Special Rapporteur on Rights of Indigenous People

James Anaya, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Rights of Indigenous People [1][2] has left Canada [3] but as of Oct.31 has yet to formulate his final report.

He referred to aboriginal issues as a "crisis" [4] [5] [6] [7] and issued a "stern warning" [8] to act to deal with it.

"Immediate" recommendations in his interim report were:

• Granting an extension to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that is examining the history of the residential school policy that dates back more than one century. He says the extension should last “as long as may be necessary”. The Commission’s mandate expires on July 1, 2014, but its work has been obstructed and delayed because the federal government has refused to divulge extensive documentation about residential schools.

• Slowing a “rush forward” with planned legislation this fall to reform the Aboriginal education system. He says there is “profound distrust” among First Nations over the proposed First Nation Education Act. It will set standards for teaching staff, curriculum and students. Aboriginal leaders are concerned the act will impose standards that disregard Indigenous language and culture and that education funding will not be increased. They want immediate increases to education funding, but Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt says there will be no funding increases considered until the new act is passed.
• Establishing a public inquiry into the cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women, whose numbers are estimated at more than 600. The federal government has flatly rejected this, and is ignoring calls from international organizations and provincial governments on the matter.
• Treating the housing situation on First Nations reserves and Inuit communities “with the urgency it deserves”. He says housing conditions are unacceptable and it is “abundantly clear” that funding for aboriginal housing is “woefully inadequate.”
• Adopting a much less “adversarial” approach to dealing with aboriginal land claims and treaty disputes.
• Recognizing that “resource extraction” should not occur on lands subject to aboriginal claims without “adequate consultations” and the “free, prior and informed consent” of the Aboriginals affected.

Various extreme violations and disregard of the UN and rights of indigenous peoples must be noted explicitly to Anaya before he issues his final report.

He certainly should receive a complete account of all current abuses of aboriginal rights and people who have never ceded lands, from an international law point of view.

Examples include the RCMP attack on fracking protest, 17 Oct 2013, and the "apparent intent of federal and provincial governments to ignore Anaya’s recommendations for consultation on resource extraction projects, including oil and natural gas in Alberta and British Columbia, is their mad scramble revealed in recent news reports to override opposition to shipping tar sands oil to the BC coast for export. The Globe and Mail is reporting the relentless push of the federal government for pipeline approval, while the Vancouver Sun reports yesterday the incredible threat by an Alberta/BC government working group that if tar sands pipelines are not approved, then large quantities of bitumen will flow to the coast via rail." [9]