 curriculum
- [00:51:40.380]that they're learning
- [00:51:41.213]because the TRC mandated specific changes to the curriculum.
- [00:51:44.910]And I think when I say paradigm shift,
- [00:51:49.710]that's what I see as well,
- [00:51:50.910]because the 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds now
- [00:51:55.080]know so much more than they did 10 years ago.
- [00:51:57.690]It's palpable, it's visible, and it's wonderful,
- [00:52:02.970]because then you raise the bar
- [00:52:04.620]on what conversations you can have in the classroom.
- [00:52:07.500]You don't have to start from absolute zero.
- [00:52:09.960]And in fact,
- [00:52:11.370]for those of us who have been teaching a while,
- [00:52:13.320]you need to rework your syllabi,
- [00:52:14.910]because they're coming
- [00:52:17.160]so much more intelligent, sophisticated,
- [00:52:21.510]sensitive to issues,
- [00:52:23.490]that we just didn't see 10, 15 years ago.
- [00:52:26.610]So part of that, again, is a TRC game-changer,
- [00:52:29.250]because there was a provincial mandate to post-secondaries,
- [00:52:32.220]to K-12, to rethink and and redo curriculum,
- [00:52:36.210]and it's happening.
- [00:52:40.590]Hello, hello? Okay, sorry.
- [00:52:42.900]I have like a deep enough voice where I don't need this.
- [00:52:45.142](chuckles) Okay, so I have a kind of a question on if,
- [00:52:50.070]it's, so my little brother,
- [00:52:53.730]like, I think it was last year, for like 10 days,
- [00:52:56.010]he was invited to Italy by the Italian government
- [00:52:58.230]with, like, a group of other Natives,
- [00:53:00.930]and it was a show of, like,
- [00:53:02.190]a huge apology for Columbus. (chuckles)
- [00:53:05.160]So he was given, like, images and, like,
- [00:53:07.050]the ability to hold, like,
- [00:53:07.980]the original map of Columbus and everything.
- [00:53:10.320]But then a part of that apology,
- [00:53:12.180]government officials had him
- [00:53:14.940]and all the other Natives that were there,
- [00:53:16.530]plus the government officials, signed a document
- [00:53:19.110]trying to make the Black Hills a World Heritage site
- [00:53:22.440]and that they were gonna pass it on to other countries.
- [00:53:25.350]Do you think that's, like, actually likely,
- [00:53:27.090]or just like a part of a giant apology?
- [00:53:30.330]I wouldn't rule it out.
- [00:53:32.640]UNESCO's been very active in the last 10 years
- [00:53:36.510]creating World Heritage sites,
- [00:53:38.130]which provides a certain degree of protection.
- [00:53:40.980]To me, that seems like a credible, legitimate proposal
- [00:53:44.670]to bring forward to UNESCO,
- [00:53:46.440]and then all of the implications of that
- [00:53:48.510]will have to be worked out.
- [00:53:50.340]The papal apology,
- [00:53:52.080]and if you've been watching Canada recently,
- [00:53:55.410]the Pope came and delivered the apology multiple times
- [00:54:00.600]in different locations in Canada,
- [00:54:02.640]that was part of the TRC as well
- [00:54:04.680]because that was requested by the TRC,
- [00:54:07.530]that there be a papal apology.
- [00:54:09.570]Now, it didn't go quite as far as some had hoped, obviously.
- [00:54:14.370]There were many, many, many people hoping
- [00:54:16.890]that in that apology he would also renounce
- [00:54:20.869]the Doctrine of Discovery.
- [00:54:23.160]Didn't quite happen, and so people are, in many respects,
- [00:54:27.120]disappointed by that.
- [00:54:29.162]And in other circles,
- [00:54:31.410]and I've talked to quite a few legal scholars who say,
- [00:54:34.657]"You know, it would've been a symbolic action
- [00:54:37.020]and very important to many people,
- [00:54:38.910]but legally the Pope renouncing it now
- [00:54:43.230]isn't key to redoing those fundamentals."
- [00:54:46.830]That actually has to happen in the courts
- [00:54:49.140]and in legislation.
- [00:54:50.850]But it would've been a very important symbolic effort
- [00:54:53.490]for many, many people,
- [00:54:55.050]and so I don't know if we'll ever see that, because, again,
- [00:54:59.910]the Vatican holds significant property around the world
- [00:55:03.000]and if they renounce their ownership of all that property,
- [00:55:06.510]that has huge implications for them as well.
- [00:55:09.960]But the fact that he came, he issued an apology in Rome,
- [00:55:14.040]came to Canada and issued it multiple times,
- [00:55:17.190]each time with a little bit more specificity
- [00:55:19.890]or a little bit more in tune with the criticisms
- [00:55:23.730]that were coming out,
- [00:55:24.720]I think that meant a lot to many, many people,
- [00:55:28.170]and it was an important completion
- [00:55:31.530]of some of the TRC actions.
- [00:55:34.800]But apologies in and of themselves only do so much work.
- [00:55:38.130]It's everything that follows
- [00:55:40.050]that's ultimately significant on the ground.
- [00:55:44.520]I have a sort of local question,
- [00:55:46.650]and since you mentioned the Vatican,
- [00:55:51.899]in this community, some of us are actively working
- [00:55:56.370]to draft statements
- [00:55:57.780]about a land use issue
- [00:56:01.860]that abuts a sacred area
- [00:56:05.700]for Indigenous people here.
- [00:56:07.920]I've been thinking throughout your presentation
- [00:56:09.750]about how I might be able to use (laughs)
- [00:56:12.390]part of what I'm learning here
- [00:56:15.595]to finalize the statement I would like to write.
- [00:56:19.290]Do you see the potential, I guess,
- [00:56:21.900]to borrow language from this, or is it,
- [00:56:25.320]does it have to be the case that you get this layer laid
- [00:56:29.310]and another layer and another layer
- [00:56:31.020]before this document
- [00:56:34.050]becomes enactable, I guess I'd say?
- [00:56:37.380]The Declaration?
- [00:56:38.370]Mm-hmm.
- [00:56:42.150]Without knowing the particulars of your case,
- [00:56:44.880]it's hard to give advice, but if I'm speaking very broadly,
- [00:56:50.010]Declaration action happens
- [00:56:52.170]from a multi-pronged approach, most often,
- [00:56:55.770]and the more grassroots support, the better.
- [00:56:58.950]Two key principles.
- [00:57:00.750]It's that norm socialization piece that that comes forward.
- [00:57:05.190]It's just a good set of principles
- [00:57:08.040]for healthy relationships,
- [00:57:09.930]and that's hard to dispute at the end of the day.
- [00:57:13.530]And some of the sticky points that do come up,
- [00:57:18.000]like free, prior, and informed consent,
- [00:57:21.300]again, this is a very human thing.
- [00:57:23.640]We all understand what consent is and what it isn't.
- [00:57:26.790]We accept that people in our society
- [00:57:29.160]have the right to give or withhold consent
- [00:57:32.220]over matters that impact them.
- [00:57:35.040]It's not earth-shattering.
- [00:57:36.210]It's just that we all have the same right.
- [00:57:39.510]Non-Indigenous, Indigenous people, municipalities, tribes,
- [00:57:43.830]they should all have the same right at an equal level
- [00:57:46.350]to give or withhold consent.
- [00:57:48.600]So I suggest breaking it down
- [00:57:50.370]into the most simple human understood principles.
- [00:57:56.970]Well, let's give Sheryl a huge hand
- [00:58:00.450]and thank you so much. (audience applauding)
- [00:58:04.931]Thank you. Thank you.
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